Passage 097 · 1949
"The Second Sex"
Main effectThrough passive negation, adversative pivot from being to becoming, emphatic cleft foregrounding civilization, and degrading apposition, de Beauvoir creates syntax of existentialist feminism—grammar that makes gender construction, not nature.
Device index
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Schemes
Balanced opposition.
Omission of conjunctions.
Syntax
Noun phrase restating another.
"One is not born"—passive construction with negation. Syntax denies biological essentialism through passive voice that removes agency.
"but rather becomes"—coordinating conjunction with intensifier "rather." Syntax pivots from essence to process.
"One"—impersonal pronoun instead of "a woman." Syntax creates philosophical distance, universalizes claim.
"No biological, psychological, or economic fate"—negative determiner with three adjectives. Syntax systematically rejects determinist explanations.
"it is civilization as a whole that produces"—cleft sentence emphasizes agent. Syntax foregrounds social construction.
"which is described as feminine"—passive relative clause. Syntax shows femininity as description imposed, not inherent quality.
"intermediate between male and eunuch"—appositive phrase defines woman as neither/nor. Syntax creates woman as negation.
Close reading
1Close Reading
Passive Negation
"One is not born"—passive construction with negation. Syntax denies biological essentialism through passive voice that removes agency.
Adversative Conjunction
"but rather becomes"—coordinating conjunction with intensifier "rather." Syntax pivots from essence to process.
Indefinite Pronoun
"One"—impersonal pronoun instead of "a woman." Syntax creates philosophical distance, universalizes claim.
Triple Negative Subjects
"No biological, psychological, or economic fate"—negative determiner with three adjectives. Syntax systematically rejects determinist explanations.
Emphatic Cleft
"it is civilization as a whole that produces"—cleft sentence emphasizes agent. Syntax foregrounds social construction.
Relative Clause Definition
"which is described as feminine"—passive relative clause. Syntax shows femininity as description imposed, not inherent quality.
Appositive Degradation
"intermediate between male and eunuch"—appositive phrase defines woman as neither/nor. Syntax creates woman as negation.
Stylistic Effect
Through passive negation, adversative pivot from being to becoming, emphatic cleft foregrounding civilization, and degrading apposition, de Beauvoir creates syntax of existentialist feminism—grammar that makes gender construction, not nature.