Dr+Heidegger's+Experiment

Point of View:

Protagonist: Dr Heidegger What type of character is the Protagonist? Round, Dynamic Antagonist: Old Age Describe the setting - Dr. Heidegger's house... the study - The evening - Melancholy - Delighted - Blissful Type of Conflict: Man Vs Themselves

Describe the main conflict: The main conflict is old age, because the reason the friends go through all their trouble is because they want to be young again. Describe the Climax of the Story: The climax is when the friends decide to take the Water Of Youth and start to grow younger. How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story?

With the help of his friends, Dr. Heidegger reliezes that he doesn't need to drink the water of youth. He doesn't want to relive a glimpse of what he could have been. Describe the relationship between the title and the theme.

The theme for the story relates to the title, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," because it's all about believing in something so much that your mind makes an illusion of it. The title is like that because the Doctor is trying his experiment, which may only be a trick of the mind, but makes his friends believe it's not.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme?

The Theme Is Mystery And we dont know if the Potion works or not

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme?

The climax is when they drink the Water. It illustrates the theme because they took a chance to believe in something so much that they drank the water.

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

Simile:"Youth, like the extremity of age..."

Metaphor:"...the ancient flower seemed ready to crumble to dust in the doctor's hand."

Personification:"...as if the flower were reviving from a death-like slumber."

Symbol: The skeleton on the closet represents a deep secret someon may have.

Foreshadowing (give both elements):

"You might as well ask whether an old woman's wrinkled face could ever bloom again." "She thrust her face close to the glass, to see whether some long-remembered wrinkle or crow's-feet had indeed vanished."

Irony: At they beginning the friends were very doubtful... But now they will do anything for the water.

Imagery: "...as it effervesced from the surface, resembled the tremulous glitter of diamonds."

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. Dr. Heidegger and his friends don't know if the "Fountain of Youth" really is true or just a myth. It is a mystery to them whether drinking it made them younger or if it just gave them the illusion. Therefore it's a mystery to the characters and the reader.

**1. According to Dr. Heidegger, what is the purpose of his experiment?** He wanted to see if his friends would make the same mistakes that they made and act the same way.

**2. What do Dr. Heidegger’s friends have in common? How does each of them behave during the experiment?** They each made mistakes earlier in their lives. Each feel as if they are a new person and that this was meant to happen... But instead of changing the way they were, they think of old plans they made when they were younger.

**3.** **Why would Dr. Heidegger not stop to bathe his lips in the fountain of youth? Do his friends feel the same way?** He did the experiment to see if he would want to go back to his youth to relive it. After watching what his friends went through, he doesn't want that short glimpse of a life he already lived. His friends, on the other hand, would do anything to fix their pasts, and be young again.

**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?** ** It was possibly a close friend of Dr. Heidegger's who was told about this event by either Dr. Heidegger or by his friends. **

**5. What points are made about youth and aging in this story? Do you agree with the views in the story?** The narrator describes that you should be happy with the way you lived your life, and you shouldn't need to go back to your younger self to be happy. I do agree with the view of the story because everyone should try to deal with their past mistakes and make the best of them, not necessarily by changing them.