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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from 'Twixt Land & Sea by Joseph Conrad: moral poison, I felt an abject dread of going to sea.
I had to exercise a sudden self-control, as one puts on a brake, to
prevent myself jumping up to stride about, shout, gesticulate, make
her a scene. What for? What about? I had no idea. It was just
the relief of violence that I wanted; and I lolled back in my
chair, trying to keep my lips formed in a smile; that half-
indulgent, half-mocking smile which was my shield against the
shafts of her contempt and the insulting sallies flung at me by the
old woman.
She drank the water at a draught, with the avidity of raging
thirst, and let herself fall on the nearest chair, as if utterly
'Twixt Land & Sea |
