| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: sure it was twenty miles off, on the borders of another county; but
what was that distance to an ardent lover? To so practised and
indefatigable a horseman as Mr. Rochester, it would be but a
morning's ride. I began to cherish hopes I had no right to
conceive: that the match was broken off; that rumour had been
mistaken; that one or both parties had changed their minds. I used
to look at my master's face to see if it were sad or fierce; but I
could not remember the time when it had been so uniformly clear of
clouds or evil feelings. If, in the moments I and my pupil spent
with him, I lacked spirits and sank into inevitable dejection, he
became even gay. Never had he called me more frequently to his
Jane Eyre |
The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne: that the awful symbol was the effect of the ever-active
312 THE SCARLET LETTER
tooth of remorse, gnawing from the inmost heart outwardly, and at
last manifesting Heaven's dreadful judgment by the visible
presence of the letter. The reader may choose among these
The Scarlet Letter |
| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from The Rescue by Joseph Conrad: little above a whisper: "Why don't you say something?" she
answered readily, "Let me get my breath first."
Round them all sounds had ceased. The men had secured again the
opening through which those arms had snatched her into a moment
of self-forgetfulness which had left her out of breath but
uncrushed. As if something imperative had been satisfied she had
a moment of inward serenity, a period of peace without thought
while, holding to that arm that trembled no more than an arm of
iron, she felt stealthily over the ground for one of the sandals
which she had lost. Oh, yes, there was no doubt of it, she had
been carried off the earth, without shame, without regret. But
The Rescue |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Oakdale Affair by Edgar Rice Burroughs: with him."
Bridge sat on the front seat with the driver and one
of Burton's men, while Burton, sitting in the back seat
next to the girl, could not but overhear her conversa-
tion.
"You are right," he said. "Bridge, as you call him, is a
gentleman. He comes of one of the finest families of Vir-
ginia and one of the wealthiest. You need have no
hesitancy, Mr. Prim, in inviting him into your home."
For a while the three sat in silence; and then Jonas
Prim turned to his daughter. "Gail," he said, "before we
The Oakdale Affair |
