| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Fanny Herself by Edna Ferber: ravine. What do you want me to do? Stay here, and grub
away, and become a crabbed old maid like Irma Klein,
thankful to be taken around by the married crowd, joining
the Aid Society and going to the card parties on Sunday
nights? Or I could marry a traveling man, perhaps, or Lee
Kohn of the Golden Eagle. I'm just like any other ambitious
woman with brains--"
"No you're not. You're different. And I'll tell you why.
You're a Jew."
"Yes, I've got that handicap."
"That isn't a handicap, Fanny. It's an asset. Outwardly
 Fanny Herself |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Touchstone by Edith Wharton: the spokeswoman of outraged wifehood. In this light she was
cherished by that dominant portion of Hillbridge society which was
least indulgent to conjugal differences, and which found a
proportionate pleasure in being for once able to feast openly on a
dish liberally seasoned with the outrageous. So much did this
endear Mrs. Aubyn to the university ladies that they were disposed
from the first to allow her more latitude of speech and action
than the ill-used wife was generally accorded in Hillbridge, where
misfortune was still regarded as a visitation designed to put
people in their proper place and make them feel the superiority of
their neighbors. The young woman so privileged combined with a
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The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from The Virginian by Owen Wister: swiftly crossed up on the other side, getting much higher before
they could be reached. It was no place for this sort of game, as
the sides of the ravine were ploughed with steep channels, broken
with jutting knobs of rock, and impeded by short twisted pines
that swung out from their roots horizontally over the pitch of
the hill. The Virginian helped, but used his horse with more
judgment, keeping as much on the level as possible, and
endeavoring to anticipate the next turn of the runaways before
they made it, while Balaam attempted to follow them close,
wheeling short when they doubled, heavily beating up the face of
the slope, veering again to come down to the point he had left,
 The Virginian |