| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: upon my guard. As for him, though he pretended to be decently drunk,
he was perfectly cool, and knew very well what he was about. How it
was done I do not know, but the upshot of it was that when we left
Grignon's rooms about nine o'clock in the evening, M. de Trailles had
thoroughly bewitched me. I had given him my promise that I would
introduce him the next day to our Papa Gobseck. The words 'honor,'
'virtue,' 'countess,' 'honest woman,' and 'ill-luck' were mingled in
his discourse with magical potency, thanks to that golden tongue of
his.
"When I awoke next morning, and tried to recollect what I had done the
day before, it was with great difficulty that I could make a connected
Gobseck |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass: He is still the master of his own body, and can say with the
poet, "The hand of Douglass is his own." "The world is all
before him, where to choose;" and poor as may be my opinion of
the British parliament, I cannot believe that it will ever sink
to such a depth of infamy as to pass a law for the recapture of
fugitive Irishmen! The shame and scandal of kidnapping will long
remain wholly monopolized by the American congress. The Irishman
has not only the liberty to emigrate from his country, but he has
liberty at home. He can write, and speak, and cooperate for the
attainment of his rights and the redress of his wrongs.
The multitude can assemble upon all the green hills and fertile
My Bondage and My Freedom |
