| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela: "O Juchipila, cradle of the Revolution of 1910, 0
blessed land, land steeped in the blood of martyrs, blood
of dreamers, the only true men . . ."
"Because they had no time to be bad!" an ex-Federal
officer interjected as he rode.
Interrupting his prayer, Valderrama frowned, burst into
stentorian laughter, reechoed by the rocks, and ran to-
ward the officer begging for a swallow of tequila.
Soldiers minus an arm or leg, cripples, rheumatics,
and consumptives spoke bitterly of Demetrio. Young
whippersnappers were given officers' commissions and
The Underdogs |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Works of Samuel Johnson by Samuel Johnson: than flies or advances.
As it very seldom happens that the rage of
extemporary criticism inflicts fatal or lasting wounds,
I know not that the laws of benevolence entitle
this distress to much sympathy. The diversion of
baiting an author has the sanction of all ages and
nations, and is more lawful than the sport of teasing
other animals, because, for the most part, he
comes voluntarily to the stake, furnished, as he
imagines, by the patron powers of literature, with
resistless weapons, and impenetrable armour, with
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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 The Pool in the Desert by Sara Jeanette Duncan: She seemed to like to make these declarations in the presence of
Somers Chichele, who would look at her with a little queer smile--a
bad translation, I imagine, of what he felt.
She gave herself so generously to her seniors that somebody said
Mrs. Harbottle's girdle was hung with brass hats. It seems flippant
to add that her complexion was as honest as the day, but the fact is
that the year before Judy had felt compelled, like the rest of us,
to repair just a little the ravages of the climate. If she had
never done it one would not have looked twice at the absurdity when
she said of the powder-puff in the dressing-room, 'I have raised
that thing to the level of an immorality,' and sailed in to dance
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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 Blix by Frank Norris: declaration their "good times" would end even before she should go
away. But every day; every hour that they were together made it
harder for him to keep himself within bounds.
What with this trouble on his mind and the grim determination with
which he held to his work, Condy changed rapidly. Blix had
steadied him, and a certain earnestness and seriousness of
purpose, a certain STRENGTH he had not known before, came swiftly
into being.
Was Blix to go away, leave him, perhaps for all time, and not know
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