Parallel structure involves the repetition of certain
grammatical structures such as sentence construction, phrasing, repeated use of the same
part of speech, similar clauses. Chapter I of Dickens's Great Expectations
contains, perhaps, the most imagery of all the
chapters.
1. In Chapter I, the description of the convict
who turns out to be Magwitch is an example of parallelism as the first three sentences
begin in similar fashion and follow the same construction in the rest of the
sentence:
A
fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and
with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been soaked in
water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by
nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose
teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the
chin.
2. Another example of
parallelism is also in this chapter with the symmetry of the repeated relative
clauses:
...and that the dark flat wilderness beyond the
churchyard, intersected with dykes and mounds and gates, with scattered cattle feeding
on it, was the marshes; and that the low leaden line beyond was the river; and that the
distant savage lair from which the wind was rushing, was the sea; and that the small
bundle of shivers growing afraid of it all and beginning to cry, was
Pip.
3. In Chapter XVIII, Mr.
Jaggers brings the news of Pip's "great expectations" to him. The chapter begins with
Pip describing "the strange gentleman leaning over the back of the settle opposite me,
looking on." This phrase, "the strange gentleman" is repeated in three paragraphs,
while the stranger is employed also:
I became aware of a strange
gentleman....
"Well!" said the
stranger....
The strange gentleman with the air of
authority not to be disputed.
The strange gentleman,
beckoned ..
The stranger did not recognize
me.
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