| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Chouans by Honore de Balzac: roused Brittany against the Republic, and sent thousands of men, five
years before this history begins, to the support of the first
Chouannerie. The brothers Cottereau, whose name was given to that
first uprising, were bold smugglers, plying their perilous trade
between Laval and Fougeres. The insurrections of Brittany had nothing
fine or noble about them; and it may be truly said that if La Vendee
turned its brigandage into a great war, Brittany turned war into a
brigandage. The proscription of princes, the destruction of religion,
far from inspiring great sacrifices, were to the Chouans pretexts for
mere pillage; and the events of this intestine warfare had all the
savage moroseness of their own natures. When the real defenders of the
The Chouans |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence: upon a pale fawn floor of oak-leaves. He found flowers for her.
"Here's a bit of new-mown hay," he said; then, again, he brought
her forget-me-nots. And, again, his heart hurt with love, seeing her hand,
used with work, holding the little bunch of flowers he gave her.
She was perfectly happy.
But at the end of the riding was a fence to climb. Paul was
over in a second.
"Come," he said, "let me help you."
"No, go away. I will do it in my own way."
He stood below with his hands up ready to help her.
She climbed cautiously.
Sons and Lovers |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Wife, et al by Anton Chekhov: was preparing myself to confront a gentleman with epaulettes,
with a naked sword, and with terrible eyes!
But imagine my disappointment! A dapper little foppish gentleman
in white silk trousers, with a white cap on his head, was walking
beside my mother in the garden. With his hands behind him and his
head thrown back, every now and then running on ahead of mother,
he looked quite young. There was so much life and movement in his
whole figure that I could only detect the treachery of age when I
came close up behind and saw beneath his cap a fringe of
close-cropped silver hair. Instead of the staid dignity and
stolidity of a general, I saw an almost schoolboyish nimbleness;
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