| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad: suggesting chaos and eternity. Her arms were folded on the table,
and her head was lying on her arms. Mr Verloc contemplated her
back and the arrangement of her hair for a time, then walked away
from the kitchen door. Mrs Verloc's philosophical, almost
disdainful incuriosity, the foundation of their accord in domestic
life made it extremely difficult to get into contact with her, now
this tragic necessity had arisen. Mr Verloc felt this difficulty
acutely. He turned around the table in the parlour with his usual
air of a large animal in a cage.
Curiosity being one of the forms of self-revelation, - a
systematically incurious person remains always partly mysterious.
The Secret Agent |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from A Second Home by Honore de Balzac: austere expression that were a kill-joy to all who came near her. Was
this change wrought by the ascetic habits of a pharisaism which is not
piety any more than avarice is economy? It would be hard to say.
Beauty without expression is perhaps an imposture. This imperturbable
set smile that the young wife always wore when she looked at Granville
seemed to be a sort of Jesuitical formula of happiness, by which she
thought to satisfy all the requirements of married life. Her charity
was an offence, her soulless beauty was monstrous to those who knew
her; the mildness of her speech was an irritation: she acted, not on
feeling, but on duty.
There are faults which may yield in a wife to the stern lessons of
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Betty Zane by Zane Grey: bullet in the circle, this time nearer the center, Alfred had to acknowledge
defeat.
"Here comes Miller," said Silas Zane. "Perhaps he will want a try."
Col. Zane looked round. Miller had joined the party. He carried his rifle and
accoutrements, and evidently had just returned to the settlement. He nodded
pleasantly to all.
"Miller, will you take a shot for the first prize, which I was about to award
to Jonathan?" said Col. Zane.
"No. I am a little late, and not entitled to a shot. I will take a try for the
others," answered Miller.
At the arrival of Miller on the scene Wetzel had changed his position to one
Betty Zane |
