Biography
Nathaniel Hawthorne
was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. Hawthorne's childhood left
him overly shy and bookish, which molded his life as a writer. Then he started writing
short stories, and then began to write novels. The "Scarlet Letter"
is his best-known novel. Hawthorne passed away on May 19, 1864, in Plymouth,
New Hampshire.
The
Summary of the Story
Dr. Heidegger invited
four of his old friends for an experiment in his house. He offered them water
from the "Fountain of Youth", but first he offered them as a condition
not to repeat the mistakes they had made when they were youth; one of those
mistakes was when they fought for the loved of Widow Wycherly. However, when these
people drank the water and became young again, they were fighting once more for
the interest of the Widow Wycherly. So Dr. Heidegger taught that these people
did not learn anything from their mistakes, and while they were young again
they would not be happy.
Conflict
- Dr. Heidegger wanted to make an experiment with some water from the “Fountain of Youth” on his four old friends, in order to analyze the reaction and behavior of them.
Raisin
Action
- Dr. Heidegger invited four of his old friends who lived very sad and unfortunate lives to help him with the experiment.
- Dr. Heidegger took a rose that was guarded by fifty years ago, he poured a liquid that looks as “water” into the rose and it turned red and fresh.
- Dr. Heidegger offered the Fountain of Youth to the guests and they drank, they became young again.
Climax
- The vase fell to the ground and smashed into a thousand pieces. The precious water from the Fountain of Youth flowed slowly across the floor.
Resolution
- Just as the rose got dry and brown again, the guests became old as before, without having learned anything from the mistakes they made in their youth.
Characters
Main Character
1. Dr. Heidegger
He was a gentleman .He
was a strange, old, loyal, realistic, solitary, intelligent, honest. He was a dedicated, heartbreaking and a pacific person.
Secondary
characters
2. Mr. Medbourne
He was an old man,
with white beard. He was rich. He was greedy, insatiable and lost his fortune, and
then he had to beg for money. He was a sad,desorganized, poor, and violent man.
3. Mr. Gascon
He was an old man. He
was a famous politician but he was dishonest .He stole some money then he lived
in shame. He was a sad, violent, and poor man.
4. Coronel Killigrew
He was an old man. He
was once a great soldier. He was a gluttonous person, his health did not care
and he was sick all the time for that reason he was unhealthy. He was a sad, disordered,miserable, and aggressive man.
5. Widow Wycherly
She is an old woman.
In her youth was very beautiful, but very conceited and presumed. She was not beautiful now. She was a sad,incredulous, and a miserable
person.
Moral Of The Story
The moral of the
story is that we must learn from our mistakes by taking the positive in each
one of them, to improve our daily lives and appreciate the real beautiful things
of this world, not only think in our outer beauty also supply our heart with good
values, those help us grow as a human and they never get old.
I liked the story
because the doctor taught his friends that they never learned from their
mistakes in their youth .They were part of the artificial society in which we
live today, that only teaches us that we should only worry about our outer
beauty.
Also he showed them that they must be responsible for their actions, and if they
wanted to improve in life they must change their way of thinking and acting.
