The use of parallelism in Mariam a ba’s scarlet songa Stylistic analysis

This study investigates the role of parallelism in the formation of themes of Mariama Ba S Scarlet Song. Parallelism falls under a broader realm of study known as linguistic st\ les. Generally, the study attempts to analyse the impact that language devices have in the portrayal of themes of literary works. Four types of parallelism are key points of the study. These are repetition, synonym, antonym and parallel rhetorical questions. The study examines how such types relate to the series of experiences described in Scarlet Song. There is also a brief discussion about fundamental concepts related to the study such as, stylistics, foregrounding and the aspect of interrelating relationship between linguistic patterns and literary themes. In the light of those concepts, and on the basis of parallelism instances, the study makes a number of interpretations of experiences contained in the text. With illustrative textual examples, the study has revealed that parallelism, as one of the linguistic styles, is capable of transmitting themes of literary works from the artist to the audience.