Question

Read the following excerpt from James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son":

But I knew that it was folly, as my father would have said, this bitterness was folly. It was necessary to hold on to the things that mattered. The dead man mattered, the new life mattered; blackness and whiteness did not matter; to believe that they did was to acquiesce in one's own destruction. Hatred, which could destroy so much, never failed to destroy the man who hated and this was an immutable law.

Which best explains how the use of parallelism in this excerpt supports Baldwin's purpose?

A. It emphasizes what Baldwin thinks matters and doesn't matter.
B. It uses contrasting ideas in the same sentence to emphasize their differences.
C. It employs a story-like structure to draw attention to theme of hatred.
D. It repeats the word folly to emphasize the mistakes white people have made.

Answer 1

James Baldwin's usage of parallelism emphasizes the critical distinction between what matters in life and what does not, denouncing hatred as self-destructive.

Step-by-step explanation:

The use of parallelism in the excerpt from James Baldwin's "Notes of a Native Son" effectively supports the author's purpose by emphasizing the importance of holding on to the things that truly matter. Baldwin contrasts things that matter with things that do not, using parallel structure to reinforce this distinction and underscore the folly of bitterness. By stating that things such as the dead man, new life, and broader notions of humanity are what truly matter, as opposed to the divisiveness of 'blackness and whiteness', Baldwin underscores the destructive nature of hatred and the imperative to rise above it. This literary technique helps Baldwin deliver his message that succumbing to hatred leads to self-destruction, an 'immutable law' he wishes to communicate. Parallelism serves to clarify the author's beliefs and strengthen the moral he intends to convey.

Answer 2

The correct option is A.

Parallelism refers to the construction of sentences by using elements that are grammatically identical in structure, meaning or sound. Authors usually use parallelism in their works in order to draw the readers' attention to the similarity or the differences of ideas by the way they arrange them in the sentence. In the passage given above, Baldwin used parallelism in order to emphasize the things that are important and the things that are not.