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Task F - Grammatical parallelism
Our analysis of Austen Passage
There is a considerable amount of parallelism in the Austen extract,
and it is put to more complex use than in the Steinbeck description. In
particular, some of it is a vehicle for the ironic tone that the passage
has. We will not comment on the simpler parallelisms (e.g. ) but instead
concentrate on the more interesting uses of it.
Consider, for example, the last part of S3:
. . . but his friend Mr Darcy soon drew the attention of the room by
his fine, tall person, handsome features, noble mien, and the report,
which was in general circulation within five minutes after his entrance,
of his having ten thousand a year. (S3)
If we examine the list of Mr Darcy's features which 'drew the attention
of the room', we can see that, for the most part, we have a list of simple
noun phrases which consist of a laudatory adjective (two in the first
NP) and a head noun which refers to some characteristic of Mr Darcy which
is inherent to him - what he is like as a person. This part of the list,
then, is using the 'parallelism rule' to indicate parallel meaning. But
the last NP in the list (with 'report' as its head noun), which is climactic
because of its final position, is very different. There is no premodifying
adjective, and instead there is heavy postmodification (in the form of
a relative clause and a prepositional phrase containing a noun phrase
which in turn is derived from a clause). Moreover, the content of the
final item in the list refers not to an inherent merit of Mr Darcy, but
the fact that he is rich. So this last item in the list is both 'the same'
(the last item in the parallel list) but also very different (and so it
is also an example of internal deviation). This leads us to use the 'parallelism
rule' to infer opposite meaning, and to realise the irony. Although at
first it appears that the people in the room approve of Mr Darcy for his
looks and his behaviour, actually what they really like about him is that
he is wealthy. In this way Jane Austen pokes fun at them and makes clear
their faulty judgement.
The rest of the more complex parallelism in the passage is used to indicate
'same meaning', but the ironic context we have just seen affects considerably
our interpretation of it. Immediately after the part quoted above, for
example, the men and women are seen, in grammatically parallel constructions,
declaring his intrinsic worth, when we already know they are really interested
in his money:
The gentlemen pronounced him to be a fine figure of a man, the ladies
declared he was much handsomer than Mr Bingley . . . (S4)
Then, later in the same sentence, when Mr Darcy's apparent haughtiness
has outweighed his wealth in their eyes, parallelism is used again, in
alliance with the lexical repetition and elegant variation we have discussed
in Task D to suggest the idea of repeated criticisms in different words
(and so probably by different people in the room)
. . . for he was discovered to be proud, to be above his company,
and above being pleased . . . (S4)
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