| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen: politeness by Mr. Palmer himself, as, joined to the very
great amendment of his manners towards them since her
sister had been known to be unhappy, induced her to accept
it with pleasure.
When she told Marianne what she had done, however,
her first reply was not very auspicious.
"Cleveland!"--she cried, with great agitation.
"No, I cannot go to Cleveland."--
"You forget," said Elinor gently, "that its situation
is not...that it is not in the neighbourhood of..."
"But it is in Somersetshire.--I cannot go
 Sense and Sensibility |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Silas Marner by George Eliot: unknown. It had been a clinging life; and though the object round
which its fibres had clung was a dead disrupted thing, it satisfied
the need for clinging. But now the fence was broken down--the
support was snatched away. Marner's thoughts could no longer move
in their old round, and were baffled by a blank like that which
meets a plodding ant when the earth has broken away on its homeward
path. The loom was there, and the weaving, and the growing pattern
in the cloth; but the bright treasure in the hole under his feet was
gone; the prospect of handling and counting it was gone: the evening
had no phantasm of delight to still the poor soul's craving. The
thought of the money he would get by his actual work could bring no
 Silas Marner |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Within the Tides by Joseph Conrad: That poor lost Arthur! I confess that I am almost afraid of the
great moment. It will be like seeing a ghost."
"Have you ever seen a ghost?" asked Renouard, in a dull voice.
She shifted her hands a little. Her pose was perfect in its ease
and middle-aged grace.
"Not actually. Only in a photograph. But we have many friends who
had the experience of apparitions."
"Ah! They see ghosts in London," mumbled Renouard, not looking at
her.
"Frequently - in a certain very interesting set. But all sorts of
people do. We have a friend, a very famous author - his ghost is a
 Within the Tides |