Skip to main content

How is parallel structure shown in "Once upon a Time" by Nadine Gordimer?

Parallel structure is the use of matching grammatical structures within parts of a sentence or within neighboring sentences. Parallel structure can also include a repetition of larger elements in a work, such as events with similar outcomes described in a similar way. Gordimer uses both types of parallel structure in "Once upon a Time."


In the following sentence, note the repetition of prepositional phrases at the beginning.



In a house, in a suburb, in a city, there were a man and his wife who loved each other very much and were living happily ever after.



The next four sentences all begin with the words "they had."



They had a little boy, and they loved him very much. They had a cat and a dog that the little boy loved very much. They had a car and a caravan trailer for holidays, and a swimming-pool which was fenced so that the little boy and his playmates would not fall in and drown. They had a housemaid who was absolutely trustworthy and an itinerant gardener who was highly recommended by the neighbors.



The parallel structure accomplishes two things in the above passage. It creates a feeling of fairy-tale-like simplicity by the repetitive subject-verb opening of each sentence. In addition, it reinforces the privileged position of the family: "They had" many possessions, and "they  had" a prestigious social status.


Beyond the parallel structure in specific sentences and paragraphs, the bedtime story makes use of parallel structure as the rising action unfolds. The typical structure follows this pattern:


1. The couple takes an action to protect their wealth and position (joins Neighborhood Watch, installs electronic gates, installs window bars, builds the wall higher, and installs the Dragon's Teeth).


2. The couple hears reports of more robberies and social unrest.


3. The couple receives advice to increase their security.


4. The couple takes additional action to protect their wealth.


This cycle repeats three or four times in the story until it is broken (readers may hope) by the tragic death of the couple's son.


Gordimer uses parallel structure both within sentences and paragraphs and also within the bedtime story as a whole.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more