On the surface, Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Dr. Heidegger Experiment" is the story of several troubled adults who are lucky enough to return to their youth and to enjoy their old life. , more beautiful selves. The idea of ​​youth in this story goes much deeper than that, however. Youth is used as a metaphor to represent psychological growth, carefreeness, and human nature. This short story explores the idea that mistakes happen naturally with youth and that even if we could go back in time, we would probably make the same mistakes. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay First of all, youth is represented by psychological growth - a period of life when one makes mistakes and learns from those mistakes. This metaphor is illustrated in Dr. Heidegger's choice of people for the experiment and in the whole idea behind Dr. Heidegger's experiment. Dr. Heidegger chooses three elderly people who experienced scandal or fell into fame during their lives. His goal behind this experiment is to see if these struggling people will actually learn from their big mistakes and correct them. This is seen when he says: “It would be well if, with the experience of a lifetime to guide you, you would lay down some general rules to guide you, in passing through the perils of youth a second time. it would be a sin and a shame if, with your special advantages, you did not become models of virtue and wisdom to all the youth of your time” (Hawthorne 241). In reality, no one gets the “special advantages” of being. able to turn back time with the wisdom of life experience. Hawthorne attempts to illustrate that mistakes inherently come with youth and that the only way to grow is to try to learn from them. Second, youth is used as a metaphor to represent the recklessness and poor decision-making that manifests in the actions of the three guests once they regain their youth. Immediately after the widow and the two men drink the water of youth and become young again, they begin to make fun of themselves. learning from their previous experience and putting it to use, they put it aside and make fun of it. Additionally, both men revert to their youthful, immature ways and begin to fight over the now beautiful widow. They both want to dance with her and soon they are at each other's throats. To justify this, the narrator says: “But they were young: their burning passions proved it. Inflamed to madness by the young widow's coquetry. (Hawthorne 244) In this aspect, Hawthorne explores the idea that youth brings with it carefreeness. Even with their previous experience and wisdom, the three guests' newfound youth and "burning passion" cause them to revert to their immature ways. Youth gives the impression that nothing is permanent and that there will be a chance to fix everything later. So even if we could turn back time, we would probably make the same mistakes because we get caught up in the moment and think recklessly. Third, the idea of ​​youth is used as a metaphor in this story to represent human nature. This metaphor appears at the end of the story when the three guests spill the rest of the water of youth and Dr. Heidegger concludes his experiment. As the three guests fight over immature reasons, they knock over the vase and render the rest of the water of youth useless..