Dr+Heidegger's+Experiment

Short Stories-Literary Devises Title: __Dr. Heidegger's Experiment__

Point of view: 1st person, limited omniscient

Protagonist: Dr. Heidegger What type of character is the Protagonist? Dr. Heidegger is an old gentleman who may have been a medical doctor, since the story refers to him having patients in the past. He is a round and dynamic character.

Antagonist: Dr. Heidegger

Describe the setting: This story takes place in Dr. Heidegger's study. The room is dim, old fashioned and covered in dust and cobwebs. There are several bookshelves filled with large folios, black-letter quartos and and parchment-covered duodecimos. A bust of Hippocrates sits on one of the book cases and an oaken closet stands in the corner of the room, concealing a skeleton inside. There is also a mirror and a picture of the woman Dr. Heidegger was going to marry. The the story takes place on a summer afternoon. The mood of the story transitions from dismal and disinterested to excited and hysterical.

Type of Conflict: Man vs. Himself

Describe the main conflict: Dr. Heidegger using his companions as test subjects to solidify his decision whether he would want to relive his youth or not.

Describe the Climax of the story: When the three men and Madam Wycherly become old once more.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? Yes, Dr. Heidegger does change because he finalizes his opinion of what he would do given the choice of eternal life. He decided that he would not choose to relive his youth because based on his experiment, he would be doomed to repeat the same mistakes.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. The theme of this story is failing to learn from past experience and mistakes. Dr. Heidegger conducted his experiment to prove his hypothesis that if given youth again, people wouldn't learn from past experience and repeat past mistakes. That is the relationship between the title and the theme of the story.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? The main conflict helps to illustrate the theme because when asked, Dr. Heidegger's companions say that they will keep their past experience in mind, but return to the selfish pursuits of their past youth. This illustrates the theme because they fail to learn from their past experience and end up repeating the mistakes that ruined their lives the first time around. This helps Dr. Heidegger to solidify his decision.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? The climax helps to illustrate the theme because it shows that history tends to repeat itself unless you learn from your past experience and make an effort to change the course of your life. The three men and Madam Wycherly were given their youth again for a short time and they wasted it by repeating what they did in their past youth. They did not learn from their past life experience and made no attempt to change their actions before they became old once more.

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

Simile: "a small round table as black as ebony," compares the small round table to ebony. "shadows of age were flitting from it like darkness from the crimson daybreak," compares the shadows leaving Madam Wycherly's face to darkness leaving from the crimson daybreak. "several gigantic magnolias, which, though numberless centuries old, have been kept as fresh as violets," compares the state of the magnolias to the freshness of violets.

Metaphor: "They were all melancholy old creatures," compares Dr. Heidegger and his friends to creatures. "They looked as if they had never known what youth or pleasure was, but had been the offspring of Nature's dotage," compares Dr. Heidegger's companions to the offspring of Nature's dotage.

Personification: "while the shadows of age were flitting," because shadows cannot flit. "sly and doubtful whisper," because a whisper cannot be sly or doubtful. "his own conscience could scarcely catch the secret," because a conscience cannot catch something and a secret cannot be caught.

Symbol: The mirror is a symbol of "the ugly truth," because it shows Dr. Heidegger's companions as they really are and is said to reflect the faces of his deceased patients. The rose is a symbol of height of youth, when you are "at your prime." The skeleton in Dr. Heidegger's closet is a symbol that he is hiding things from his past.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): Dr. Heidegger's companions appearing old in the mirror and the rose shriveling up once more foreshadow that the effects of the water are temporary and they will turn old once more.

Irony: Mr. Medbourne, Gascoigne, Colonel Killigrew and Madam Wycherly mocking the elderly state which they had, merely moments ago been in. The fact that, given the opportunity to be young again, the friends of Dr. Heidegger would repeat the mistakes that ruined their lives before.

Imagery: "Dr. Heidegger's study must have been a very curious place. 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 rows of gigantic folios and black-letter quartos, and the upper with little parchment-covered duodicimos. over the central bookcase was a bronze bust of Hippocrates, with which, according to some authorities, Dr. Heidegger was accustomed to hold consultations in all difficult cases of his practice. In the obscurest corner of the room stood a tall oaken closet, with its door ajar, within which doubtfully appeared a skeleton. Between two of the bookcases hung a looking glass, presenting its high and dusty plate within a tarnished gilt frame"

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. The relationship between the class theme and the story is that human beings often need to make mistakes more than once to learn from them and sometimes we don't learn at all. The theme of the story is not learning from past experience and mistakes and this is part of humanity and being human. I believe part of what causes us to ignore our past experience is selfishness, greed and vanity. In the story, Madam Wycherly and the three men did not want to improve their ways, they wanted to continue being young forever and indulging in the selfish, greedy and vain pleasures of their past youth. This story relates to some of the negative aspects of humanity and human nature.

1) According to Dr. Heidegger, the purpose of his experiment was to see if people, given the chance to be young again, would learn from their past experience and not repeat the same mistakes. He wanted to use this information to finalize his own decision whether he would take the option of becoming young once more or not. Dr. Heidegger decides that he wouldn't want to become young again because his companions showed him that he would be doomed to repeat the mistakes of his past.

2) Dr. Heidegger's friends have all wasted their youths on vain, selfish pursuits and ended up ruined and forgotten. Widow Wycherly begins to act very vain, standing before the mirror curtsying and simpering to her own image. Mr. Gascoigne's mind begins to run on political topics and he speaks full-throated sentences about patriotism, national glory and the people's rights. Colonel Killigrew sings a jolly bottle song and rings his glass in symphony with the chorus while he gazes at the figure of the Widow Wycherly. As for Mr. Medbourne, he becomes involved in a calculation of dollars and cents, which is intermingled with a project for supplying the East Indies with ice, by harnessing a team of whales to the polar icebergs.

3) Dr. Heidegger would not stoop to bathe his lips in the Fountain of Youth because he has gained an acceptance of aging and he learns from his friends that if he did choose to become young again he would most likely repeat his past mistakes. His friends don't feel the same way because not long after the experiment, they plan an expedition to Florida in order to find the Fountain of Youth.

4) The narrator of the story is most likely someone who knew Dr. Heidegger. I would assume this because the only way he would know all the details of what happened to the Dr. Heidegger and his friends was if he was told by someone who was in the room at the time. Since the views of Dr. Heidegger's friends would be skewed the story relayed by the doctor himself would be the most accurate. The narrator is certain of the majority of his facts, but it seems as though fact and fiction may have been mingled slightly as the story probably changed slightly over time.

5) The points made about youth in the story are that we can be very foolish and giddy in our youth and that you can never truly get a second chance at it because you end up making the same mistakes. The points made about aging in the story are that aging is inevitable and also that aging is a natural process that we should accept. I agree with Dr. Heidegger's view that aging is a process we must accept and becoming young again would only lead to repetition of mistakes.

7) I do not feel that human beings living 800 years is desirable because it would cause overpopulation, as people would still have children and with this problem comes the problem of using up all our resources at an alarming rate.

COMPLETION 5/5 EFFORT 5/5 CONTENT 5/5 QUESTIONS 12/12 TOTAL 27/27