Dr.+Heidegger's+Experiment

Title: __Dr Heidegger’s Experiment__

Point of View: 1st person, limited.

Protagonists: Dr. Heidegger he is a round, static character.

Antagonist: Himself

Describe the setting: 1800’s (Ponce de Leon had gone looking for the fountain of youth two or three centuries ago.) On a summer afternoon which then transitions to sunset in the study of Dr Heidegger. The study is a quirky, curious room filled with mysterious objects and dust. There are cobwebs everywhere and the later into the night that the story goes, the duskier the chamber gets. The mood of the story is sentimental at the and beginning and soon changes to a pretty sad story because of the realisation that people don’t learn.

Type of Conflict: Man vs Self

Describe the main conflict: The four friends of Dr. Heidegger are afraid of aging. They want to be young again, however, their wasted youth repeats itself. They all go back to the way they were before, not learning from their mistakes. The doctor is also having a conflict with himself which is that he is deciding weather or not to drink the water.  Describe the Climax of the Story: When they overturn the table, and brake the vase of water. Once the vase is broken and the water is spilt, they all begin to age again and relies that even in just short period of time they still managed to resort to their old ways and bad habits.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? Dr Heidegger starts out wondering if he should drink the water but by the end, after seeing the effect it had on the others, he decides against it.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. The title “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” states simply and obviously that there will be an experiment. The theme, in my opinion is old habits die hard. Once the experimnent commences the four friends become young again and immediately go back to their old self destructive ways. Their old habits end up ruining the experiment. Because they were used to fighting for what they wanted, that’s exactly what they did. While the boys are fighting for Clara they knock over the glass, ending the experiment suddenly.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The main conflict is almost the same as the theme. They hate age and wish to be young, but as soon as their wish comes true, the four friends resort back to there old ways, proving that old habits die hard. Another part of the main conflict is that the character’s youths had been wasted, making them want to try again. However, because the first youth was wasted, the habits were created, and the second youth was wasted too.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? During the fight for the beautiful young woman, the three boys overturn the table on which the vase of water is resting. The vase smashes and the characters age again. Once they age, they relies that they had done exactly what they thought they wouldn’t do. The four friends had gone back to their old ways (the theme) and didn’t notice until it was too late and the vase was broken. (the climax)

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

Simile: “as if the flower were reviving from a deathlike slumber”

Metaphor: “whether the snow had so entirely melted from her hair”

Personification: “which Father Time had been so long engraving on their brows.”

Symbol: The rose - Symbol of the doctor’s love for his dead almost wife.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): “I will merely hint that Dr. Heidegger and all his four guests were sometimes thought to be a little beside themselves.”

Irony: “The doctor’s four venerable friends made him no answer, except that, knowing how closely repentance treads behind the steps of error, they should ever go astray again” AND THEN THEY DO GO ASTRAY. RIGHT AWAY.

Imagery: “It was a dim, old-fashioned chamber, festooned with several cobwebs, and be-sprinkled with antique dust” “It was now so nearly sunset that the chamber had grown duskier than ever.”

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. The three old men who turn young fight ruthlessly for the widow, demonstrating a burning desire for her. A part of humanity is how primitive humans still are and how we still fight for something we want, without thinking of the consequences.

1) The doctor wants to see if the water from the fountain will bring the minds of his four friends back to youth. He can see from the rose that the fountain of youth works on physical appearance but he needs subjects with an aged mind to test on so he can see if the water will lower their maturity. The result of the experiment was that the water from the fountain of youth will make you act young again as well as give you a young body.

2) The four friends of Dr. Heidegger all share some traits. The things they have in common are that they wasted their youth and probably regretted doing so. During the experiment the widow runs to a mirror. The Colonel tries to get Clara to dance with him and sings a song about drinking. Mr. Medbourn immediately starts thinking of ways to make money by supplying ice for east India. Mr. Gascoigne starts babbling about patriotism and secrets.

3) The doctor will not drink the water because it would not only ruin his chance to observe the experiment but also because he knows that he will lose all of his wisdom. The four friends on the other hand want to go to Florida and search for the fountain.

4) I think that the narrator of the story was someone who was told about the experiment through a story and was then trying to retell it. Parts of the story made the narrator seem unsure of what he/she was saying which makes me think that they were told some version of the real story but not the actually legitimate thing. At one point in the story the narrator says “it is said that the mirror reflected three old men fighting over a skinny old hag.” That line makes me think of a campfire story. I think the story is supposed to be sort of like a tale that's been passed on through many people.

5) The story shows how badly people want to stay young and youth full. I agree with that message and think that growing old would be horrible. I don’t think I’ll hate it quite as much as the people in the book but still I wouldn’t want to be old if I had the choice to be young.

7) I think that it’s actually a good thing we don’t have that. If we could live so long we would break the circle of life. Every good thing will eventually die and people should learn to except it. Also if we could live forever we wouldn’t have enough resources for the whole world.  Completion 5/5    Effort 5/5     Content 4.5/5     Questions 12/12         total 26.5/27