In the short story Dr. Heidegger's Experiment by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the characters expect a positive change after consuming water from the Fountain of Youth. However, it becomes apparent that the drink is more negative than they thought. After consuming the beverage, Dr. Heidegger's guests become entangled in bad situations, which are not present at the opening of the story. Hawthorne uses a type of wordy, drawn out writing to express the characters' confused mindset after downing two servings of the Fountain of Youth. ."..the Fountain of Youth possessed some intoxicating qualities... Mr. Gascoigne's mind seemed to run on political topics, but whether relating to the past, present, or future, could not easily be determined, since the same ideas and phrases have been in vogue these fifty years..."(117) After the subjects swallow the fluid, they become entrapped in their own minds. Each falls...