| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Some Reminiscences by Joseph Conrad: something? He will throw himself down and cut his knees. He may
even break a leg, you know."
But Almayer, plunged in abstracted thought, did not seem to want
that pony any more. Amazed at this sudden indifference I turned
all hands out on shore to hunt for him on my own account, or, at
any rate, to hunt for the canvas sling which he had round his
body. The whole crew of the steamer, with the exception of
firemen and engineers, rushed up the jetty past the thoughtful
Almayer and vanished from my sight. The white fog swallowed them
up; and again there was a deep silence that seemed to extend for
miles up and down the stream. Still taciturn, Almayer started to
Some Reminiscences |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: not disarmed by this angel of gentleness, whose ugliness day by day
decreased, driven out by the ineffable expression of moral qualities
which shone upon her face. She was all soul. The spirit of prayer
seemed to purify her and refine those homely features and make them
luminous. Who has not seen the phenomenon of a like transfiguration on
sacred faces where the habits of the soul have triumphed over the
plainest features, giving them that spiritual illumination whose light
comes from the purity and nobility of the inward thought? The
spectacle of this transformation wrought by the struggle which
consumed the last shreds of the human life of this woman, did somewhat
affect the old cooper, though feebly, for his nature was of iron; if
Eugenie Grandet |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Chessmen of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs: meant food and drink for Tara of Helium. He would accept it from
friends or he would take it from enemies. Just so long as it was
there he would have it--and there was shown the egotism of the
fighting man, though Turan did not see it, nor Tara who came from
a long line of fighting men; but Ghek might have smiled had he
known how.
Turan permitted the flier to drift closer behind the screening
hills, and then when he could advance no farther without fear of
discovery, he dropped the craft gently to ground in a little
ravine, and leaping over the side made her fast to a stout tree.
For several moments they discussed their plans--whether it would
The Chessmen of Mars |
