Dr.Heidegger's+Experiment

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

Point of View: The story is written in third person form because the view the narrator has is not all knowing.

Protagonist: What type of character is the Protagonist? The main character is a dynamic character because his traits and personality changes throughout the story because of the events that took place in it.

Antagonist: The Fountain of Youth's water.

Describe the setting: The setting is located in an old Doctor's study. The author describes into detail about how mysterious, old, and frightening his study is. He writes how it is covered with cobwebs and old dust, and how the room is dimly lite surrounded by old book cases full black portfolios and black-letter quartos. The overall look and feel of the setting is aimed at a mysterious study of a Doctor who's mind is slightly fading with age. This does add a mysterious feel to the beginning of the story and paints a detailed picture of the image in the readers mind. The story was set around 200 years ago.

Type of Conflict: Man vs. Himself, Man Vs. Age

Describe the main conflict: The four dinner guests are given a chance to re-live their lives and in hindsight to correct the mistakes they made before when they were young. But in the excitement of regaining their youth they quickly make all the same mistakes they did before. Each of the characters are fighting a losing battle against themselves to resist temptations and make the right choices that they hadn't done before. This most likely is a result of the fact that every human being to ever live is completely at the mercy of growing old and the affects that come with it. When they were given a chance to never grow old and to always stay young and youthful it made them think like they were battling old age. So not only mainly were they having an inner battle with themselves, they were also in their minds, battling old age.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The three men who have just recently been given a second chance at youth end up making the same mistake as they did before. They start fighting over the Widow just as they did on their first chance of youth. An argument lead to a pushing match until they crash into the table where the vase was thrown to the floor and exploded into nothing but tiny shards of glass. The fountain's water was gone and now there was no way for the four characters, who wanted it so badly, to stay youthful.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? He does not drink the water, mainly so that he can observe his experiment as it transpires very thoroughly but he makes realizations as the story proceeds. His only piece of advice for his four guests before they drank the fountain's water was to not fall into temptation of their previous choices but to use their knowledge of age to correct the mistakes they made when they were so young. But almost immediately does he notice that they begin making the same mistakes they made before. How the idea of regained youth completely impairs their judgment and instead of correcting their bad choices they only wish to make them again. The doctor states something that is powerful and meaningful to the story, when his rose fades from its luscious form back until the old shriveled up state he says " I love it as well thus as in its dewy freshness." I think the doctor is realizing that getting old is just a part of life and even if there is a chance to become young again, he wouldn't. He says that the display he had just seen in only a matter of moments had taught him a great lesson that could have taken years in any other way. And that even if the water was right at his doorstep he would never drink it, because of the realizations he had made.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. The title of the story is Dr.Heidegger;s Experiment, and in the story he conducts an experiment to see the outcome of the fountain's water on human being's. A good relative title has a foreshadowing affect that tells you a little bit about the story without giving anything away, as well as intriguing the reader to find out more about the story. This title does relate to the theme because the other all event in the story is the experiment he puts his four guests through to find out the affects of the water on humans. And also, to examine not only the physical changes but what they would do when their youth was given back to them.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The theme of the story is the fountain of youth's water and the affect it has on whomever drinks it. As the four guests begin drinking the water they start having internal conflicts trying to make the right choices and to avoid the same mistakes they made on their first shots at being young. So the main conflict is each of the guests against themselves. But the struggles and choices that are presented to each character are only present because they drank the fountain's water. So without each of the characters drinking the fountain's water, the conflict they had to face in the story would not have been present.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? The theme of the fountain's water and the affects it has whomever drinks it created a chain reaction of rising events that lead to the climax and ultimately the conclusion. The choices each character makes after drinking the water lead to the scrum between the three jealous men which resulted in them spilling the very thing that granted them their youth again. The climax of the story is ironic to the four guests because the very choices they refused to make lead to losing what they now cherished most. The climax illustrates that in this case the affects of the fountain's water only had bad outcomes which was the whole theme of the story, so I believe they intertwine to add a powerful affect at the end.

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

Simile: "...with a visage as faded as her dress." In this simile the author is describing the Widow after many years of old age taking a tole on her figure. How once she was beautiful but now here looks have faded and her face is only of an old woman's.

Metaphor: " They felt like new-created beings in a new-created universe"

Personification: "... as if the flower were reviving from a death like slumber..." The author uses this personification to help illustrate the affects of the fountain's water for the first time in the story.

Symbol: I think that the author used the faded rose to symbolize the doctors love towards Sylvia Ward who gave it to him to wear on their wedding day. For later in the story he states that he loves it the same when it is old and shriveled as when it is luscious and full because to him it symbolizes love not only young love but old love as well.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): The author has Doctor Heidegger state before his guests drank the water that they should use this opportunity as a chance to fix some of the mistakes they previously made when they were young. When he says this he foreshadows the conflict of the story not in a way that it is completely obvious what is going to happen but that the characters are going to have internal struggles, the same ones they had to face before when they were young.

Irony: The irony in this story is powerful because the very advice the doctor gives his four guests before they drink the water is what each of them struggle with the most during the story. The internal struggle of the right choices and the wrong choices that they made long ago when they were young they repeat because they are to arrogant to change, and to excited at the possibility of recapturing their youths to fix their mistakes. Their bad choices ironically end in the destruction of the very thing that has given them a second chance at being young. Which I find a truly comical example of situational irony.

Imagery: A Section of the story that the author really successfully paints a picture in the readers head is when he is describing the affects of the fountain's water on the rose. This is the first time in the story when the water;s affects are being shared with the reader and he does so by explaining it in detail. One sentence i particularly liked was "...some of its delicate red leaves curled modestly around its moist bosom, within which two or three dewdrops were sparkling." This sentence illustrates a picture of a luscious crimson rose that just recently was shriveled and dead.

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. The characters in this story all have previously made bad choices but when they are given a second chance to correct them they fall into temptation and ultimately end up making them again. The choices in stories are the building blocks to the climax. Each choice is a step in a stair case leading to the climax no matter how positive or negative the choice is. The outcome of the characters bad choices was knocking over the fountain's water and losing the very thing that gave them the ability to be young again. The choices they made caused that outcome, the outcome of the story, so the specific choices each character made in the story were vital to it's outcome. Which is why our class theme plays an enormous role in any story, because the choices in stories are what lead to the climax and then after that the conclusion.

1. The purpose of the experiment was to see the affects on the fountain's water on human beings. The doctor wanted to see what they would do, how the water would affect them, and if the possibility of a second chance at youth would enlighten them to make the right choices.

2. They are all old people who have fallen into temptations in youth which is why the doctor invites them to be in his experiment. Possibly because he feels bad for them, but more likely because he wants to see if given a second chance to correct their mistakes would they capitalize on it or would they fall into the same temptations they made before.

3. He wouldn't drink the water because during the experiment he noticed how the idea of re-captured youth can blind you from the right choices and merely act as a second chance to try those bad choices again. The doctor also states that during his long lived life it has been an experience growing old and how no desire to grow young. But his guests do not feel the same way, they are so dependent and addicted to the idea of eternal youth they travel to Florida so that they can constantly drink the water and be young.

4. The narrator of the story acts as if he is another character observing what is going on as the story takes place. He describes the situation and events but is uncertain of all the characters thoughts and views. It gives the affect that he story is being told of an event the narrator had witnessed long ago and was telling his children or friends.

5. I think the overall point of the story is that growing old is just a part of life and no one should try and avoid it, even if they are given the opportunity to do so. A lesson the story tries to put across in a unique way is that if given a second chance to fix a mistake you made long ago you should take it. Although it does not expect you to become young again and literally make the right choice when the situation is presented to you again, but merely live your life the right way instead of dwelling on a bad decision or decisions you might have mad long ago. Which is why i agree with the overall message of this story.

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

 Total 15/15

 Questions Completion Mark 5/5

 Total 20/20