| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Herbert West: Reanimator by H. P. Lovecraft: of overcoming it artificially. His views, which were widely ridiculed
by the faculty and by his fellow-students, hinged on the essentially
mechanistic nature of life; and concerned means for operating
the organic machinery of mankind by calculated chemical action
after the failure of natural processes. In his experiments with
various animating solutions, he had killed and treated immense
numbers of rabbits, guinea-pigs, cats, dogs, and monkeys, till
he had become the prime nuisance of the college. Several times
he had actually obtained signs of life in animals supposedly dead;
in many cases violent signs but he soon saw that the perfection
of his process, if indeed possible, would necessarily involve
Herbert West: Reanimator |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: "There's sport for you," said Tom, nodding. "I'd like to be out there
with him for about an hour."
We had luncheon in the dining-room, darkened too against the heat,
and drank down nervous gayety with the cold ale.
"What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?" cried Daisy, "and the
day after that, and the next thirty years?"
"Don't be morbid," Jordan said. "Life starts all over again when it gets
crisp in the fall."
"But it's so hot," insisted Daisy, on the verge of tears, "and
everything's so confused. Let's all go to town!"
Her voice struggled on through the heat, beating against it, molding its
The Great Gatsby |
