The Parallelism In The Book Of Ruth

Parallelism is a literary device that involves communicating an idea and then using similar grammatical structure, repeating, disproving or developing it within another part of the writing. Using this device can convey a work’s theme and can be used to give pattern to a passage which points towards a greater message and in the book of Ruth, it joins similar concepts to show their connection. The parallelism in Ruth, allows for a reader to reflect on the consistency of Ruth’s character and how it compensates for her foreignness.
In a first reading, one might look over the fact that Ruth is from Moab because the text does not explicitly mention the tension carried with being a Moabite in Israel. But, to the original Jewish audience, Ruth’s ethnicity
Throughout the book, Ruth’s character traits unraveled as she acted with obedience, and loyalty. Previously, the connotation behind a Moabite would have been negative, but this stereotype was challenged by the end of the narrative, when Ruth is presented as a member of Israelite society. Thus, the aspects of her personality are crucial to the transformation of her social identity because without them, she would have been judged. The parallelism in the book of Ruth creates a storyline where her moments of foreignness can be tracked, along with how her character traits atone for her ethnicity. Because of the recurring patterns, for every instance that Ruth’s ethnicity may have led to a drawback, there is a contrasting moment where she is shown favor because her strength in character makes up for her disservice. While one may believe the book of Ruth is solely telling a story of the exemplary character traits one should obtain or that the book’s only purpose is to show the lineage to king David, the parallelism in the book of Ruth actually discloses that in the face of adversity, (or Ruth’s foreignness) one’s noble character will liberate him or herself from a