| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott: "I'll be hanged if I do!" And Laurie bounced up off the
grass, burning with indignation at the very idea.
"Yes, you will!" persisted Jo. "You'll get over this after
a while, and find some lovely accomplished girl, who will adore
you, and make a fine mistress for your fine house. I shouldn't.
I'm homely and awkward and odd and old, and you'd be ashamed
of me, and we should quarrel--we can't help it even now, you see-and
I shouldn't like elegant society and you would, and you'd
hate my scribbling, and I couldn't get on without it, and we
should be unhappy, and wish we hadn't done it, and everything
would be horrid!"
Little Women |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Death of the Lion by Henry James: inspiration, and I entertained an insurmountable, an almost
superstitious objection to his crossing the threshold of my
friend's little lonely shabby consecrated workshop. "No, no - we
shan't get at his life that way," I said. "The way to get at his
life is to - But wait a moment!" I broke off and went quickly into
the house, whence I in three minutes reappeared before Mr. Morrow
with the two volumes of Paraday's new book. "His life's here," I
went on, "and I'm so full of this admirable thing that I can't talk
of anything else. The artist's life's his work, and this is the
place to observe him. What he has to tell us he tells us with THIS
perfection. My dear sir, the best interviewer is the best reader."
|
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo: "Good morning, sir. It's all right. I'll go and find my old man."
As she passed, she caught sight of a dry crust of bread on the commode,
which was moulding there amid the dust; she flung herself upon it
and bit into it, muttering:--
"That's good! it's hard! it breaks my teeth!"
Then she departed.
CHAPTER V
A PROVIDENTIAL PEEP-HOLE
Marius had lived for five years in poverty, in destitution,
even in distress, but he now perceived that he had not known
real misery. True misery he had but just had a view of.
Les Miserables |
