| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Father Goriot by Honore de Balzac: "Their mistresses! You mean their wives," remarked Poiret.
"No, sir. A convict's wife is usually an illegitimate connection.
We call them concubines."
"Then they all live in a state of concubinage?"
"Naturally."
"Why, these are abominations that his Excellency ought not to
allow. Since you have the honor of seeing his Excellency, you,
who seem to have philanthropic ideas, ought really to enlighten
him as to their immoral conduct--they are setting a shocking
example to the rest of society."
"But the Government does not hold them up as models of all the
Father Goriot |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: about life that are supposed to be the crowning grace of girlhood.
This very competence, which gave her a touching reasonableness,
made Glennard's situation more difficult than if he had aspired to
a princess bred in the purple. Between them they asked so little--
they knew so well how to make that little do--but they understood
also, and she especially did not for a moment let him forget, that
without that little the future they dreamed of was impossible.
The sight of her photograph quickened Glennard's exasperation. He
was sick and ashamed of the part he was playing. He had loved her
now for two years, with the tranquil tenderness that gathers depth
and volume as it nears fulfilment; he knew that she would wait for
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Girl with the Golden Eyes by Honore de Balzac: She had wept. On her knees like an angel in prayer, but like an angel
profoundly sad and melancholy, the poor girl no longer resembled the
curious, impatient, and impetuous creature who had carried De Marsay
on her wings to transport him to the seventh heaven of love. There was
something so true in this despair veiled by pleasure, that the
terrible De Marsay felt within him an admiration for this new
masterpiece of nature, and forgot, for the moment, the chief interest
of his assignation.
"What is the matter with thee, my Paquita?"
"My friend," she said, "carry me away this very night. Bear me to some
place where no one can answer: 'There is a girl with a golden gaze
The Girl with the Golden Eyes |
