As was stated in class the difficulty with deciphering Sterne's A Sentimental Journey is that he is often serious and ironic and more often than not both at the same time. The confusion that this suggests makes Sterne a genius for making a (somewhat) coherent novel while maintaining this juxtaposition of parody and chronicle.
A prime example of this is the funeral of the dead ass. The presentation of this funeral is quite serious. The man mourning his ass' passing tells about the times they had together. When they were separated in the Pyrenean mountains "the ass sought for him as much as he had sought the ass and that they had neither scarce eat or drank til they met." Obviously on the surface it is an archetypical mourning of the passing of a friend. The irony is that this friend is an ass. Another facet to the irony is that Yorick, our moron of a narrator, attempts to console the man by stating that he had been a "merciful master." But this only heightens the man's grief as he feels the burdens of his journey killed the ass.
Another good example is the Bird. The balance of irony and seriousness rests more acutely on Yorick's perspective this time. Before he sees the bird he muses that he wouldnt mind staying in the Bastile at the expense of the king. But this all turns when he hears the bird saying "I cant get out." Jarringly he is forcibly taken on a tour of the horror of captivity in his own mind. The irony is Yorick's foolishness at letting himself get into this situation while the sincerity rests in what is nearly a treatise on captivity versus liberty.