Dr.+Heidegger's+Experiment

Devon Fang and Michael Griffin

1) According to Dr. Heidegger, what is the purpose of his experiment? The purpose of the experiment is to see what the water of youth does, and how it works, and whether or not you would lose any of the wisdom that you currently have.

2) What do Dr. Heidegger's friends have in common? How does each of them behave during the experiment? All of Dr. Heidegger's friends have had a rough and dark past, and during the experiment, the don't believe it, but when they actually turn young again, they become extremely lively, and become rude again, forgetting that they were old and wiser just a few minutes ago.

3) 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 wouldn't want to drink the water because he doesn't want to live his bad youth all over again, and he also quotes that "he is in no hurry to grow young again", since he took a long time growing old. Another fact of why he doesn't want to drink the water is because he especially doesn't want to lose all the wisdom he slowly gained over his long years. His friends, on the other hand, just wish to be young again, so they can feel ecstatic once more without hurting themselves.

4) 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? The narrator could have been either another friend of Dr. Heidegger's, also in the room with the others although no one interacted with him, and he didn't drink the water, or he could be a person looking in from outside of the house. We know that he didn't drink the water because he was talking about the other people's reactions, but he didn't say anything about what it felt like firsthand. He seems to know much about Dr. Heidegger's friends, so he is extremely sure of all his facts. He would probably know what happened because he was either in the room or looking in through a window, or maybe even through a keyhole.

5) What points are made about youth and aging in the story? Do you agree with the views in the story? Comment. In the story, points are made that aging is bad, and that youth is probably the best thing you can have. All the characters in the story except for Dr. Heidegger think that way, and you know this because they desparately wanted to be young again, chugging down the water as quickly as possible. We personally disagree with this point of view, because we both think that although with youth, you can be lively and sporty, but as you grow older, you gain wisdom, and as a famous quote says, "Wisdom is the more precious than rubies", meaning that wisdom is probably the best thing you can have.

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7) 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. We think that this isn't desirable because Nature made everything that lives have its own life span, ranging from a couple of hours (bacteria) to many centuries (trees). If we disturb this balance, humans would overpopulate the world, and many consequences would take their toll. For example, global warming rates would skyrocket, because with more than double our current population, we would use much, much more natural resources, and we would take them away from the earth much faster than the natural things can make them, making our planet unbalanced.

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

Point of View: The point of view is third person omniscient.

Protagonist: The Protagonist is Dr. Heidegger.

What type of character is the Protagonist? Dr. Heidegger is a dynamic round character.

Antagonist: The antagonist is time and age itself.

Describe the setting The setting is in the time of around the time right before the turn of the 20th century, in Dr. Heidegger's house. The mood is anxious and a bit creepy, with all the things in Dr. Heidegger's room, but after the friends drink the water, the mood is happy and excited, then drops back down when the water wears off.

Type of Conflict: The type of conflict is Man vs. Environment, as the men are fighting against time, which is a natural flow, interrupted by the essence of the Water of Youth, and also Man vs. Self, because in all of the people, they are all fighting against the thoughts about getting old.

Describe the main conflict: The main conflict is the flow of time acting on the friends of Dr. Heidegger, because when they drink the water, it's like they go back in time and become young, but then they start acting young, creating conflict by disturbing the flow of time.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The climax of the story is when the vase containing all the water spills, because then all the young people turn old again, and also, they can't drink the water anymore, because it is all over the floor.

How do the Protagonist(s) change over the course of the story? The protagonists change over the course of the story by drinking the water of youth. They become young again, and they change from miserable and old to animated and young. The catch is that instead of still being wise from age, they become rash and bold, just like what they actually were when they were young.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. I think that the theme of this story is telling us that we shouldn't try to stop Nature and the flow of time, because most probably, it won't work. It connects with the title because Dr. Heidegger used his friends as guinea pigs for his experiment to see whether or not the disruption to the flow of time would work well, but Nature didn't appreciate the disruption, and so the water didn't work very well.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The main conflict helps illustrate the theme because the main conflict is that the friends of Dr. Heidegger become young again, but then when the effect of the water of youth wears off, they become old, proving that the natural flow of time shouldn't be messed around with, because humans are meant to just grow older naturally, and shouldn't be able to go back in time by any means to be young again. Unfortunately, Dr. Heidegger's friends didn't understand this theory, so they just went to find the actual fountain of youth.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? The climax was when the vase was smashed to pieces and the water wore off at the same time, showing that although there might be things that make you feel young again, you still cannot disrupt Nature's flow of time.

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

Simile: “...as black as ebony...”

Metaphor: “Skeleton in the closet”. That is a metaphor that means that you have dark secrets of things that have happened in the past that you don't want anybody else to know about.

Personification: “ The picture of the young lady had stepped one foot upon the floor….”

Symbol: The rose of Dr. Heidegger symbolizes his love for his fiancée, which although will grow old, will never completely die.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): When it says that Dr. Heidegger's friend's were brash and rude when they were young, there is foreshadowing that when they actually do use the water of youth to become young again, they will once again be brash and rude.

Irony: It's ironic how they promised to keep their wisdom of old when they drank the water, but then after they became young again, they immediately disregarded that statement and starting being foolish, and even making fun of old people, even though they technically are still old timers.

Imagery: “The sunshine came through the window, between the heavy festoons of two faded damask curtains..."

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. The flow of time and nature itself is extremely powerful, making people unable to disrupt the natural flow of time, no matter how hard they try (unless someone creates a time machine!) So because you can't break the flow of time, you should just go with the flow and relax.

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

total 15/15

Questions Completion Mark 5/5

total 20/20