| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: utter destruction of the illusions she had hitherto cherished, she
defended her husband; at the same time, she could not eradicate the
suspicion that had been so ingeniously sown in her soul.
These alarms wrought such havoc in her feeble brain that they made her
ill; she was worn by low fever. These incidents took place during Lent
1822; she would not pretermit her austerities, and fell into a decline
that put her life in danger. Granville's indifference was added
torture; his care and attention were such as a nephew feels himself
bound to give to some old uncle.
Though the Countess had given up her persistent nagging and
remonstrances, and tried to receive her husband with affectionate
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Montezuma's Daughter by H. Rider Haggard: cast by an empire whose glory had gone for ever; now she used no
passionate appeal to the pride and traditions of a doomed race, now
she was no longer young and the first splendour of her womanhood
had departed from her. And yet, as with her son and mine at her
side, she rose to address those seven councillors, who, haggard
with fear and hopeless in the grasp of fate, crouched in silence
before her, their faces buried in their hands, I thought that
Otomie had never seemed more beautiful, and that her words, simple
as they were, had never been more eloquent.
'Friends,' she said, 'you know the disaster that has overtaken us.
My husband has given you the message of the Teules. Our case is
Montezuma's Daughter |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Russia in 1919 by Arthur Ransome: against every form of intervention for the following
reasons:
1. The continuation of hostilities, the need of an army and
of active defence were bound to intensify the least desirable
qualities of the revolution whereas an agreement, by
lessening the tension, would certainly lead to moderation of
Bolshevik Policy. 2. The needs of the army overwhelmed
every effort at restoring the economic life of the country.
He was further convinced that intervention of any kind
favoured reaction, even supposing that the Allies did not
wish this. "They cannot help themselves," he said,
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