| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Woman and Labour by Olive Schreiner: to labour for her offspring, and the man who refused to hunt or defend
society, would not be supported by their fellows, would soon be
extinguished by want. As wild beasts were extinguished and others tamed
and the materials for war improved, fewer men would be needed for hunting
and war; then they would remain at home and aid in building and planting;
many women would retire into the house to perfect domestic toil and
handicrafts, and on a small scale the common ancient evolution of society
would probably practically repeat itself. But for the present, we see no
such natural and spontaneous division of labour based on natural sexual
distinctions in the new fields of intellectual or delicately skilled manual
labour, which are taking the place of the old.
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Snow Image by Nathaniel Hawthorne: or a fragment of marble, to hold a chat with the solitary man. It
is a lonesome, and, when the character is inclined to thought,
may be an intensely thoughtful occupation; as it proved in the
case of Ethan Brand, who had mused to such strange purpose, in
days gone by, while the fire in this very kiln was burning.
The man who now watched the fire was of a different order, and
troubled himself with no thoughts save the very few that were
requisite to his business. At frequent intervals, he flung back
the clashing weight of the iron door, and, turning his face from
the insufferable glare, thrust in huge logs of oak, or stirred
the immense brands with a long pole. Within the furnace were seen
The Snow Image |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Secret Sharer by Joseph Conrad: for them. It seems they rushed us aft together, gripped as we were,
screaming `Murder!' like a lot of lunatics, and broke into the cuddy.
And the ship running for her life, touch and go all the time, any minute
her last in a sea fit to turn your hair gray only a-looking at it.
I understand that the skipper, too, started raving like the rest of them.
The man had been deprived of sleep for more than a week, and to have
this sprung on him at the height of a furious gale nearly drove him
out of his mind. I wonder they didn't fling me overboard after
getting the carcass of their precious shipmate out of my fingers.
They had rather a job to separate us, I've been told. A sufficiently
fierce story to make an old judge and a respectable jury sit up a bit.
The Secret Sharer |
