| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Glaucus/The Wonders of the Shore by Charles Kingsley: and slowly, and yet dexterously, his blind assailant is feeling and
shifting along his side, till he reaches one end of him; and then
the black lips expand, and slowly and surely the curved finger
begins packing him end-foremost down into the gullet, where he
sinks, inch by inch, till the swelling which marks his place is
lost among the coils, and he is probably macerated to a pulp long
before he has reached the opposite extremity of his cave of doom.
Once safe down, the black murderer slowly contracts again into a
knotted heap, and lies, like a boa with a stag inside him,
motionless and blest. (19)
There; we must come away now, for the tide is over our ankles; but
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: arrangement had gone out of fashion under the Monarchy, and
Eugene had so far only been asked to dances. The self-possession
which pre-eminently distinguished him in later life already stood
him in good stead, and he did not betray his amazement. Yet as he
saw for the first time the finely wrought silver plate, the
completeness of every detail, the sumptuous dinner, noiselessly
served, it was difficult for such an ardent imagination not to
prefer this life of studied and refined luxury to the hardships
of the life which he had chosen only that morning.
His thoughts went back for a moment to the lodging-house, and
with a feeling of profound loathing, he vowed to himself that at
Father Goriot |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: door behind him and fastening it with an iron chain.
And on the morrow the old man, who was indeed the subtlest of the
magicians of Libya and had learned his art from one who dwelt in
the tombs of the Nile, came in to him and frowned at him, and said,
'In a wood that is nigh to the gate of this city of Giaours there
are three pieces of gold. One is of white gold, and another is of
yellow gold, and the gold of the third one is red. To-day thou
shalt bring me the piece of white gold, and if thou bringest it not
back, I will beat thee with a hundred stripes. Get thee away
quickly, and at sunset I will be waiting for thee at the door of
the garden. See that thou bringest the white gold, or it shall go
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