The Ponder Heart Literary Elements

Crime Novel, Crime Fiction, Murder Mystery

1954, set in Rural Clay County, Mississippi

Narrator is Edna Earle, one of the main characters and niece of Daniel Ponder, the main focus of the story. Novel is written in first-person point of view.

The tone and mood of the novel throughout is suspenseful, humorous, often referring to events that occurred in the past.

The Ponder family are the protagonists, which includes Daniel Ponder and Edna Earle. Most perceive the Peacocks as the antagonist, but with deeper understanding, one may suggest that Daniel Ponder is both the antagonist and the protagonist. It is because of his generosity that lead to all the events, and it is also due to his generosity that people adored him and prospered.

In the beginning of the novel, there wasn't much action involved, it was mostly Edna Earle re-telling and describing her uncle to the readers. The Major conflict of the story occurs when Daniel Ponder's father dies of a heart attack after he discovered Daniel had married Bonnie Dee Peacock. Not soon after, Bonnie dies of a sudden heart attack, which leads to suspicion towards Daniel Ponder, and Daniel is blamed for his wife's death.

The climax is when Daniel Ponder gets married to the small, naive, young and ignorant Bonnie Dee.

In page 10, chapter one, Edna Earle describes her uncle as "he dresses fit to kill" which foreshadows the murders and death that occurs later on in the story, something dark that is unexpected by the reader.

Bonnie Dee's fleeing was foreshadowed in Chapter 2, when Edna Earle describes her early childhood life. She explained that her mother "just had me and quit" which shows during those days, most women married rich families for money, rather than a family or love, and most of then divorced, even Edna Earle's mother.

"Grandpa just wanted to teach Uncle Daniel a lesson" This is an understatement Edna Earle said because Grandpa Ponder's version of a 'lesson' was far more dramatic than expected. He placed his son in an asylum, in hopes it will cure his generosity and pure heart.

The title of the story "Ponder Heart" is ironic due to the way the story was written. Ponder is the family name and due to Daniel Ponder's need to give others, the family slowly deteriorates, losing its value and title. In the 1900's, wealth is extremely important when it came to being known as an important person, or building up the family name. In a way, the reader could perceive "heart" as the family name, as it slowly dies throughout the novel. This can be shown by how Daniel Ponder couldn't find an honest and respectable wife, and Edna Earle didn't have a partner or any offspring.

The Peacocks were a form of imagery in 'the ponder heart'. Peacocks are proud, arrogant creatures, and the author Eudora Welty, was hinting at the behavior of the family by using the name "Peacock". This can be proven by the selfish actions of Bonnie Dee, the way she married only for wealth and fled whenever she wanted, and only returned when Edna Earle begged and bribed her to.

Daniel Ponder's thoughts, mind, and relationship with himself is a paradox. He believes what he's doing is right, beneficial for society, and is thoughtful. However, he hadn't noticed what his actions were causing from other's point of view. Grandpa Ponder, for example. He was extremely disappointed and worried, that all he built would crumble if Daniel-his youngest son, had given everything they had away. He was in fact, worried about their future.

The narrator-Edna Earle draws parallelism and difference between the Ponders and Peacocks. The Ponders are kind-hearted and generous thoughtful people while the Peacocks were the polar opposite, meant to create and define the story to show more dimension and depth

An example of Metonymy used is the asylum, speaking to the reader that what Daniel Ponder was doing, in the eyes of his father, was absolutely bonkers and mental. A synecdoche example would be the heart attacks that occurred towards the end of the story. Eudora Welty specifically chose heart attacks as it correlates with the title of the story "The Ponder Heart". In a sense, we can perceive that what Daniel Ponder was doing was mad, and insane and that he had brought the deaths upon himself.

The lightning, which was used to "murder" Bonnie Dee was personified in the novel. It was known as the "murderer" and given humane senses to personify the lighting. The weather was also personified, and throughout the novel, there weren't any storms. But on the day of the murder, there was ironically a large storm while Bonnie Dee had returned to the Ponder House and suddenly died of "fright".