| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from The Light of Western Stars by Zane Grey: now strangely longed to see him feel. When the man Sneed came
forward, jingling the iron fetters, Madeline's blood turned to
fire. She would have forgiven Stewart then for lapsing into the
kind of cowboy it had been her blind and sickly sentiment to
abhor. This was a man's West--a man's game. What right had a
woman reared in a softer mold to use her beauty and her influence
to change a man who was bold and free and strong? At that
moment, with her blood hot and racing, she would have gloried in
the violence which she had so deplored: she would have welcomed
the action that had characterized Stewart's treatment of Don
Carlos; she had in her the sudden dawning temper of a woman who
The Light of Western Stars |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield: said.
For a moment there was silence. Then Frau Fischer reached down and caught
my hand.
"So young and yet to suffer so cruelly," she murmured. "There is nothing
that sours a woman so terribly as to be left alone without a man,
especially if she is married, for then it is impossible for her to accept
the attention of others--unless she is unfortunately a widow. Of course, I
know that sea-captains are subject to terrible temptations, and they are as
inflammable as tenor singers--that is why you must present a bright and
energetic appearance, and try and make him proud of you when his ship
reaches port."
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad: I watched the coast. Watching a coast as it slips by the ship
is like thinking about an enigma. There it is before you--
smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid, or savage,
and always mute with an air of whispering, `Come and find out.'
This one was almost featureless, as if still in the making,
with an aspect of monotonous grimness. The edge of a colossal jungle,
so dark-green as to be almost black, fringed with white surf,
ran straight, like a ruled line, far, far away along
a blue sea whose glitter was blurred by a creeping mist.
The sun was fierce, the land seemed to glisten and drip with steam.
Here and there greyish-whitish specks showed up clustered
Heart of Darkness |
