| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: made me the victim of not a few veteran bores. The abnormal mind
is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it
appears in a normal person, and so it came about that in college I
was unjustly accused of being a politician, because I was privy to the
secret griefs of wild, unknown men. Most of the confidences were
unsought--frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or a hostile
levity when I realized by some unmistakable sign that an intimate
revelation was quivering on the horizon; for the intimate revelations
of young men, or at least the terms in which they express them, are
usually plagiaristic and marred by obvious suppressions. Reserving
judgments is a matter of infinite hope. I am still a little afraid of
The Great Gatsby |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The School For Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan: to your Praise never fear.
[Exit SNAKE.]
SIR PETER. There's a precious Rogue--Yet that fellow is a Writer
and a Critic.
LADY TEAZLE. See[,] Sir Oliver[,] there needs no persuasion now
to reconcile your Nephew and Maria--
SIR OLIVER. Aye--aye--that's as it should be and egad we'll have
the wedding to-morrow morning--
CHARLES. Thank you, dear Unkle!
SIR PETER. What! you rogue don't you ask the Girl's consent first--
CHARLES. Oh, I have done that a long time--above a minute ago--
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Great God Pan by Arthur Machen: somehow or other I got out of the bustle and the gaiety, and
found myself walking slowly along a quiet, dull street, where
there seemed to be no sunshine and no air, and where the few
foot-passengers loitered as they walked, and hung indecisively
about corners and archways. I walked along, hardly knowing
where I was going or what I did there, but feeling impelled, as
one sometimes is, to explore still further, with a vague idea of
reaching some unknown goal. Thus I forged up the street, noting
the small traffic of the milk-shop, and wondering at the
incongruous medley of penny pipes, black tobacco, sweets,
newspapers, and comic songs which here and there jostled one
The Great God Pan |
