| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from My Antonia by Willa Cather: he said haughtily, `is a young woman for whom I have the utmost,
the utmost respect.'
`So have I,' I said coldly.
He paid no heed to my remark, but began to do rapid finger-exercises
on his shirt-sleeves, as he stood with tightly folded arms.
`Kindness of heart,' he went on, staring at the ceiling,
`sentiment, are not understood in a place like this.
The noblest qualities are ridiculed. Grinning college boys,
ignorant and conceited, what do they know of delicacy!'
I controlled my features and tried to speak seriously.
`If you mean me, Mr. Ordinsky, I have known Miss Lingard a long time,
My Antonia |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Herland by Charlotte Gilman: were tears in them, too. She was so sorry for me.
"How could we?" she asked, fairly enough. "We have no
punishments in life, you see, so we don't imagine them after death."
"Have you NO punishments? Neither for children nor criminals--
such mild criminals as you have?" I urged.
"Do you punish a person for a broken leg or a fever? We have
preventive measures, and cures; sometimes we have to `send the
patient to bed,' as it were; but that's not a punishment--it's only
part of the treatment," she explained.
Then studying my point of view more closely, she added:
"You see, we recognize, in our human motherhood, a great tender
Herland |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson: Close on the borders of a territory,
Wherein were bandit earls, and caitiff knights,
Assassins, and all flyers from the hand
Of Justice, and whatever loathes a law:
And therefore, till the King himself should please
To cleanse this common sewer of all his realm,
He craved a fair permission to depart,
And there defend his marches; and the King
Mused for a little on his plea, but, last,
Allowing it, the Prince and Enid rode,
And fifty knights rode with them, to the shores
|
