Dr.+Heidegger's+Experiment

= Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: Dr. Heidegger's Experiment =

Point of View: Third person by an omniscient narrator. Protagonist: The protagonist of the story is Dr. Heidegger, since this story and the title is Dr.Heidegger's Experiment. What type of character is the Protagonist? The protagonist is both static and dynamic, because he never actully tried to drink the water from the Fountain of Youth, he is just not sure if he should or not. But he changed his mind, because he realize that his friends were very shallow and greedy, he had learned a lesson from them. I would also say he is a half flat character, because he didn't have a whole lot of traits compare to the other characters.

Antagonist: ﻿ I think the antagonist of the story is the Fountain of Youth, because it made the doctors friends once again young, but it also made them foolish, greedy, and shallow as they had been; and it could. I also think the antagonists could be Dr. Heidegger's friends, since they had a choose to drink the water from the Fountain of Youth or not and the Fountain of Youth doesn't do anything except for making them young again. They antagonist could also be the old age, since that is the reason that holds back Dr. Heidegger's friend from making the right choose, the desperate of be young and feel young again. Describe the setting

The story takes place in Dr. Heidegger's study, near Florida, since that is where we believe the Fountain of Youth is located. I think the story takes place in the late 1800s to early 1900s, because when the author described what Dr. Heidegger's house look like in the beginning of the story, it was defiantly not in these times period. It was more like old fashioned styled. In the beginning of the story the mood is sort of creepy and mysterious when the narrator described Dr. Heidegger's house and what is inside of it. The overall mood of the story is joyous, because it made his four old friends happy, since they became young again.

Type of Conflict: Man Vs. Themselves

Describe the main conflict: The main conflict to me is the old age, because the reason that the friends went through all those trouble is becasue that they are desperate to be young again, and they are desperate to feel young and to feel pretty again. Describe the Climax of the Story: I think that the climax of the story is when the three men look into the mirror and see themselves old again, fighting for the heart of an old wrinkled lady.When the men are fighting over Widow Wycherly again, just like the old days they found out that they are old again and they felt exactly how they had felt before they tried Dr. Heidegger's experiment. How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story?

The protagonist learned to not drink from the fountain of youth for the same thing would happen to him as to the four old people. Dr. Heidegger didn't change a lot throughout the course of the story, i n the beginning of the story, Dr. Heidegger woundered if he should drink from the Fountain of Youth or not. But after see his experiment on his friends and how his four old friends behaved and acted. he thought tha t the water is like drug that addicted you, and everyong will get old one day, and the water will have run out one day. H e said that "Well- I bemoan it not; for if the fountain gushed at my very doorstep, I would not stoop to bathe my lips in it- no, though it is delirium were for years instead of moments." He taught a lesson to himself through the experiment, that if he drink the water he will go back to how he acted before, and lose all of his knowledge over the years.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme.

The theme for the story relates to the title, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," because it's all about believing in something or you are desperate in somethings so much that your mind makes an illusion of it. The title related to that because the Dr. Heidegger is trying his experiment,which may only be a trick of the mind, but makes his friends believe it's not.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme?

The four old friends of Dr. Heidegger believed so strongly that they would be young again after drinking the water, and it shown that they haven't learned anything from their previous life experiences and once they became young, their minds made an illusion of that and they repeated they same mistakes.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme?

The climax help to illustrate the theme, because the three old gentlemen were fighting over Wycherly, an old lady, while thinking and acting as if they were once again young, and had actually regained their youth. They started doing the same things when they were young and behaving the same way as they did in the past.

Give examples of each of the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):

Simile: a) "The crushed and dried petals stirred, and assumed a deepening tinge of crimson, as if the flower were reviving from a deathlike slumber..."  b) "...while the shadows of age were flitting from it like darkness from the crimson daybreak."

c) "...and now again he spoke in measured accents, and a deeply deferential tone, as if a royal ear were listening to his well-turned periods."

Metaphor: a) "The fresh gloss of the soul..."

b) "While he spoke, the butterfly fluttered down from the doctor's snowy head..."

Personification: a) "...the skeleton had rattled in it's closet..."

b) "...a man of evil fame..."

Symbol: "...the skeleton had rattled in its closet..." represents a deep secret someon may have or something that they want to hide.

Foreshadowing (give both elements):

“It is a circumstance worth mentioning that each of these three old gentlemen, Mr. Medbourne, Colonel Killigrew, and Mr. Gascoigne, were early lovers of the Widow Wycherly, and had once been on the point of cutting each other's throats for her sake.” In this quote, it sort of gives away that there may be a fight between the three men over Widow Wycherly once they became young again, since they were all in loved with her before. Also in the introduction the author described the mistakes the four old people have maid in their past, and that tells me some part of the story when they drink the water from the Fountain of Youth, they are going to interacted with their mistakes. Whether is to correct the mistakes or make the same mistakes.

Irony:

I think there are two big ironies in the story. The first irony is when Dr. Heidegger offers the water to the elderly people thinking that they would be different if they had become young again and they would make up the mistakes that they made in the pass, but he had thought wrong. Once they had thought they were young again they acted just as they did when they were actually young, which was foolish and sort of dumb things, such as fighting over Madam Wycherly. Once they find out they are old again, they get sad and disappointed and turned back to how they are now. The second irony in the story is that at the end, Dr. Heidegger taught a lesson of life to his four old friends, but the four friends had taught no such lesson to themselves. Even after seeing how they behaved and acted during the experiment, they still " resolved forthwith to make a pilgrimage to Florid, and quaff at morning, noon, and night, from the Fountain of Youth.

Imagery: " If all stories were true, Dr. Heidegger's study must have been a very cruious place. It was a dim, old-fashioned chamber, festooned with cobwebs, and besprinkled with antique dust, Around the walls stood several oaken bookcases, the lower shelves of which were filled with rows of gigantic folios and black-letter quartos, and the upper with little parchment-covered duodecimos."

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. Whether is the protagonist, Dr. Heigegger or his four old friends, they all made chooses through out the story. If Dr. Heidegger didn't chose to do this experiment on his friends, then noun of the things that happened in the story would happen, and the four olds friends end up in Florid and "quaff at morning, noon, and night, from the Fountain of Youth." But on the other hand, the four old friends choose to drink the water from the Fountain of Youth at the frist place, since they were desperate to be young again. The four olf people already made some poor choices in the past that ruined them, but once they became young again, they completely ignore the mistakes that the made in the past, and went back to making those same mistakes just like the old days. At the end, when the effects of the Fountain of Youth have worn off, they choose to ignore the lesson of life that Dr. Heidegger had taught to them and their behavers during the expeniment, they decided that they want to go to Florida and drink from the Fountain of Youth every morning, noon and night. The four old friends were taught no lesson to themselves, and do they really think just drinking from the Fountain of Youth would make everything and their life better? If they don't correct the mistakes that the made before, even if they are going to stay young forever, life is going to be just as suck as it is and it was.

= Responding: =

1. According to Dr. Heidegger the purpose of his experiment was to see how people acted after drink the water from the Fountain of Youth, and to see if it was actually worth drinking for himself. Also he wanted to know what going to happen to the people after drinking the water, since he already experiment on the rose before, he had wanted to work with it a little more.

2 . ﻿Dr. Heidegger's friends have in common is that all ﻿ of them made mistakes in their past. During the experiment, their behavior was very shallow, they all start to act foolish and do dumb stuff, just as they did when they were young. An example of something silly they did was when they all started to fight for Madame Wycherly again just like the old days, because she had looked young again, with no wrinkles or anything. None of them learned anything from the experience except for how the Fountain of Youth make you young again.

3. The Doctor said he was in no hurry to feel young again. Maybe it's because he knows the effects the water has or he has tried it himself in the past. He thought that there was no point and it wasn't even worth trying, because everyone will eventually get old again one day. His friends don't agree and they are very eager to drink from the fountain, and after seeing how his friend acted acted, and lose all of their useful knowledge they had learned over the past years. Dr.Heideger sure won't drink from the Fountain of Youth.

4. The narrator in the story is not one of the characters mentioned in it, they are outside of the story, telling the readers what happened (omnicient.) I think the narrator is someone who knows everything that was going on, it could have been a relative or a friend who is there and could have been telling the story. To me the narrator could also be the ghost that's in the mirror or the picture of the young lady, since the narrator was confident of what was going on, so he or she or it probablt watched the whole thing happen.

5. The points made about aging in the story, are how wrinkled and ugly you get, and how your body doesn't feel good as it have been. Another view, the story is trying to tell you that even if you are old you still have a lot of life experience and it is very valuable and it doesn't matter what other people thinks. You can still accomplish a lot things when you are old, and enjoy it when you still can. I agree, because old people are wise and they know more than you do and even if your are old, if you have a young heart you can still do things if you believe that you can do it. Life are not going to be perfect even when you are young, you went through a lot trouble growing up, and everyone has to get old, it is part of life.

7. I do not think that is desirable, because if humans lived for 800 years, the world would become way over populated, and all of Earth's resources would run out, which would mean the end of the world, for most species who need water and food, such as humans. 800 years is just too long for a lifespan of humans, you would be bored to death if you leave 800 years, and you probably going think why can't life be over already. Also, terrible things could happen to the world in a few hundred years, like maybe wars, global waring and some other things that could destory the world.

 Completion 5/5  Effort 5/5  Content 5/5

 Total 15/15

 Questions Completion Mark 5/5

 Total 20/20