| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: solemnity, read three pages, she interrupted him with:
"Do you know, mamma, that my uncle Phillips talks of turning
away Richard; and if he does, Colonel Forster will hire him. My
aunt told me so herself on Saturday. I shall walk to Meryton
to-morrow to hear more about it, and to ask when Mr. Denny
comes back from town."
Lydia was bid by her two eldest sisters to hold her tongue; but
Mr. Collins, much offended, laid aside his book, and said:
"I have often observed how little young ladies are interested by
books of a serious stamp, though written solely for their benefit.
It amazes me, I confess; for, certainly, there can be nothing so
Pride and Prejudice |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Altar of the Dead by Henry James: ship, that its whole contents cried out with him, that it was a
museum in his honour, that all her later years had been addressed
to him and that the shrine he himself had reared had been
passionately converted to this use. It was all for Acton Hague
that she had kneeled every day at his altar. What need had there
been for a consecrated candle when he was present in the whole
array? The revelation so smote our friend in the face that he
dropped into a seat and sat silent. He had quickly felt her shaken
by the force of his shock, but as she sank on the sofa beside him
and laid her hand on his arm he knew almost as soon that she
mightn't resent it as much as she'd have liked.
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Unseen World and Other Essays by John Fiske: the opportunity which it affords for complete individual life.
Tried by this test, our contemporary civilization will appear
seriously defective,--excellent only as a preparation for
something better.
This is the true light in which to regard it. This incessant
turmoil, this rage for accumulation of wealth, this crowding,
jostling, and trampling upon one another, cannot be regarded as
permanent, or as anything more than the accompaniment of a
transitional stage of civilization. There must be a limit to the
extent to which the standard of comfortable living can be raised.
The industrial organization of society, which is now but
The Unseen World and Other Essays |
