Dr.+Heidegger's+Experiment

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

Point of View: Third person, because the author is telling the story, not the main characters.

Protagonist: The protagonist is Dr. Heidegger, because he is the main character, and it's his experiment.

What type of character is the Protagonist? I would say that Dr. Heidegger was actually both static and dynamic, because he never actually tried drinking it, and wasn't sure if he should, but he changed, because he realized that his friends were very shallow and greedy, and he also learned a lesson. Also, I would say he is a flat character, because he didn't have a whole lot of traits, as some characters do. Antagonist: I would say that the Fountain of Youth is the antagonist in this story, because it made the doctors friends once again foolish, greedy, and shallow; and it could make him be that way if he drinks it.

Describe the setting The story took place in Florida, because that is where the fountain is located. I think that this story took place most likely in the early or mid 1900s, because when the author had described what his house looked like, it was defiantly not in these times. It was not modern like now a days, it was more old fashioned or victorian styled as some would say. I think that the overall mood of the story is joyous, because it made all of his friends very happy, because they had felt young again. Also, it made the doctor realize the water is pointless, which made him happy, because he did not want to go back to what he was like before. Type of Conflict: I think that the conflict was internal, because he was thinking if the water would actually have a good use, and make his life better. But he realizes after seeing his friends, that he would go back to how he acted when he was younger. (Man vs. himself.)

Describe the main conflict: The main conflict is when the doctor is thinking if he should actually try drinking the water from the fountain or not, because he wasn't sure if it would lead to something good or bad.

Describe the Climax of the Story: I think that the climax of the story is when the men are fighting over widow Wycherly, but then look into the mirror and see themselves as old men, fighting for the heart of an old wrinkled lady, and then they felt exactly how they had felt before they tried Dr. Heidegger's experiment. How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? Dr. Heidegger doesn't change a whole lot throughout the course of the story, he starts out wondering if he should try drinking the water, to see if it would make his life better. So, he decided to try an experiment on his friends, and once he sees how they behaved and acted he thought that there was no point, because everyone will get old one day, and the water will have to run out one day, if there are many people drinking it. So, he gets taught a lesson, that if he drinks the water he will go back to how he acted before, and lose all of his knowledge over the years, also he realizes how shallow and greedy they are, and remains fairly the same throughout the story. Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. Well, first of all, I think that the theme of the story, is regaining youth, but also you cannot really ever change. So, it relates to the title, because the title is telling us about some sort of experiment, and the story is about how people are experimenting with something new and different, so that they can regain and capture their youth once again.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The main conflict helps illustrate the theme, because Dr. Heidegger's four friends became very excited over the discovery that the water could make them young again, and so they became extremely greedy by wanting the youth, and becoming young once again; they were willing to do the experiment until they actually found the cure for youth.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? It helps to illustrate the theme, because the doctors friends were fighting over an old lady, while thinking and as well as acting as if they were once again young, and had actually regained their youth; so they started doing the same things they did when they were younger.

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

Simile: "The crushed and dried petals stirred, and assumed a deepening tinge of crimson, as if the flower were reviving from a deathlike slumber..." "...while the shadows of age were flitting from it like darkness from the crimson daybreak." "...and now again he spoke in measured accents, and a deeply deferential tone, as if a royal ear were listening to his well-turned periods." "...brimful of this wonderful water, the delicate spray of which, as it effervesced from the surface, resembled tremulous glitter of diamonds."

Metaphor: "They were all melancholy old creatures..." "...a man of evil fame..." "The fresh gloss of the soul..." "While he spoke, the butterfly fluttered down from the doctor's snowy head..."

Personification: "...the skeleton had rattled in it's closet..." "...for some of it's delicate red leaves curled modestly around its moist bosom..." "...a feeble and tremendous laugh..."

Symbol: One of the symbols in this story was the glass of water from the Fountain of Youth, because it showed Dr. Heidegger, that his friends had not changed at all, they started doing foolish and stupid things like they had done when they were young; it also taught him a lesson, that it really isn't worth it. "and lo! the Water of Youth is all lavished on the ground. Well- I bemoan it not; for if the fountain gushed at my very doorstep, I would not stoop to bathe my lips in it- no, though it's delirium were for years instead of moments. Such is the lesson ye have taught me!" Another symbol i found in the story is the rose, because it shows how the water can make you feel young, but it will wear off and then you'll look the same as before; a rose blooms then dies. Foreshadowing (give both elements): “It is a circumstance worth mentioning that each of these three old gentlemen, Mr. Medbourne, Colonel Killigrew, and Mr. Gascoigne, were early lovers of the Widow Wycherly, and had once been on the point of cutting each other's throats for her sake.” In this quote, it sort of gives away that there may be a fight between the three men fighting over Widow Wycherly, since they were are lovers of thw widow. Irony: The irony in the story is when Dr. Heidegger offers the water to the elderly people thinking that they would be different if they had become young again, but he had thought wrong. Once they had thought they were young again they acted just as they did when they were actually young, which was foolish and sort of dumb things, such as fighting over Madam Wycherly. Once they find out they are old again, they get sad and disappointed.

Imagery: "It was a dim, old-fashioned chamber, festooned with cobwebs, and besprinkled with antique dust. Around the walls stood several oaken bookcases, the lower shelves of which were filled with twos of gigantic folios and black-letter quartos, and the upper with little parchment-covered duodecimos. Over the central bookcase was a bronze bust of Hippocrates..."

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. Well, the class theme of the story is that not very many people can change throughout the years, and even if you did change you could still eventually start turning back into the same person when they were younger. Once he gives the four people the water, they start to act foolish just as they did when they were once younger; an example is when the three men start to fight over the lady. Once the doctor sees how they began to act, he thought that trying that water would most likely ruin his life, because he didn't want to start acting like he did when he was young. Also, he didn't want to lose all the important information, and knowledge he has learned since he was young, so he decided to continue on living his life, exactly how it is. So, that is how the class theme is related to the story.

__**Responding:**__

1. The purpose of his experiment was to see what happens, also to see if it was actually worth drinking for himself, because it could turn him into his old self, or something worse. Also he had wanted to work with it a little more.

2. All of Dr. Heidegger's friends hate being old, it makes them sad, grumpy, and depressed, and the Fountain of Youth is supposed to make them young again, so they wanted to try the water. During the experiment they all start to act foolish and do dumb stuff, just as they did when they were young. An example of something silly they did was when they all started to fight for Madame Wycherly, because she had looked young again, with no wrinkles or anything.

3. He didn't want to bathe his lips in the water, because after seeing how they acted, he thought that there was no point and it wasn't even worth trying, because everyone will eventually get old again one day. But also, after seeing what they were acting like, he did not want to start acting like he did when he was younger, and lose all of his useful knowledge he had learned over the past years. His fiends did not feel the same way, they continued on drinking from the fountain everyday, from morning, to afternoon, to night. I would personally not continue on drinking from the fountain, because everyone will get old, and no one will care how you look, and also one day you would lose all your family, because they would become old, while you just stay the same age, and if you were really bad when you were younger, and are happy you changed, you wouldn't want to go back.

4. The narrator in the story is not one of the characters mentioned in it, they are outside of the story, telling the readers what happened (omnicient.) The narrator is someone who knows everything that was going on, it could have been a relative, friend, or even god (if your religious) who could have been telling the story, but it was someone who saw it all. Also, the narrator was confident of what was going on.

5. The points made about aging in the story, are how wrinkled and ugly you get, and how your body doesn't feel as good as it did when they were younger. But, another view, is that everyone gets old and it doesn't matter what other people think, and also you can still accomplish things when your old just like you did when you were young, and to enjoy youth while you have it. I agree with both views personally, because it might kind of suck when you get old, and don't see yourself as you did back when you were young, and also everyone has to get old, it is part of life, just as everything else is in life such as getting born, going to school/work, etc. Also, even though you may not feel as good as you did when your younger you can still accomplish just as good, it may just take a little longer.

7. I do not think that that is desirable, because if humans lived for 800 years, the world would become way over populated, and all of Earth's resources would run out, which would mean the end of the world, for most species who need water and food, such as humans. Also, you would see how the world changes, there could be many wars, global warming could rise, and many other terrible things could happen to the world in a few hundred years. Completion: 5/5 Effort: 5/5 Content: 5/5 total: 15/15

Question Completion Mark: 5/5

total 20/20