Dr.+Heidegger's+Experiment

**  ﻿ ﻿ ﻿ Short Stories - Literary Devises ** **Title: Dr. Heidegger's Experiment.** ** Point of View: **  I think the point of view is third person but slightly omniscient.

** Protagonist: ** The protagonist in this story is Dr. Heidegger, he is the main character, and he is the one conducting the experiment on the other people. ** What type of character is the Protagonist? ** I think that the protagonist is a round, or dynamic character, because he has a history, secrets, is the one being described, and changes from the beginning to end. (See antagonist)  ** Antagonist: ** The antagonist of this story is the fountain of youth, it causes dilemma for everybody, it provides temporary youth, but more future problems, like not wanting to be old ever again "We shall quaff at morning, noon, and night from the fountain of youth." Dr. Heideggers friends don't really deserve the water, he is just testing it on them, they are just fooling themselves. They had more wisdom when they were older. If you wanted you could also think of Dr. Heidegger as the protagonist, to the other people, because he uses them as test subjects for the water, he is not quite sure what could happen, or how it affects them, or how they will act to each other, he just gives it to them. He also changes their lives, they will never want to be old again, and like young people seem to think, they would just think something along the lines of, if i am young again, i am going to have fun, i already went to school, had a job, etc. So they will just act like they were when they had no job, or education to worry about. Usually when you are not busy, you get into trouble. Although i may be incorrect since he cannot be both the antagonist and the protagonist.

The antagonist of the story could ethier be the fountain of youth or Dr. Heidegger. If it is the fountain of youth, it is a flat character, because it is an inanimate object, it is not written about, it has no feelings, soul, or personallity. If it is Dr. Heidegger, i'd say her is round or dynamic. The story explains his past, that he has secrets, what kind of person he is, etc. At the start he probably sees the water as a good thing or that he is unsure about it, but at the end he states that "If the fountain gushed at my doorstep, i would not stoop to bathe my lips in it." Which is change.
 * What type of character is the Antagonist?**

** Describe the setting ** The story takes place in I think somewhere around the the 1800s, i know for a fact that the story was written in 1837, so it probably takes place sometime during the victorian age, at that time, or later than. Referring to the story, it describes the decoration of the Dr. Heidegger's house, and by the way it sounds, i would guess it is decorated victorian style. It is also said that the decorations are old fashioned, suggesting that it is after the Victorian period. From the language they use, names, and words, you can see that it is some time between the times i gave. The mood of the story, i would say is mysterious, you are not sure what will happen at first, you are skeptical, and then at the end it says "was it an illusion?" At this point the reader is not too sure if it is ethier, it depends on opinion. Another thing is that it is probably night time, "...It was now nearly sunset, that the chamber had grown duskier than ever.." This was in the middle of the story so it is probably nighttime.

** Type of Conflict: ** The type of conflict in this story is, man vs. man, or man vs. himself. In the story the other characters start to fight over Widow Witcherly, which is man vs. man. Dr. Heidegger is not sure if he should drink the water, or not, which is self conflict, so he conducts the experiment. The skeletons in the closet part also represents that the Docter has a secret, which means that he probably thinks that the water might fix the problem.

** Describe the main conflict: ** I think the main conflict of the story is when Dr. Heidegger is not sure to try the water or not, he doesn't know what could happen to him if he does, something negative or positive. Which is why he conducts the experiment in the first place. Or you could also say that it is over Widow Witcherly, but that only happens in part of the story. ** Describe the Climax of the Story: ** ** ﻿The climax of the story is when the test subjects break the vase containing the water of life, due to them fighting over Widow Wicherly. After this happens, they all start to turn old again, and they start to think about what just happened. This is the downwards movement, then the story ends. ** ** How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? ** ﻿﻿First the protagonist is unsure, about to try the water or not because he is not sure what will happen. Then he gets his friends to try the water, with all the knowledge they learned during their lives, they still repeat their mistakes, they act very immaturely. He learns the water will not help anything, and that he might just end up like them. He learns that anything that can be done in youth, you can still do in old age, everyone has to get old, and that it is all part of life. At the end he decides it isn't worth it, and also finds out it wears off on people. If he did drink it, his life would just become a frenzy of drinking it, and acting foolishly. He completes his experiment.

** Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. ** ** ﻿The title is Dr. Heideggers experiment. The theme of the story is that usually even though you have learned lessons through experience you can still fall back into the same things you did while you were young. That age does not really matter, and that beauty is vain. The title and theme are the same because in the story he is conducting an experiment, which makes the protagonist realize all these things, and makes the reader feel a certain way, and maybe even learn a lesson themself. ** <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">** How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? ** <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b347b3; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">﻿The main conflict of the story is when Dr. Heidgger does not know if he should try the water, or not. The theme is that you can do the same things when your young as when your old, that even with experience you can still make similar mistakes to your past ones, and that beauty is vain, youth is a little bit overrated. He learns this from his experiment that he uses to solve his internal conflict. <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">** How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? ** The climax is when the test subjects start to rough around with each other over the widow and break the vase. The theme is basicly that even with experience you can still fall back into your old habits of things, because it is tempting. Even with a warning, like he gives them, "...it would be well that, with the experience of a lifetime to direct you, you should draw up a few general rules for your guidance, in passing a second time through the perils of youth." <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">** Give examples of each of the the following literary terms in the story (use quotes): ** <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">** Simile: ﻿ ** <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">** This story uses a lot of literary terms like similes for example; ** <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">**<span style="color: #b347b3; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">. **<span style="color: #b347b3; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">" as if the flower were reviving from a deathlike slumber..." <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">**<span style="color: #b347b3; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">. **<span style="color: #b347b3; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"> " They felt like new-created beings, in a new-created universe” **.** "As black as ebony."
 * <span style="color: #b347b3; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">. **<span style="color: #b347b3; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">"...while the shadows of age were flitting from it like darkness from the crimson daybreak." <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #b347b3; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">**.** "...brimful of this wonderful water, the delicate spray of which, as it effervesced from the surface, resembled tremulous glitter of diamonds."
 * <span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Metaphor: **

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">**<span style="color: #b347b3; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">. ** "They were all melancholy old creatures." <span style="color: #b347b3; font: 12px/0px Helvetica; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden;"> **.** "While he spoke, the butterfly fluttered down from the doctor's snowy head..."
 * . ** "The fresh gloss of the soul."

**.** "Whose eccentricity had become the nucleus for a thousand fantastic stories."

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">** Personification: ** <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">. "Sly and doubtful whisper." <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;"> **.** "... exceedingly curious experiment." <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">**. ** "...A very pretty deception." . "...for some of it's delicate red leaves curled modestly around its moist bosom..." <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">** Symbols: ** Some symbols used in this story are things like, the rose, the skeletons in the closet, the statue of hippocrate, and the faces in the mirror. The rose represents life, at the start it is colorful, moist, strong, and beautiful, but as it ages it becomes drier, browner, and more fragile. " what once was a rose, though now the green leaves and crimson petals had assumed one brownish hue." You can also look at it as a symbol of love for him and Sylvia, beautiful, strong, etc. Another thing that at the end of the story the docter says that "I love it as well thus as in its dewy freshness." Which means that life is just as great when you are young, as when you are old, if you know how to love it. The skeletons in the closet represent that Dr. Heidegger has some secrets, that he has something to hide, that he doesn't want people to know about, maybe that he killed Sylvia? Who knows. The statue of hippocrate represents knowledge, he is probably like inspiration, or a mentor like thing to the docter. Hippocrate was famous for his knowledge of medicine. The portrait of Sylvia could go along with the skeletons in the closet. In the story it says that "Dr. Heidegger had been on the point of marriage with this young lady; but, being afflicted with some slight disorder, she had swallowed one of her lover's prescriptions, and died on the bridal evening." Dr. Heidegger could have perscribed the wrong medication for her to take. He could not be too good at being a docter, especially if he has dead patients in the mirror like the story says. "The doctor's deceased patients dwelt within its verge, and would stare him in the face whenever he looked thitherward." Maybe he had something to do with their death, like perscribing the wrong thing, maybe the patients in the mirror represent him being haunted by guilt. The black book i think could represent mystery, it has no title, and nobody knows what is written inside it. If you looked deeper, the water, and the mirror would have some meaning as well.

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">** Foreshadowing (give both elements): **

Well at the start of the story it talks about each of their historys, and how they are misfortunate, and unhappy. Then it says that there are champane glasses on the table, and it starts to talk about water, and you kinda know where its going from there. He is going to try and make them young again. Another example is when the story says that “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.” They are talking about Widow Wycherly, and it makes you think that if she is young again, and they are, it might happen again.

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">** Irony: ** The irony of the story, is that the old people really don't want to be old, they are miserable being old, all they want is to be young again. Once given the precious chance, all they do is do what they did when they were young, unintelligent things, like fighting over widow wicherly again. Then they become old again, and are once again sad, they decide that all four of them will "... make a pilgrimage to Florida (where the fountain is), and quaff at morning, noon, and night, from the Fountain of youth." Another probably better example is of verbal irony, "And then the four young people laughed louder than ever, to think what a queer figure the poor old doctor would cut." It is ironic that even though their young on the inside like that mirror showed, they make fun of the docter, who made them young, and then they become old again as well. <span style="color: #b347b3; font: 12px/0px Helvetica; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden;"> <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">** Imagery: **

Included in this story, is lots of imagery, like..."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 twos of gigantic folios and black-letter quartos, and the upper with little parchment-covered duodecimos. Over the central bookcase was a bronze bust of Hippocrates..."

“The crushed and dried petals stirred, and assumed a deepening tinge of crimson, as if the flower were reviving from a deathlike slumber; the slender stalk and twigs of foliage became green; and where was the rose of half a century looking as fresh...” <span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;"> "...delicate spray of which, as it effervesced from the surface, resembled the tremulous glitter of diamonds."

<span style="display: block; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; margin: 0px;">** Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. ** The class theme is mystery, and in some ways the story is mysterious. You don't know if the water is actually real, if it has powers, or if the water is just alcohol, and they are drunk. The water does make them physicly appear younger, but maybe they are not inside. It gives evidence, and the docter has other magical items in his house, which could mean in the story magic is real. It makes the rose, and the butterfly come back to life as well. On the other hand it is often being compaired to wine, it is said to have "intoxicating qualities," and it is asked if it was a delusion. It is just an opinion thing. There are other things you are not sure of too, like what the docters secrets are, and things like that.

The purpose of the experiment is to see if Dr. Heidegger should drink the water himself, he is testing to see what it does, and how it works on people. It is also to see if how the people will act with their personallitys.
 * Questions**
 * 1. //According to Dr. Heidegger, what is the purpose of his experiment?//**


 * //2. What do Dr. Heidegger's friends have in common? How does each of them behave during the experiment?// **
 * ** All of Dr. Heidegger's friends each have lead okay lives in their youth, had fun, but then had it all ruined and got older. When each of them get younger they start to act foolish, but happy, Wycherly vainly admires herself in the mirror, Colonel Killigew sings, and then they all dance. After this the three men start to fight over Widow Wycherly, break the vase, and turn into their elderly selves again. They repeated their past mistakes, and acted foolishly even though the docter had told them not to do so.


 * 3. //Why would Dr. Heidegger not stoop to bathe his lips in the Fountain of Youth? Do his friends feel the same way? Comment.// **

Dr. Heidegger wouldn't drink the water afterwords because he saw how his friends acted after drinking it, they were so caught up in being younger that they forgot everything that they had learned before, they acted foolishly. He also sees that his friends got addicted to it, and probably doesn't want to end up like that. He does not want to lose his knowledge, and probably wants the experience of being old as well, his loved ones would also all die off. His friends on the otherhand, did not realize how they acted, they were just bewitched by its effects, they plan to go to Florida and drink from the fountain morning, afternoon, and night.


 * 4. //Who is the narrator of the story? Though he is not a participant in the experiment, the narrator relates all the details. How does he know what happened to the doctor and his friends? How certain of his facts is the narrator?// **

The narrator of the story could be ethier Dr. Heidegger, or someone he knows. It could be himself talking in third person to explain it better, it could be someone retelling Dr. Heideggers story after being told about it, it could be a close friend, or family member, god, or even Sylvia. They probably know what happened to the docter, and his friends because they are in the story (Dr. Heidegger), got the story told to them, knows all (god), or saw it as a ghost (Sylvia, i personally do not believe in ghosts, but the story has elements of magic in it.) They are confident about their facts.


 * 5. //What points are made about youth and aging in the story? Do you agree with the views in the story? Comment.// **

Some points in the story that are made about youth, and aging in the story are things like, you can still do the same things that you can do when your old as when you are young, old age is part of live, and growth, you will look ugly, but it does not really matter, that adults, and youth can be dumb, that if you do make mistakes, you should know not to repeat them again, to enjoy live and youth, and that it is all natural. I agree with these views, you should enjoy live, it only happens once (unless you are religious thinking.), old age is just a state of mind, that you should learn from mistakes, and keep knowledge, to be careful in situations.
 * 7. //Some scientists hope to develop a vaccine against aging. They speculate that human beings could then live approximately 800 years. Do you feel this is desirable? Explain your answer.// **
 * 7. //Some scientists hope to develop a vaccine against aging. They speculate that human beings could then live approximately 800 years. Do you feel this is desirable? Explain your answer.// **

I feel that this is both desirable, and repulsive. Your senses would start to fail you, you could get a disease, look unattractive, there might be overpopulation, wars, over taxing, a "2012" like situation, not enough resources, and you would lose loved ones as well, if they decided not to take the vaccine. There could also be postive things, like new inventions, new friends, not dying, being able to gain more knowledge, and have more experiences. I personally would chose to take the vaccine, because i would be curious about it, and i would want to gain more experiences. Also another thing is that I think one of my biggest fears is death, when i was really young i used to have panic attacks about it every two nights, its a demise you can't stop, you know it will happen but you don't know when, you would never be able to see, breathe, think, move, hear, smell, touch or love again. I used to have to sleep the night in my parents bed, which would probably annoy them.

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

total 15/15 Question Completion Mark 5/5

total 20/20