| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: thought of the money so painfully scraped together by Almayer,
and so punctually sent for Nina's expenses, could dissuade Mrs.
Vinck from her virtuous resolve. Nina was sent away, and in
truth the girl herself wanted to go, although a little frightened
by the impending change. And now she had lived on the river for
three years with a savage mother and a father walking about
amongst pitfalls, with his head in the clouds, weak, irresolute,
and unhappy. She had lived a life devoid of all the decencies of
civilisation, in miserable domestic conditions; she had breathed
in the atmosphere of sordid plottings for gain, of the no less
disgusting intrigues and crimes for lust or money; and those
Almayer's Folly |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Adam Bede by George Eliot: "Said? Nay, she'll say nothin'. It's on'y the men as have to
wait till folks say things afore they find 'em out."
"Well, but what makes thee think so, Mother? What's put it into
thy head?"
"It's no matter what's put it into my head. My head's none so
hollow as it must get in, an' nought to put it there. I know
she's fond on him, as I know th' wind's comin' in at the door, an'
that's anoof. An' he might be willin' to marry her if he know'd
she's fond on him, but he'll ne'er think on't if somebody doesna
put it into's head."
His mother's suggestion about Dinah's feeling towards Adam was not
Adam Bede |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson: vessel for Mr. Hart; thereupon the blind leper broke forth in
lamentation. 'Did he lose a ship of John Hart's?' he cried; 'poor
John Hart! Well, I'm sorry it was Hart's,' with needless force of
epithet, which I neglect to reproduce.
Perhaps, if Captain Hart's affairs had continued to prosper, his
popularity might have been different. Success wins glory, but it
kills affection, which misfortune fosters. And the misfortune
which overtook the captain's enterprise was truly singular. He was
at the top of his career. Ile Masse belonged to him, given by the
French as an indemnity for the robberies at Taahauku. But the Ile
Masse was only suitable for cattle; and his two chief stations were
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