| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: "You two start on home, Daisy," said Tom. "In Mr. Gatsby's car."
She looked at Tom, alarmed now, but he insisted with magnanimous scorn.
"Go on. He won't annoy you. I think he realizes that his presumptuous
little flirtation is over."
They were gone, without a word, snapped out, made accidental, isolated,
like ghosts, even from our pity.
After a moment Tom got up and began wrapping the unopened bottle of
whiskey in the towel.
"Want any of this stuff? Jordan? . . . Nick?"
I didn't answer.
"Nick?" He asked again.
The Great Gatsby |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The King of the Golden River by John Ruskin: had never felt so happy in his life.
Yet, when he had climbed for another hour, his thirst became
intolerable again; and when he looked at his bottle, he saw that
there were only five or six drops left in it, and he could not
venture to drink. And as he was hanging the flask to his belt
again, he saw a little dog lying on the rocks, gasping for breath--
just as Hans had seen it on the day of his ascent. And Gluck
stopped and looked at it, and then at the Golden River, not five
hundred yards above him; and he thought of the dwarf's words, that
no one could succeed except in his first attempt; and he tried to
pass the dog, but it whined piteously and Gluck stopped again.
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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 Burning Daylight by Jack London: instance, Panama Mail, by sheer weight of money and fighting
power wresting the control away from Shiftily and selling out in
two months to the Harriman interests at a rumored enormous
advance.
CHAPTER V
Back in San Francisco, Daylight quickly added to his reputation
In ways it was not an enviable reputation. Men were afraid of
him. He became known as a fighter, a fiend, a tiger. His play
was a ripping and smashing one, and no one knew where or how his
next blow would fall. The element of surprise was large. He
balked on the unexpected, and, fresh from the wild North, his
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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 Bucky O'Connor by William MacLeod Raine: her laughter.
Next moment she was in the arms of her father.
CHAPTER 20. BACK TO GOD'S COUNTRY
To minimize the risk, Megales and Carlo left the prison by the
secret passage, following the fork to the river bank and digging
at the piled-up sand till they had forced an exit. O'Halloran met
them here with horses, and the three men followed the riverwash
beyond the limits of the town and cut across by a trail to a
siding on the Central Mexican Pacific tracks. The Irishman was
careful to take no chances, and kept his party in the mesquit
till the headlight of an approaching train was visible.
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