| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Chance by Joseph Conrad: your dishevelled sentiment. And right! You must confess that
nothing could have been more right. I had a mind to shout "Brava!
Brava!" but I did not do that. I took a piece of cake and went out
to bribe the Fyne dog into some sort of self-control. His sharp
comical yapping was unbearable, like stabs through one's brain, and
Fyne's deeply modulated remonstrances abashed the vivacious animal
no more than the deep, patient murmur of the sea abashes a nigger
minstrel on a popular beach. Fyne was beginning to swear at him in
low, sepulchral tones when I appeared. The dog became at once
wildly demonstrative, half strangling himself in his collar, his
eyes and tongue hanging out in the excess of his incomprehensible
Chance |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Animal Farm by George Orwell: see was theirs! In the ecstasy of that thought they gambolled round and
round, they hurled themselves into the air in great leaps of excitement.
They rolled in the dew, they cropped mouthfuls of the sweet summer grass,
they kicked up clods of the black earth and snuffed its rich scent. Then
they made a tour of inspection of the whole farm and surveyed with
speechless admiration the ploughland, the hayfield, the orchard, the pool,
the spinney. It was as though they had never seen these things before, and
even now they could hardly believe that it was all their own.
Then they filed back to the farm buildings and halted in silence outside
the door of the farmhouse. That was theirs too, but they were frightened
to go inside. After a moment, however, Snowball and Napoleon butted the
Animal Farm |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A Distinguished Provincial at Paris by Honore de Balzac: pilloried in his newspaper; he is begging for mercy and peace. The
Baron du Chatelet is imbecile enough to take the thing seriously. The
Marquise d'Espard, Mme. de Bargeton, and Mme. de Montcornet's set have
taken up the Heron's cause; and I have undertaken to reconcile
Petrarch and his Laura--Mme. de Bargeton and Lucien."
"Aha!" cried Lucien, the glow of the intoxication of revenge throbbing
full-pulsed through every vein. "Aha! so my foot is on their necks!
You make me adore my pen, worship my friends, bow down to the fate-
dispensing power of the press. I have not written a single sentence as
yet upon the Heron and the Cuttlefish-bone.--I will go with you, my
boy," he cried, catching Blondet by the waist; "yes, I will go; but
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