| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson: just a bribe? And if even I was certain of the bribe! But by a' that
I can learn, it's far frae that; and if YOU were to hang, where would I
be? Na: the thing's no possible. And just awa' wi' ye like a bonny
lad! and let Andie read his chapter."
I remember I was at bottom a good deal gratified with this result; and
the next humour I fell into was one (I had near said) of gratitude to
Prestongrange, who had saved me, in this violent, illegal manner, out
of the midst of my dangers, temptations, and perplexities. But this
was both too flimsy and too cowardly to last me long, and the
remembrance of James began to succeed to the possession of my spirits.
The 21st, the day set for the trial, I passed in such misery of mind as
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The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Riverman by Stewart Edward White: doorway, dragged his legs under him, then with extraordinary agility
swung to the pier, his teeth shining like ivory in his black face.
"Yas, suh!" said he.
"Harvey," said Captain Marsh briskly, "we're going to try to get a
line aboard those vessels out there. It's dangerous. You don't
have to go if you don't want to. Will you go?"
Harvey removed his cap and scratched his wool. The grin faded from
his good-natured countenance.
"You-all goin', suh?" he asked.
"Of course."
"I reckon I'll done haif to go, too," said Harvey simply. Without
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: The fact is I was completely unnerved by a sheer blank fright,
pure abstract terror, unconnected with any distinct shape
of physical danger. What made this emotion so overpowering was--
how shall I define it?--the moral shock I received,
as if something altogether monstrous, intolerable to thought
and odious to the soul, had been thrust upon me unexpectedly.
This lasted of course the merest fraction of a second, and then
the usual sense of commonplace, deadly danger, the possibility
of a sudden onslaught and massacre, or something of the kind,
which I saw impending, was positively welcome and composing.
It pacified me, in fact, so much that I did not raise an alarm.
Heart of Darkness |
