Dr.+Heidegger's+experiment

Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: Dr. Heidegger’s experiment

Point of View:The point of view is first person, limited omnicient.

Protagonist: The protagonist is Dr Heidegger.

The Dr. is a round dynamic character. He changes throughout the course of the story because he has realized the consequences of becoming young again.

Antagonist: Age

The setting is in the Dr.’s house, I think it takes place in the past because of the decor in the Dr.’s study. The mood is curious.

The conflict is man vs. himself. Specifically man vs. his aging self.

The main conflict is when all of the guests come in to the Dr.’s study and they all are old and are talking about being Young again.

The climax of the story is when the guests are all young again after having drunk the water. They are giddy and happy.

The protagonist changes over the course of the story by realizing that he does not want to relive youth and relive the pains of aging by seeing his friends become young and go mad with happiness.

The theme is that if you believe strongly enough that something is, than your mind can deceive you into thinking that it is actually true. The title is Dr. Heidegger’s experiment and the experiment could have been that the Dr. had not actually given them water from the fountain of youth, and he wanted to see if their minds could deceive them.

The main conflict is when all of the guests come in to the Dr.’s study and they all are old and are talking about being Young again. The Dr. might have talked to them about this for the purpose of wanting them to wish even more that they were young again, so their minds could deceive them in the experiment.

The climax of the story is when the guests are all young again after having drunk the water. They are giddy and happy. This is the moment when their minds could have been deceiving them. They thought that they were young again, but the reflection in the mirror showed “the figures of three old grey withered grandsires, ridiculously contending for the skinny ugliness of a shrivelled grandame.”

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

Simile:”One limped along the floor, like a gouty grandfather” This is comparing the walk of one of the Dr.’s guests to the walk of a gouty grandfather.

Metaphor:”with a sudden glow of cheerful sunshine, brightening over all their visages at once.” This is comparing the glow of sunshine to their smiles on their faces.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Personification:“till time had buried him” This is stating that time can bury something.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Symbol: A symbol is the rose. The rose represents the Dr.’s love for Sylvia and his longing to have her back. It also represents part of him that does not want to return to youth again because he will miss her even more.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Foreshadowing (give both elements): <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The rose getting dry and withering. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The rose withering shows that the Dr.’s guests are about to quickly age back to where thay were before they drank.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Irony: When they drank the water and became young again, they went strait back to doing what they did in their youth, even though it lef =t them unfulfilled and discontent about their lives.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Imagery: The sunshine cut through the window, between the heavy festoons of two faded damask curtains, and fell directly across the vase; so that a mild splendor was reflected from it on the ashen visages of the five old people who sat around.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The relationship between the class theme and the story is that the Dr.’s guests all squandered their youths, and part of their humanity. They wished to get a chance to redo it, and get back some of their humanity.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Qustions

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. The purpose of Dr. Heidegger’s experiment is to see the effects the water from the fountain of youth has on humans. He would like to know to help make his decision whether or not he will drink the water.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2. All of Dr. Heidegger’s guests had squandered their youths. They all have a past that they are not proud of, and they would relive and improve their youths. They are all old and melancholy. They are selfish, people who only care about their own opinions.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3. Dr. Heidegger would not stoop to drink the waters of the fountain of youth because he has seen its effects on others. It makes them giddy and the Dr. would not like to experience these conditions, neither relive his youth or experience the pains of aging once again. His colleagues have a different opinion, they have all drank the water and have been intoxicated. They have experienced just enough youth again, that they have to have more. Mr. Gascoigne’s mind ran on political topics, and sly secrets. The Colonel was singing a jolly bottle song and eyeing up the widow. Mr Medbourne was thinking up business ventures. The widow was admiring her image in the mirror.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4. First of all, the story is written in third person, so the narrator must have been present during the experiment, or he has been told about it by the doctor.The story cannot have been be told to the narrator by anyone other than the Dr. because the Dr. was the only one not intoxicated by the water from the fountain. The narrator must have been close to the Dr., because the narrator knows the thoughts of the Dr.. The Dr. had no children, and he was very old, so the narrator could have been a cousin or a nephew.The narrator isn’t completely certain of his words because he says in the beginning of the story “If what I have heard is true.”

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5. One of the points is that aging is not fun. I do not agree with this because aging can bring many privileges and joys to your life. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Another point is that young is better than old. I agree with this because when you are young, you peak in sports, intelligence, and your social life. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The third point is that only young people can be beautiful. I disagree with this point because old people can be beautiful in their own ways.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">7.think it is not desirable to have a world in which all humans could live for a hundred years. First of all, the population of the earth would expand exponentially, overpopulating our world and depleting its resources. Also, our whole society would change. Once you are 60, are you classified as elderly for 740 years? Are you still a teenager for only seven years, one hundredth of your time on the earth?

COMPLETION 5/5

EFFORT 4/5

CONTENT 4/5

QUESTIONS 10/12

TOTAL 23/27