Enl 121-05
September 28, 1998
Major Paper #1

1      Nathaniel Hawthorne tells a tale of the gullibility that can come to us all with age in "Dr. Heideggers Experiment." [Titles]  In this work, there are many principles of irony used to illustrate the seemingly endless aspects of reality that people are somehow able to overlook in an effort to overcome the effects of advanced age.  The irony can also be seen as a demonstration of the way that certain areas of the medical community have always seen societies [society's] vanity problems as an opportunity to experiment and sell products, rather than as a psychological problem. [No statement of theme in the thesis?]

2       The first, and possibly most interesting bit of irony, is the characters themselves.  All of the subjects in the experiment had led less than noble lives, and consequently, they all were unsatisfied at how they had ended up in their old age.  Instead of being grateful for living long full lives, they were bitter, and wanted their youth back.  While most elderly people of their era were remembering the past, this group just lived bitterly. [Evidence?]  Even Dr. Hedegger seemed to value what his life had been, and almost delighted in the suffering of the others. [Evidence?]  Instead of letting themselves learn from life, they just continued on as they always had, and even after the “magical” water was proven not to work, [Evidence?]  they resolved to live at its source, and drink it all of the time.

3      It is ironic that in the study of a medical professional, there are so many references to the spiritual and to magic.  These things include the images in the mirror, and the book of magic in which the rose is kept.  It is also interesting that the doctor seems to take delight in the actions of his “friends” and that he is not upset when both his experiment fails, and the water is spilled and lost.  It would, in fact, seem that the doctor was not studying the fountain of youth, but that he was studying the effect of the hope of youth on his guests.

4      When the liquid is presented to the guests, [Plot summary?] it was effervescent, and had a flowery smell, just like common champagne.  The doctor would not drink it, knowing  [Evidence?] what the effects would be, but the others blindly followed his instructions.  Even though the guests had all been wealthy, and had surely had alcohol before, they assumed that it was water from some magical fountain.  When the drinks took hold, the subjects mistook being intoxicated for the feeling of youth, and actually began to see themselves as they had been in their youth.

5      The feeling and appearance of youth, and the actions and views of others have a tremendous effect on the way that each of [?] conduct ourselves every day.  The image that we want to live up to is often dictated by our peers.  And we will sometimes look past reality in an effort to meet those feelings and expectations.  By the same token, our ignorance can allow others to prey on us, without our even knowing.
 
     This essay does not follow the basic directions. The thesis is not a statement of the theme of the work, and the writer did not use three critical concepts to support it. Parts of the paper sound as if they were taken from a critical essay about the work. Although that raises questions of plagiarism, I'm not worried about it -- there were no storming notes, no draft, and no revisions in the envelope. The penalties for that are, in part, intended to reduce the grades on papers such as this to an F so that the plagiarism question need not be raised.

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