| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Herland by Charlotte Gilman: I was amazed at the results. I found that much, very much,
of what I had honestly supposed to be a physiological necessity
was a psychological necessity--or so believed. I found, after my
ideas of what was essential had changed, that my feelings changed also.
And more than all, I found this--a factor of enormous weight--these
women were not provocative. That made an immense difference.
The thing that Terry had so complained of when we first
came--that they weren't "feminine," they lacked "charm," now
became a great comfort. Their vigorous beauty was an aesthetic
pleasure, not an irritant. Their dress and ornaments had not a
touch of the "come-and-find-me" element.
Herland |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from New Arabian Nights by Robert Louis Stevenson: pursuits, Harry was unfitted alike by nature and training. He
could sing romantic ditties, and accompany himself with discretion
on the piano; he was a graceful although a timid cavalier; he had a
pronounced taste for chess; and nature had sent him into the world
with one of the most engaging exteriors that can well be fancied.
Blond and pink, with dove's eyes and a gentle smile, he had an air
of agreeable tenderness and melancholy, and the most submissive and
caressing manners. But when all is said, he was not the man to
lead armaments of war, or direct the councils of a State.
A fortunate chance and some influence obtained for Harry, at the
time of his bereavement, the position of private secretary to
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: She lay very high, upon pillows, with her chemise half open.
Linen had been placed upon the wound. A heavy smell of iodoform
filled the room. Before, and more than anything else, I was
astonished at her face, which was swollen and bruised under the
eyes and over a part of the nose. This was the result of the
blow that I had struck her with my elbow, when she had tried to
hold me back. Of beauty there was no trace left. I saw
something hideous in her. I stopped upon the threshold.
"'Approach, approach her,' said her sister.
"'Yes, probably she repents,' thought I; 'shall I forgive her?
Yes, she is dying, I must forgive her,' I added, trying to be
The Kreutzer Sonata |
