| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy: for Farfrae's domestic plans.
Not a hint of the matter was thrown out to her stepfather by
Elizabeth herself or by Farfrae either. Reasoning on the
cause of their reticence he concluded that, estimating him
by his past, the throbbing pair were afraid to broach the
subject, and looked upon him as an irksome obstacle whom
they would be heartily glad to get out of the way.
Embittered as he was against society, this moody view of
himself took deeper and deeper hold of Henchard, till the
daily necessity of facing mankind, and of them particularly
Elizabeth-Jane, became well-nigh more than he could endure.
 The Mayor of Casterbridge |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Lost Princess of Oz by L. Frank Baum: "Oh, that must be a dungeon cell!" cried Dorothy, horrified. "How
dreadful!"
"Well, we must get her out of it," said the Wizard.
"That is what we came for, and of course we must rescue Ozma. But how?"
Each one looked at some other one for an answer, and all shook their
heads in a grave and dismal manner. All but Scraps, who danced around
them gleefully. "You're afraid," said the Patchwork Girl, "because so
many things can hurt your meat bodies. Why don't you give it up and
go home? How can you fight a great magician when you have nothing to
fight with?"
Dorothy looked at her reflectively.
 The Lost Princess of Oz |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Atheist's Mass by Honore de Balzac: a sou, without a friend, without credit, and forced to work with
his five fingers to live at all! What would he do? Where would he
go to satisfy his hunger?
"Bianchon, if you have sometimes seen me hard and bitter, it was
because I was adding my early sufferings on to the insensibility,
the selfishness of which I have seen thousands of instances in
the highest circles; or, perhaps, I was thinking of the obstacles
which hatred, envy, jealousy, and calumny raised up between me
and success. In Paris, when certain people see you ready to set
your foot in the stirrup, some pull your coat-tails, others
loosen the buckle of the strap that you may fall and crack your
|