| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: orchestra leader varies his rhythm obligingly for her, and there is a
burst of chatter as the erroneous news goes around that she is Gilda
Gray's understudy from the FOLLIES. The party has begun.
I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby's house I was one of
the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not
invited--they went there. They got into automobiles which bore them out
to Long Island, and somehow they ended up at Gatsby's door. Once there
they were introduced by somebody who knew Gatsby, and after that they
conducted themselves according to the rules of behavior associated with
amusement parks. Sometimes they came and went without having met Gatsby
at all, came for the party with a simplicity of heart that was its own
 The Great Gatsby |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson: house, Mr. Rankeillor and I arm in arm, and Torrance following
behind with the deed in his pocket and a covered basket in his
hand. All through the town, the lawyer was bowing right and
left, and continually being button-holed by gentlemen on matters
of burgh or private business; and I could see he was one greatly
looked up to in the county. At last we were clear of the houses,
and began to go along the side of the haven and towards the Hawes
Inn and the Ferry pier, the scene of my misfortune. I could not
look upon the place without emotion, recalling how many that had
been there with me that day were now no more: Ransome taken, I
could hope, from the evil to come; Shuan passed where I dared not
 Kidnapped |