| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Whirligigs by O. Henry: life. The fun of camping out in a cave had made him
forget that he was a captive, himself. He immediately
christened me Snake-eye, the Spy, and announced that,
when his braves returned from the warpath, I was to be
broiled at the stake at the rising of the sun.
Then we had supper; and he filled his mouth full of
bacon and bread and gravy, and began to talk. He made
a during-dinner speech something like this:
"I like this fine. I never camped out before; but I
had a pet 'possum once, and I was nine last birthday.
I hate to go to school. Rats ate up sixteen of Jimmy
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave by Frederick Douglass: merrily before the gentle gale, and I sadly before
the bloody whip! You are freedom's swift-winged
angels, that fly round the world; I am confined in
bands of iron! O that I were free! O, that I were
on one of your gallant decks, and under your pro-
tecting wing! Alas! betwixt me and you, the turbid
waters roll. Go on, go on. O that I could also go!
Could I but swim! If I could fly! O, why was I born
a man, of whom to make a brute! The glad ship
is gone; she hides in the dim distance. I am left in
the hottest hell of unending slavery. O God, save
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Tono Bungay by H. G. Wells: things? So! You can't make coffee, eh? Well, try your hand.
Cast down this screen--no--fold it up and so we'll go into the
other room. I'll keep in bed all the same. The fire's a gas
stove. Yes. Don't make it bang too loud as you light it--I
can't stand it this morning. You won't smoke ?... Well, it does
me good to see you again, Ponderevo. Tell me what you're doing,
and how you're getting on."
He directed me in the service of his simple hospitality, and
presently I came back to his bed and sat down and smiled at him
there, smoking comfortably, with his hands under his head,
surveying me.
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