Structural parallelism is a powerful tool in rhetoric. However, online advice rarely discusses this technique beyond the sentence level. Here, I look at a famous movie monologue that applies parallelism using verb tenses and conditional sentence constructions throughout the entire piece to great effect. It illustrates how parallelism structures information to create a persuasive narrative using specific grammatical features.
We all know structural parallelism. Online advice will tell you that for clarity, you should pay attention to parallel structures when you write, as in:
“Mr. Evan is a lawyer, a politician, and he teaches a teacher.”
However, beside keeping lists of items easy to read in sentences, parallelism is even more useful at associating individual ideas across a piece of writing to create a unified narrative for a story. And since
“a story is a way of structuring information (…) that mirrors how our mind models the world around us so that we experience it as almost real.”
-Damien Walter,
great examples of structural parallelism beyond the sentence level can be found everywhere. Just look for a good story—regardless of register.
To illustrate, I switch gear and pick the “100-scalps monologue” from Inglorious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino.
In this 389-word speech, the aim of the speaker (Lt. Aldo Raine) is to motivate his eight newly-recruited men for an imminent commando mission in enemy territory with a clear theme: this is not duty; this is (sweet) revenge. To construct this theme, the author uses:
- present tense to provide general background, and to state accepted/irreputable facts,
- modal future to states the plan of action, and to highlight its consequences (damage to them/reward to us),
- past tense to compare own past suffering with their future ones (i.e., eye for eye),
- first conditional to draw/underline/reiterate the link between action and consequences, and
- other modal to signal subject change.
Highlighting the monologue using the above color scheme, we get:
My name is Lt. Aldo Raine and I’m putting together a special team, and I need me eight soldiers. Eight Jewish-American soldiers. Now, y’all might’ve heard rumors about the armada happening soon. Well, we’ll be leaving a little earlier. We’re gonna be dropped into France, dressed as civilians. ①And once we’re in enemy territory, as a bushwhackin’ guerrilla army, we’re gonna be doin’ one thing and one thing only… killin’ Nazis. Now, I don’t know about y’all, but ②I sure as hell didn’t come down from the goddamn Smoky Mountains, cross five thousand miles of water, fight my way through half of Sicily and jump out of a fuckin’ air-o-plane to teach the Nazis lessons in humanity. Nazi ain’t got no humanity. They’re the foot soldiers of a Jew-hatin’, mass murderin’ maniac and they need to be destroyed. That’s why any and every son of a bitch we find wearin’ a Nazi uniform, they’re gonna die. Now, I’m the direct descendant of the mountain man Jim Bridger. That means I got a little Injun in me. And our battle plan will be that of an Apache resistance. ③We will be cruel to the Germans, and through our cruelty ④they will know who we are. And ⑤they will find the evidence of our cruelty in the disemboweled, dismembered, and disfigured bodies of their brothers we leave behind us. And ⑥the German won’t not be able to help themselves but to imagine ⑦the cruelty their brothers endured at our hands, and our boot heels, and the edge of our knives. And the German will be sickened by us, and the German will talk about us, and the German will fear us. And ⑧when the German closes their eyes at night and they’re tortured by their subconscious for the evil they have done, it will be with thoughts of us they are tortured with. Sound good? … That’s what I like to hear. But I got a word of warning for all you would-be warriors. ⑨When you join my command, you take on debit. A debit you owe me personally. Each and every man under my command owes me one hundred Nazi scalps. And I want my scalps. And all y’all will git me one hundred Nazi scalps, taken from the heads of one hundred dead Nazis. Or you will die tryin’. (Inglourious Basterds, Lieutenant Aldo Raine)
Analysis and Takeaways
Evidence for planning. Just looking at the location distribution of the conditional sentences (purple), it’s very possible that the author at some point used these sentences as anchor points, and then wrote the content connecting these anchors—choosing words and tenses accordingly.
Speeches don’t use visual cues from the text; they rely instead on the speaker’s voice, facial expressions, and on other cues that are audible. This means yes to word repetition, but no to paragraphs. This also means verb tenses can be used to implement structural parallelism.
Some parallel-structure markers are very effective. This is especially true for the conditional construction that first appears in sentence ①, where it not only establishes the action-consequence link, but also associates modal future with carnage and gore. Throughout the rest of the speech, modal future signals so much violence (③–⑥, etc.), that each time the audience hears the conditional complementizer “when (as in ⑧ and ⑨),” the tension is immediately raised in anticipation of more blood and gore.
Other markers are only good on the script. This is my personal opinion. The past tense that first appears in sentence ② is supposed to connect with ⑦, to create the “eye for eye” image, but this point went over my head when I watched the video. It only became apparent to me after the color highlights. But that’s not a problem, as Tarantino fans are known to watch his movies with the subtitles on so they don’t miss any nuance of the writing (Johnsen et al.).
Conclusions & Advice for Academic Writers
Structuring is the secret to persuasive writing. Regardless of form, register, or genre, persuasive writing is planned and structured for a purpose. Choose one takeaway message from your results and highlight this message throughout the manuscript using parallel structuring. Do this well, and you’ll never hear that your manuscript reads like a lab report again.
Verb-tense parallel structure in academic writing is possible. Most research articles rely on present or past narrative tenses, making it difficult to use tenses for parallel structuring. However, perspectives articles often review bodies of work and discuss their impact of the future—the use of modal future to connect current efforts with future improvements is definitely a viable writing strategy.
There is no perfection. Perfection when using structural parallelism only exists in demonstration sentences like the Mr. Evan example at the top of this article. The fact that the 100-scalps monologue is near perfect also means one needs either a print copy of the script or subtitles to catch the nuances. Ultimately, when writing an academic article, it is the results and discussion that count. Writing techniques are just a highlighter—use it when it helps.
Works Consulted
Inglourious Basterds, Lieutenant Aldo Raine. http://www.monologuedb.com/dramatic-male-monologues/inglourious-basterds-lieutenant-aldo-raine/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2020.
Johnsen, Greta, et al. Nerdette Recaps ‘Pulp Fiction’ With Peter Sagal. Pulp Fiction, https://www.wbez.org/stories/movies-of-the-90s-pulp-fiction/687e6f44-3f43-42c5-b8eb-cd2b4a7d622b. Accessed 12 Sept. 2020.
Walter, Damien. “What Is the Rhetoric of Story?” Damien Walter, 12 June 2016, https://damiengwalter.com/2016/06/12/what-is-the-rhetoric-of-story/.