| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The White Moll by Frank L. Packard: out of the window there to stock a bottle factory for years, some
of them on the flat roof just outside the window, some of them on
the roof of the shed below, and some of them down into the yard,
just depending on how drunk she was and how far she could throw.
And that proves it, too, doesn't it? Well, maybe it does, that's
what I did it for; but I never touched the stuff, not a drop of it,
from the day I came here. I didn't dare touch it. I had to keep
my wits. Last night you thought I was drunk when you found me in
the doorway downstairs. I wasn't. I was too sick and weak to get
up here. I almost told you then, only I was afraid, and - and I
thought that perhaps I'd be all right to-day."
|
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: The essentials of this affair lay deep under the surface,
beyond my reach, and beyond my power of meddling.
"Towards the evening of the second day we judged ourselves
about eight miles from Kurtz's station. I wanted to push on;
but the manager looked grave, and told me the navigation up
there was so dangerous that it would be advisable, the sun being
very low already, to wait where we were till next morning.
Moreover, he pointed out that if the warning to approach
cautiously were to be followed, we must approach in daylight--
not at dusk or in the dark. This was sensible enough.
Eight miles meant nearly three hours' steaming for us, and I
Heart of Darkness |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Kreutzer Sonata by Leo Tolstoy: the more, because it was based on an extremely unjust cause. It
was something like a question of money,--and never had I haggled
on that score; it was even impossible that I should do so in
relation to her. I only remember that, in answer to some remark
that I made, she insinuated that it was my intention to rule her
by means of money, and that it was upon money that I based my
sole right over her. In short, something extraordinarily stupid
and base, which was neither in my character nor in hers.
"I was beside myself. I accused her of indelicacy. She made the
same accusation against me, and the dispute broke out. In her
words, in the expression of her face, of her eyes, I noticed
The Kreutzer Sonata |
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 Almayer's Folly by Joseph Conrad: Nina's chair. To the left, to the right they dodged, the chair
rocking madly between them, she sending out shriek after shriek
at every feint, and he growling meaningless curses through his
hard set teeth. "Oh! the fiendish noise that split his head and
seemed to choke his breath.--It would kill him.--It must be
stopped!" An insane desire to crush that yelling thing induced
him to cast himself recklessly over the chair with a desperate
grab, and they came down together in a cloud of dust amongst the
splintered wood. The last shriek died out under him in a faint
gurgle, and he had secured the relief of absolute silence.
He looked at the woman's face under him. A real woman! He knew
Almayer's Folly |
