Dr.+Heidegger's+Experiment

__Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment__ By: NFriedmann Answer the following questions:

Point of View: First person, semi-omniscient.

Protagonist: Dr. Heidegger is the protagonist. I think that he is round, and dynamic

What type of character is the Protagonist? Dr. Heidegger is an old man who is a scientist, and does experiments. He loved a woman called Sylvia Ward a long time ago, and has a portrait of her in his magical, and mysterious lab.

Antagonist: I think that as well as being the protagonist, Dr. Heidegger is also the antagonist because he is conducting an experiment that challenges his theories about the water from the fountain of youth.

Describe the setting: The story takes place in Dr. Heidegger’s old, mysterious and creepy study, probably around the 1800’s. The story suggests that the Dr.’s study, is old and unkempt, featuring old oak bookshelves, a closet with it’s door ajar (which contains a skeleton), a mysterious looking glass, and a portrait of a young woman, who was Dr. Heidegger’s lover. Among the cobwebs, and ancient dust, there also lies a black bound book, which is said to contain magic. It doesn’t say what time of day, or which season of which year, but I’m assuming that it is unimportant because they are inside the entire time.

Type of Conflict: Man versus himself.

Describe the main conflict: The main conflict is between Dr. Heidegger, and himself. I think so because Dr. H, is doing an experiment, to prove to himself whether he is right or wrong about his friends learning from their long lives. His method of proving it: getting them to drink water from the fountain of youth, and seeing how they react.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The climax of this story is when the bottle with the water from the fountain of youth, falls over (because the men are fighting over the widow), and breaks. After it breaks, Dr. Heidegger’s friends turn young again, and realize, that they were stupid, and selfish, and wish that they were young once again.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? Dr. Heidegger completes his experiment, and finds out that his hypotheses was wrong, because his friends didn’t learn from their mistakes in their youth, and went back to their wrong ways.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. The title is Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment. The theme is about his experiment, and how people react to an idea. I do not believe that he actually gave them the youth water, but gave them instead a sparkling beverage, but they were so motivated to be young, that they thought they drunk the real thing. I think that that was also part of the Dr.’s experiment: to see if a single idea could make you believe anything. This relates to the theme, because the theme is about an experiment, and how it turned out.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The main conflict displays the theme by showing us that if given the chance when you are old, you will probably take it, but destroy the opportunity to be young again by getting foolish, and cocky. That was all shown in the results of the experiment, which was in my opinion, the theme of the story.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? The climax is when the bottle with the precious Youth Water breaks. I think that that illustrates the theme by showing us how sometimes we won’t learn from our mistakes when given an opportunity to relive the moments that you made the mistakes. The bottle breaks because of the foolish mistakes that his friends made, and that ties together the theme and the main conflict.

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

Simile: "Even while teh party were looking at it, the flower continued to shrivel up, till it became as dry and fragile as when the doctor had first thrown it into the vase.  Metaphor: “The Water of Youth possessed merely a virtue more transient than that of wine” That extract from the story is comparing the esteemed water from the Fountain of Youth to that of wine not using like or as, so it is a metaphor.

Personification: “Forebear!” is what the bust of Hippocrates supposedly yelled when a maid lifted the “magical” black book to clean away the dust. This is personification in my view, because it is a bust, so it can’t talk.

Symbol: I think that the skeleton in the closet is a symbol of how one can grow old and not be covered from their lies and faults. The skeleton represents a parson who is dead, and the closet door that is ajar represents the thing that is covering you.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): I think that when the narrator describes the setting in Dr. Heidegger’s office, and tells us how old, mystical, and magical it is, he/her is foreshadowing that something out of the ordinary is going to happen later on, that might include magic (ie: the Water from the Fountain of Youth)

Irony: I think that it is ironic how the Dr.'s guests first think that the water is a trick and lie, and there to decieve them, but then, resort to gobbling it down quick as lightning later on. Imagery: “Gray Time were calling them back from their sunny youth, far down into the chill and darksome vale of years.”

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. The author (Nathaniel Hawthorn) shows some bad characteristics of humanity in his story. One example is the fact that when Dr. Heidegger’s old/young friends drink the water, they start showing off some of the bad traits like greed, hating one another, and trying to kill each other for something that doesn’t matter so much (The Widow Wycherly). The bad side of humanity is shown in this short story, when the friends turn young again, and unfortunately, decide to turn o one another, and be mean to each other.

__Questions About The Story:__

1. According to Dr. Heidegger, what is the purpose of this experiment? I think that Dr. Heidegger is trying to see if people really do learn from their mistakes, but also (because I don’t think that he actually gave them the real water, but wine), to see if you believe something very strongly (that can’t actually happen), and you get clues that it might be real, you will believe it in a heartbeat. I think that the Dr. was trying to test that out as well.

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 are old people with one foot in the grave, who are displeased with their old selves, and want to be young and healthy once again. They also made grave mistakes in their youth, that messed up their reputations, and they wished that they didn’t do that. They each behave in a different way during the experiment: The Widow Wycherly amazes at how beautiful she is, and runs to the mirror, and admirer’s herself. Mr. Gascoigne starts thinking about politics, and starts yelling random things about being a patriot, and warms up to Wycherly. Colonel Killigrew starts singing, and flirting with the Widow. Mr. Medbourne starts thinking about how he can maje money by getting whales to carry ice across the ocean to the peoples of the East Indies. Like the others, Mr. Medboure tries to get on the now pretty widow’s good side.

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 would not want to drink from the Fountain of Youth because he doesn't know what happens to you (other then that you get young), and doesn't want to risk himself. His friends are really close to death, and loved thier youth, but made mistakes, so they are motivated to drink, hence they are the perfect candidates.  4. Who is the narrator of this 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 friend? How certain of his facts is the narrator? I think that the narrator of this story is the portrait of Sylvie, Dr. Heidegger's fiance that died the day before the wedding. Sylvie knows what happened without being part of the experiment, because she was sitting on the wall in the study, so she could see everything. Sylvie is certain of most ofher facts, but know all, because some of the information is based on the Dr.'s thoughts, and I don't think that she can mind read, so I think that she knows some facts, but had to guess a few. 5. What points are made about youth and aging in the story? Do you agree with the views in the story? Comment. Some points that were made about youth and growing old in the story, were that everyone wastes their youth, and then when you get old, you always wish that you were young, so you regret having wasted your youth. I do agree with that perspective because I do kind of regret not doing some things when I was younger like use how cute I was to my advantage. Now that I'm older, and can't reverse time, I am grateful that I am still young and healthy, and actually don't wish to be younger because I get better privileges now that I'm older.

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 do not approve of the idea that humans can live for up to 800 years because it is unnatural, and could be very harmful to the environment, and people's ways. First of all, we were not meant to live so long, and have already elongated our life span by about 60 years from the time of the neanderthals to our current time now. If we were to make ourselves live longer, we would just be going way over maximum. The animals already know that we are better because we have kicked most of them out of their habitats, stolen their food and water, and endangered them with our chemicals, and toxins. They do not need us to live longer! It is unnecessary, and we don't desperately need to live longer. COMPLETION 5/5 EFFORT 5/5 CONTENT 5/5 QUESTIONS 12/12 TOTAL 27/27