| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Marriage Contract by Honore de Balzac: cavils at him again. Fear, my dear fellow, is a valuable social
element, a means of success for those who lower their eyes before
the gaze of no man living. I who care as little to live as to
drink a glass of milk, and who have never felt the emotion of
fear, I have remarked the strange effects produced by that
sentiment upon our modern manners. Some men tremble to lose the
enjoyments to which they are attached, others dread to leave a
woman. The old adventurous habits of other days when life was
flung away like a garment exist no longer. The bravery of a great
many men is nothing more than a clever calculation on the fear of
their adversary. The Poles are the only men in Europe who fight
|
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Marie by H. Rider Haggard: them all.
"Look at him," she said, pointing with her fat finger at my
insignificant self and addressing her family. "If only I had such a
husband or a son, instead of you lumps that God has tied to me like
clogs to the heels of a she-ass, I should be happy."
"God did that in order to prevent you from kicking, old vrouw," said her
husband, a quiet man with a vein of sardonic humour. "If only He had
tied another clog to your tongue, I should be happy also"; whereon the
vrouw smacked his head and her children got out of the way sniggering.
But the most blessed thing of all was my interview with Marie. All that
took place between us can best be left to the imagination, since the
Marie |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy: Bathsheba's adventurous spirit was beginning to find
some grains of relish in these highly novel proceedings.
She took up her position as directed, facing Troy.
"Now just to learn whether you have pluck enough
to let me do what I wish, I'll give you a preliminary
test."
He flourished the sword by way of introduction
number two, and the next thing of which she was
conscious was that the point and blade of the sword
were darting with a gleam towards her left side, just
above her hip; then of their reappearance on her right
Far From the Madding Crowd |
