| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: action of his own conscience, a terrible machinery had been
brought to bear, and was still operating, on Mr. Dimmesdale's
well-being and repose. Knowing what this poor fallen man had
once been, her whole soul was moved by the shuddering terror with
which he had appealed to her -- the outcast woman -- for support
against his instinctively discovered enemy. She decided,
moreover, that he had a right to her utmost aid. Little
accustomed, in her long seclusion from society, to measure her
ideas of right and wrong by any standard external to herself,
Hester saw -- or seemed to see -- that there lay a responsibility
upon her in
The Scarlet Letter |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from Collected Articles by Frederick Douglass: the same general description. Hence many slaves could escape
by personating the owner of one set of papers; and this was often done
as follows: A slave, nearly or sufficiently answering the description
set forth in the papers, would borrow or hire them till by means of them
he could escape to a free State, and then, by mail or otherwise,
would return them to the owner. The operation was a hazardous one for
the lender as well as for the borrower. A failure on the part of
the fugitive to send back the papers would imperil his benefactor,
and the discovery of the papers in possession of the wrong man
would imperil both the fugitive and his friend. It was, therefore,
an act of supreme trust on the part of a freeman of color thus to
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: want to carry you away to a cave and love you until I kill you--you can't
understand how a man feels. I kill myself when I see you--I'm sick of my
own strength that turns in upon itself, and dies, and rises new born like a
Phoenix out of the ashes of that horrible death. Love me just this once,
tell me a lie, SAY that you do--you are always lying."
Instead, she pushed him away--frightened.
"Get up," she said; "suppose the servant came in with the tea?"
"Oh, ye gods!" He stumbled to his feet and stood staring down at her.
"You're rotten to the core and so am I. But you're heathenishly
beautiful."
The woman went over to the piano--stood there--striking one note--her brows
|
