| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass: never be forgotten, that no slaveholder or overseer
can be convicted of any outrage perpetrated on the
person of a slave, however diabolical it may be, on
the testimony of colored witnesses, whether bond
or free. By the slave code, they are adjudged to be
as incompetent to testify against a white man, as
though they were indeed a part of the brute creation.
Hence, there is no legal protection in fact, whatever
there may be in form, for the slave population; and
any amount of cruelty may be inflicted on them
with impunity. Is it possible for the human mind
 The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: pay for a man's folly--and you have a household."
"I have two--Tuan; but it is a long time since I sat on the
ladder of a house to talk at ease with neighbours. Yes. Two
households; one in--" Lingard smiled faintly. "Tuan, let me
follow you."
"No. You have said it, serang--I am alone. That is true, and
alone I shall go on this very night. But first I must bring all
the white people here. Push."
"Ready, Tuan? Look out!"
Wasub's body swung over the sea with extended arms. Lingard
caught up the sculls, and as the dinghy darted away from the
 The Rescue |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy: there in the silent street, before she could hinder him.
They went on till they came to a little coffee-house. "Jude,"
she said with suppressed tears, "would you mind getting a
lodging here?"
"I will--if, if you really wish? But do you? Let me go to our door
and understand you."
He went and conducted her in. She said she wanted no supper,
and went in the dark upstairs and struck a light. Turning she found
that Jude had followed her, and was standing at the chamber door.
She went to him, put her hand in his, and said "Good-night."
"But Sue! Don't we live here?"
 Jude the Obscure |