| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: reconcile the father and daughter, confided her secret troubles to the
Cruchots.
"Keep a girl of twenty-three on bread and water!" cried Monsieur de
Bonfons; "without any reason, too! Why, that constitutes wrongful
cruelty; she can contest, as much in as upon--"
"Come, nephew, spare us your legal jargon," said the notary. "Set your
mind at ease, madame; I will put a stop to such treatment to-morrow."
Eugenie, hearing herself mentioned, came out of her room.
"Gentlemen," she said, coming forward with a proud step, "I beg you
not to interfere in this matter. My father is master in his own house.
As long as I live under his roof I am bound to obey him. His conduct
Eugenie Grandet |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe: with ye, as I gen'ally do with my niggers; and I'll tell ye now,
to begin with, you treat me fa'r, and I'll treat you fa'r;
I an't never hard on my niggers. Calculates to do the best for
'em I can. Now, ye see, you'd better jest settle down comfortable,
and not be tryin' no tricks; because nigger's tricks of all sorts
I'm up to, and it's no use. If niggers is quiet, and don't try to
get off, they has good times with me; and if they don't, why, it's
thar fault, and not mine."
Tom assured Haley that he had no present intentions of
running off. In fact, the exhortation seemed rather a superfluous
one to a man with a great pair of iron fetters on his feet.
Uncle Tom's Cabin |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Poor and Proud by Oliver Optic: "You wouldn't be poor if you saved up your money, and kept the
Sabbath. Your mother----"
"There, there! that's enough. I will take a dozen sticks!"
exclaimed the young man, impatiently interrupting her.
"A dozen?"
"Yes, a dozen, and there are twelve cents."
"But I only ask ten."
"No matter, give me the candy, and take the money," he replied,
fearful, it may be, that she would again allude to his mother.
Katy counted out the sticks, wrapped them up in a paper, and put
the money in her pocket. If she had stopped at the door to study
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