Heidegger's+Experiment

Short Stories - Literary Devises Title__:_____Heidegger's Experiment___

Point of View: 1st person, limited omniscient

Protagonist: Dr. Heidegger

What type of character is the Protagonist? The character is a round and dynamic character.

Antagonist: Dr. Heidegger

Describe the setting The story takes place in Dr. Heidegger's home, specifically in his study. It is a very old and ancient looking place with cobwebs, dust and old objects creating the atmosphere. I think the story is sometime in the 18th century. The mood is rather mysterious, creepy and a bit crazy.

Type of Conflict: Man vs. self

Describe the main conflict: The main conflict is Dr. Heidegger trying to decide whether to drink from the fountain of youth and become young again. When the guests drink the water from the fountain of youth, and they are a little bit crazy. They are so overjoyed that they are young again that they forget how to behave and start fighting over the widow. At this point the doctor realizes that he will not drink from the fountain of youth.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The climax of the story is when the guests bump into the table and the bottle is shattered.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? The protagonist changes over the course of the story when the old people drink the water and start behaving like aggressive 5-year olds. A that point, he realizes that the water is not a god thing, it makes people lose their brain and sense of how to act.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. The relationship between the title and the theme is that the events of the story are literally an experiment. The theme of the story is not learning from your mistakes and that is kind of what an experiment is about.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The main conflict helps illustrate the theme because the main conflict is when the people lose themselves because they were so overjoyed with being young. They do not learn from their mistakes and want to be young once more.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? The climax illustrates the them because the climax is when the people urn back to being old, and at that point they are no longer acting like the old people that they are, they have no other desire, but to be young again and again.

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

Simile: Have been kept as fresh as violets by the virtues of this wonderful water.

Metaphor: I love it as well as in it's dewy freshness. This is a metaphor because it's referring to the doctor loving his wife whether dead or alive.

Personification:The crushed and dried petals stirred.

Symbol: The rose wilting again is a symbol of the people's youth leaving them once again.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): You shall judge for yourself, my dear colonel. To me this foreshadowing because when someone says to me, "you'll find out", I always think that something is going to happen.

The tall mirror is said to have reflected the figures of the three old, grey, withered grandsires.

Irony: When the people were still young but the mirror showed them being old.

Imagery: It was a dim,old-fashioned chamber, festooned with cobwebs, and besprinkled with antique dust.

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. The relationship between the class theme and the story is that in the story, the four old persons go insane with joy when they are young. They lose all their // humanity //and start acting like animals. The class theme is humanity, and the story relates to the theme perfectly.

1. The purpose of the experiment is to find out if drinking the water from the Fountain of Youth is going to make your mind forget all the wisdom that it had gathered throughout the years. So, he is trying to figure out if it is a good option for old people who want to live longer.

2. Dr. Heidegger's friends are all very selfish. They only care about their opinions and all have a dark past. They will do anything to relive their youth. When they drink the water, they all behave differently. Mr. Medbourne was thinking of a new scheme to make money; Widow Wicherly is examining herself in the mirror; the Colonel starts complimenting the widow; Mr. Gasciogne's mind is only thinking of politics and the second chance he could have.

3. Dr. Heidegger would not stoop to bathe his lips in the fountain of youth because when he observed his friends and how they acted under the effect of the water he realized that when you drink it you forget all of your wisdom that you built up over the years. You act foolish and it youth is not worth losing your wisdom and life experience. His friends do not feel the same way, they believe that youth is worth becoming fooluish, and aggressive.

4. I believe the narrator of the story is Dr. Heidegger's bride. I realize she died but it's her soul that lives in her portrait that is telling the story. She knows what happened to the Doctor and his friends because she could see it from the painting. I think the narrator is quite certain fo the facts because she saw everything happen.

5. I think the point made in the story about youth and aging are that youth brings you health and happiness, but it also make syou foolish, as you have not yet had time to learn from your mistakes.With age you become wiser and and more calm, but of course, you are not as healthy and you do not feel as good as you did when you were 18 years old.

7. I do not feel that humans living for 800 years is desirable because the Earth would quickly over-populate. People wouldn't die for a long time so not only would there be an extremely big amount of old people, there would be lots more children as well as people could have more and more kids. In the end, we would soon empty the Earth's resources and that would mean we'd have to go back to a very primitive lifestyle, perhaps like the feudal times.

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