| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: admired it. For a small thing it was a great success, and Jo was
more astonished than when her novel was commended and condemned
all at once.
"I don't understand it. What can there be in a simple little
story like that to make people praise it so?" she said, quite bewildered.
"There is truth in it, Jo, that's the secret. Humor and pathos
make it alive, and you have found your style at last. You wrote
with not thoughts of fame and money, and put your heart into it,
my daughter. You have had the bitter, now comes the sweet. Do
your best, and grow as happy as we are in your success."
"If there is anything good or true in what I write, it isn't
Little Women |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas: as you please; my conspiracy, as well as my person, is
entirely at your service."
"We'll see that at noon."
Saying this, Gryphus went out.
"At noon?" repeated Cornelius; "what does that mean? Well,
let us wait until the clock strikes twelve, and we shall
see."
It was very easy for Cornelius to wait for twelve at midday,
as he was already waiting for nine at night.
It struck twelve, and there were heard on the staircase not
only the steps of Gryphus, but also those of three or four
The Black Tulip |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Silas Marner by George Eliot: the eyes of men. But the unwept death which, to the general lot,
seemed as trivial as the summer-shed leaf, was charged with the
force of destiny to certain human lives that we know of, shaping
their joys and sorrows even to the end.
Silas Marner's determination to keep the "tramp's child" was
matter of hardly less surprise and iterated talk in the village than
the robbery of his money. That softening of feeling towards him
which dated from his misfortune, that merging of suspicion and
dislike in a rather contemptuous pity for him as lone and crazy, was
now accompanied with a more active sympathy, especially amongst the
women. Notable mothers, who knew what it was to keep children
Silas Marner |
