| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf: about the fishing industry. Why did no one ask him his opinion? What
did they know about the fishing industry?
Lily Briscoe knew all that. Sitting opposite him, could she not see,
as in an X-ray photograph, the ribs and thigh bones of the young man's
desire to impress himself, lying dark in the mist of his flesh--that
thin mist which convention had laid over his burning desire to break
into the conversation? But, she thought, screwing up her Chinese
eyes, and remembering how he sneered at women, "can't paint, can't
write," why should I help him to relieve himself?
There is a code of behaviour, she knew, whose seventh article (it may
be) says that on occasions of this sort it behoves the woman, whatever
 To the Lighthouse |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Padre Ignacio by Owen Wister: his turn.
The Padre laughed outright with pleasure and laid his hand upon the young
man's arm. "You have no intention of going away to-morrow, I trust?"
"With your leave," answered Gaston, "I will have such an intention no
longer."
It was with the air and gait of mutual understanding that the two now
walked on together toward the Padre's door. The guest was twenty-five,
the host sixty.
"And have you been in America long?" inquired Gaston.
"Twenty years."
"And at Santa Ysabel how long?"
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