Dr.+Heidegger's+Experiment

__ Dr. Heidegger's Experiment __ __ Short Stories - Literary Devises __

Point of View: 1st Person.

Protagonist: Dr. Heidegger

What type of character is the Protagonist? Round and Dynamic.

Antagonist: Time/Age.

Describe the setting. It is a sunny evening. "The sunshine came through the window, between the heavy festoons of two faded damask curtains, and fell directly across this vase;..."

Type of Conflict: Person vs. Nature

Describe the main conflict: The main conflict is between Dr. Heidegger and time. The Fountain of Youth water is a special water that stops you from aging. It almost stops time in your body for only you and anyone else who drinks it. Dr. Heidegger wants to fight the fact that he is aging. He doesn't want to age so he does an experiment on this water.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The climax of the story is when Mr. Medbourne, Colonel Killigrew, Mr. Gascoigne, and Widow Wycherly drink the Fountain of Youth water and go crazy. Their physical and mental features all go back in time into their youth. They all have the sudden urge to party. They all made of Dr. Heidegger for being old and pushed and fought each other.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? Dr. Heidegger doesn't change very much except for his opinion on drinking this Fountain of Youth water. At first he believes that this water will be the perfect solution for him. He tests it on a couple of old men and women and his opinion changes to the opposite. He wanted the water to keep his mental features, but change his physical feature. I don't think he would drink this water after he saw what had happened to this people.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. The theme of this story is how the Fountain of Youth water changed the physical and mental features of a human. The title being Dr. Heidegger's Experiment is that his experiment is to test what the pros and cons of this water is.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The main conflict helps illustrate the theme because to stop the main conflict from happening they would have to drink this Fountain of Youth water.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? Right when the three men and the Widow drink this water is the moment when Dr. Heidegger finds out what he was looking for. He realizes that the mental features of the human body roll back in time the minds of when they were young again.

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

Simile: "They felt like new-created brings, in a new-created universe."

Metaphor: "magic power had really begun to smooth away the deep and sad inscription..."

Personification: "delicate red leaves curled modestly around its moist bosom,..."

Symbol: The red rose was a symbol of his wife. He put it in the water thinking that it would reincarnate Sylvia Ward's soul. "This rose, this same rose withered and crumbled flower, blossomed five and fifty years ago. It was given by Sylvia Ward, whose portrait hangs yonder; and I meant to wear it in my bosom at our wedding."

Foreshadowing (give both elements): When he threw the water into the water I thought there would be a downside to this flower, but it appeared to be absolutely perfect. "This rose, this same withered and crumbling flower, blossomed five and fifty years ago." "It was scarcely full-blown; for some of its delicate red leaves curled modestly around its moist bosom, within two or three dewdrops were sparkling."

Irony: It was very ironic that the water had a negative effect on humans, but a 100% positive effect on the flower. "They felt like new-created beings, in a new-created universe."

Imagery: "This same withered and crumbling flower, blossomed five and fifty years ago." This put an image in my head of Sylvia Ward's funeral. It made me think of a dark rainy day while everyone is throwing flowers at her coffin, while Dr. Heidegger believed that he could somehow reincarnate Sylvia by soaking the rose with the magic water.

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. Dr. Heidegger's Fountain of Youth water is a very strange liquid that relates to humanity. If could drink this magic water it would cause your aging to stop and in a way stop your humanity. Your humanity would slowly fade away as you aged, but didn't actually age. "We are younger -- but we are still too old! Quick -- give us more!" The three old men and woman let go of their humanity and drank the water. They didn't really think about the possible negative effects this could have. They thought it was amazing and partied like they did when they were younger. I believe that they were very lucky that this water had spilled and shattered and caused them to be old again. The water vase shattering in my opinion was a resemblance of their hopes and dreams giving up on them. It was like they gave up on their dreams by drinking this water and staying old FOREVER. When all their dreams and hope had broken they snapped back to reality and out of the dream they were having. The Fountain of Youth water has some very serious and strange effects that it could do to someones humanity.

__Responding Questions:__

According to Dr. Heidegger, what is the purpose of his experiment? The purpose for Dr. Heidegger's experiment is test if this Fountain of Youth water actually worked. He wanted to see the pros and cons of the water. I think Dr. Heidegger was a very selfish man, he purposely got these friends of his to test it for him. He tricked them into thinking that this water was nothing but good. The friends of his didn't really think of any bad things the water could do. They saw the rose become alive from the water and they instantly drank this water. The true purpose of this experiment was to trick these men and the Widow and then he would use it on himself if it was what he was looking for.

What do Dr. Heidegger's friends have in common? How does each of them behave during the experiment? All of Dr.Heidegger's friends were old and selfish. They all wanted to back to their youth and honestly didn't care to thank Dr. Heidegger for the water or anything. They drank the water and started to mock Dr. Heidegger because he was old. Widow Wycherly instantly ran to the mirror to see what she looked like. Colonel Killigrew got up and looked at the Widow's appearance. Mr. Gasciogne's mind ran on political topics. Mr. Medbourne was involved in a calculation of dollars and cents.

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 did not want to drink from the Fountain of Youth water because he wanted to test this water before doing so himself. If he tested the water on humans and not the rose he could find out most of the pros and cons of the water. He figured out that it changed the mental features of humans. He wanted to keep his mental feature, but change his physical features. Dr. Heidegger's friends do not think of the negative aspects of this water.

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? I think the narrator is Sylvia Ward's soul. She seems to describe the house in great detail, but not so much what had happened. I think she knows what happened to the doctor and his friends, but she didn't like what happened. She is trying to convince herself that it wasn't as bad as it really was. Sylvia seemed very certain when she stated things about everything except for when they drank the water.

What points are made about youth aging in the story? Do you agree with the views in the story? Comment. The points that are made about aging happens too soon. "We are younger -- but we are still old." This Fountain of Youth water quickly rolls aging back in time. I agree that aging happens way to quickly. There shouldn't be a way to stop some people from aging.

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. No, I don't feel that this is desirable. If everyone took this vaccine, the world would become over-populated VERY quickly. If people were living to the age of 800, the population on earth would be going by 8 times as fast as it is now. It would be a huge problem because all the supplies on the world would go down really fast, food would slowly disappear, animals would slowly all die, and the world would be ruined. If this vaccine is every created it would ruin the whole world. The only way this vaccine could possibly be a positive aspect to the world would be if there were very strict rules applied when you take this vaccine such as a limit to how many kids you may have and when you have them. Overall this a very negative aspect that could be brought to Earth.

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