| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Phaedrus by Plato: cannot fail in unity, and that the unity of a dialogue requires a single
subject. But the conception of unity really applies in very different
degrees and ways to different kinds of art; to a statue, for example, far
more than to any kind of literary composition, and to some species of
literature far more than to others. Nor does the dialogue appear to be a
style of composition in which the requirement of unity is most stringent;
nor should the idea of unity derived from one sort of art be hastily
transferred to another. The double titles of several of the Platonic
Dialogues are a further proof that the severer rule was not observed by
Plato. The Republic is divided between the search after justice and the
construction of the ideal state; the Parmenides between the criticism of
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Underdogs by Mariano Azuela: But Azuela was fundamentally a moralist, and his disappoint-
ment with the Revolution soon began to manifest itself. He had
fought for a better Mexico; but he saw that while the Revolution
had corrected certain injustices, it had given rise to others
equally deplorable. When he saw the self-servers and the un-
principled turning his hopes for the redemption of the under-
privileged of his country into a ladder to serve their own ends,
his disillusionment was deep and often bitter. His later novels
are marred at times by a savage sarcasm
During his later years, and until his death in 1952, he lived in
Mexico City writing and practicing his profession among the
The Underdogs |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from A House of Pomegranates by Oscar Wilde: '"The god is at the feast," he cried.
'"If the wine be sweet I will drink it with him, and if it be
bitter I will drink it with him also," was my answer.
'He bowed his head in wonder, and, taking me by the hand, he raised
me up, and led me into the temple.
'And in the first chamber I saw an idol seated on a throne of
jasper bordered with great orient pearls. It was carved out of
ebony, and in stature was of the stature of a man. On its forehead
was a ruby, and thick oil dripped from its hair on to its thighs.
Its feet were red with the blood of a newly-slain kid, and its
loins girt with a copper belt that was studded with seven beryls.
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