| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Amazing Interlude by Mary Roberts Rinehart: of many feet in the street told of the first weary men from the trenches
coming up the road.
He heard her in a dazed silence. Then:
"But you will not go?" he said. "It is impossible! You - you are
needed, mademoiselle."
"What can I do, Henri? They have recalled me. My money will not come
now."
"Perhaps we can arrange that. It does not cost so much. I have friends
- and think, mademoiselle, how many know now of what you are doing, and
love you for it. Some of them would contribute, surely."
He was desperately revolving expedients in his mind. He could himself
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Tales of the Klondyke by Jack London: McFee's thin voice, vibrant with malice, had raised, and Freda
turned involuntarily, Mrs. Eppingwell also turned, removed her
mask, and inclined her head in acknowledgment.
It was another flashing, eternal second, during which these two
women regarded each other. The one, eyes blazing, meteoric; at
bay, aggressive; suffering in advance and resenting in advance the
scorn and ridicule and insult she had thrown herself open to; a
beautiful, burning, bubbling lava cone of flesh and spirit. And
the other, calm-eyed, cool-browed, serene; strong in her own
integrity, with faith in herself, thoroughly at ease;
dispassionate, imperturbable; a figure chiselled from some cold
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie: give me no idea to whom these letters were addressed?"
"I'm afraid I couldn't, sir. I was out in the evening. Perhaps
Annie could tell you, though she's a careless girl. Never
cleared the coffee-cups away last night. That's what happens
when I'm not here to look after things."
Poirot lifted his hand.
"Since they have been left, Dorcas, leave them a little longer, I
pray you. I should like to examine them."
"Very well, sir."
"What time did you go out last evening?"
"About six o'clock, sir."
The Mysterious Affair at Styles |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from Pivot of Civilization by Margaret Sanger: one pole is...at the same time the accumulation of misery, agony of
toil, slavery, ignorance, brutality and mental degradation at the
opposite pole.'' Nevertheless, there is no indication that Marx
permitted himself to see that the proletariat accommodates its numbers
to the ``requirements of capital'' precisely by breeding a large,
docile, submissive and easily exploitable population.
Had the purpose of Marx been impartial and scientific, this trifling
difference might easily have been overcome and the dangers of reckless
breeding insisted upon. But beneath all this wordy pretension and
economic jargon, we detect another aim. That is the unconscious
dramatization of human society into the ``class conflict.'' Nothing
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