Dr. Heidegger's Experiment

The water of youth is a symbol of both rebirth and ignorance in the story. Dr. Heidegger’s four guests trust that the water will restore their youth after years of growing old. The water of youth triggers “a healthful suffusion on their cheeks, instead of the ashen hue that made them look so corpse-like” (20). With the water of youth, the four guests are reborn physically and mentally. However, they are ignorant of Dr. Heidegger’s advice to utilize wisdom and patience when drinking the water. According to Dr. Heidegger, their lifetime of experience gives them an advantage in their second chance at youth, but the water of youth blinds the guests to that fact the more they ingest it. Then, when the water of youth runs dry, they return to their old states. Dr. Heidegger does not drink the water of youth, rejecting the return to youth and ignorance.

The rose symbolizes love, memory, and the human body in the story. Dr. Heidegger uses the “withered and crumbling flower” (17) that his lover Sylvia Ward had given him to show his guests what could happen to an object when changed by the water of youth.