The Ponder Heart

Name: ______The Ponder Heart by Eudora Welty “Born April 13, 1909, Welty spent what she describes as an idyllic childhood in Jackson, Mississippi with her two brothers, Edward and Walter, and their doting parents, Chestina, a schoolteacher, and Christian, an insurance executive. Welty lived in her familial homes in Jackson for most of her ninety-two years, and a second on Pinehurst Street, where she lived until her death in 2001. Time away from Jackson included two years at Mississippi State College for Women (1925-27), several years at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and a year in New York City, studying advertising at the Columbia University business school. Her father’s death in 1931 brought her home from New York, and she worked at a local radio station and wrote about the Jackson social scene for the Memphis, Tennessee, Commercial Appeal, a newspaper circulated throughout Northwest Mississippi. From 1933-36 she served as a publicity agent for the Works Progress Administration, where she also took her most memorable photographs (published in 1989). She began to publish fiction in 1936, was on staff of the New York Times Book Review in 1944, and traveled to France, Italy, England and Ireland in 1949-50.

Welty’s education and employment history indicate her comfort in a variety of places and situations. Yet she consistently anchored herself in Jackson, coming home for good to nurse her ailing mother in the 1960s. Along with Welty’s artful gentility and modesty, this idea of the single southern woman spending most of her adult life in her childhood home has mislead some critics into assuming that Welty is little more than a “literary aunt” addressing only polite subjects in her work. Further, anecdotes about Welty’s “niceness” abound in print, especially in her obituaries, and these stories add to the image of the benign Welty. At her funeral in July 2001, for example, Welty’s agent Timothy Seldes reported that he had heard that Welty spoke her last words to a doctor who leaned over her bed and asked, “Eudora, is there anything I can do for you?” Her rumored reply: “No, but thank you so much for inviting me to the party.” As this story illustrates, the public Welty was genteel, always humble, always ready to make those around her comfortable. Welty was widely and deeply loved in her region. “

Before: This story is told by Edna Earle Ponder as she tells about her Uncle Daniel. Because Edna Earle tells the story, it is called a(n) ______. The story takes place in the late 1930s in a tiny Mississippi town. Describe what you think a “tiny Mississippi town in the late 1930s would be like: ______

What are some ADVANTAGES of being a member of a tight-knit family in a very small community or town? ______

What are some DISADVANTAGES of being a member of a tight-knit family in a very small community or town? ______

Explain how you think money affects relationships between people? ______Daniel Ponder – heir of the richest family in Clay County, Mississippi; likes to “give away his “possessions because he doesn’t care much about money and material items; sees the good in everyone; is younger than Edna Earle, but is her uncle

Grandpa Ponder – worked hard to add to the wealth of the Ponder family; proud; doesn’t want to give away the family money; old-fashioned; loves his son Daniel, but worries that Daniel is not very mature

Edna Earle Ponder – the “brains of the family”; she runs the Ponder family’s hotel (called the Beulah Hotel, named after her grandmother); is not married because she feels the need to “take care of “ everyone in the family before she thinks about herself; she becomes tired of trying to keep “Uncle Daniel” from giving away everything that the Ponders have

DeYancey Clanahan – the Ponder family’s attorney; nicknamed “tad pole” (which he does not like people to call him)

Teacake Magee – Grandpa and Edna Earle decide that Daniel needs to settle down – and, if he got married he would settle down; they arrange for Daniel to marry Teacake Magee; she is a widow; she and Daniel have known each other since they were very young children

Bonnie Dee Peacock– a 17 year old girl whose family is LARGE, does not have much money, has little schooling, has not really every been anywhere; immature; would like to have “pretty things”

Dorris Gladney – District Attorney; would like to become more than just the District Attorney; does not want the Ponder family to have as much power in the county as it does

Narciss Wingfield – has worked for the Ponder family for a long time; very capable; is one of the few people who can drive a car

Ovid Springer – Edna Earle’s boyfriend; a traveling salesman; wants to marry Edna Earle, but she keeps telling him that she need to take care of Grandpa Ponder, or Daniel ….

Text Questions: write the correct answer(s) on the line 1. Keep in mind that Daniel introduces himself to the reader by saying: “I’m a happy person and I like to ______. 2. We all have favorite sayings; Uncle Daniel also introduces himself to us by saying: “ I’m going to ______if you don’t make me a cake soon.” 3. List 3 physical things that you see that help establish that this text is set in the 1930s: ______4. What is “out of place” for the 1930 about the motorcycle driver who comes to make people aware of the motorcycle show – The Wall of Death – that is taking place in Clay county, Mississippi? ______5. When Daniel Ponder is asked “WHAT DO YOU DO?”, what is his answer? ______6. When it is implied that the Ponders are wealthy and have special privileges; their reply is “We burned our cotton when the Yankee’s came through too.” What does “…burned our cotton..” have to do with their wealth? Why is that their answer? ______7. What did Daniel do to talk Elsie into getting out of her dangerous line of work? ______8. The Ponders own a big house, but there is ONE THING wrong with their home. What is it? ______9. How does Grandpa Ponder end up in the Whitfield Asylum instead of Daniel Ponder? ______10. Grandpa Ponder accepts that he has a weak heart and high blood pressure; he says he knows that he does not have much time to live. What does he make Edna Earle promise to do? ______

11. Daniel wants to help Bonnie Dee Peacock get a job and asks her, “What can you do?” What are the 2 things that Bonnie Dee says she can do? ______& ______. 12. Daniel lost the wedding ring he was going to give his bride (Teacake McGee). Where does Bonnie Dee take him to get a new wedding ring? ______13. At this point in the story, describe Bonnie Dee Peacock – not physically, but as a person, what she values, what she seems to care about, etc.: ______14. At this point in the story, would you agree that Bonnie Dee seems immature but nice? ______15. At this point in the story, would you agree that Bonnie Dee seems to not have much education?______16. At his point in the story, would you agree that Bonnie Dee doesn’t come from a wealthy family?______17. At this point in the story, would you agree that Bonnie Dee doesn’t seem overly materialistic? ______

18. Who does Daniel Ponder marry ? ______19. After the wedding, when Daniel and his new wife get to the house, his wife asks if she “can have a ______all to“ herself, and then she says she thinks she & Daniel ought to have a trial ______.

20. What killed Grandpa Ponder? ______21. When Grandpa Ponder’s will is read, he leaves: the Buick car and free gas forever to Narciss; the hotel to Edna Earl. What does he leave Daniel? ______

22. Why won’t Bonnie Dee let Daniel put the new automatic washing machine in house? ______23. When Bonnie Dee wants the radio turned on but she doesn’t want to get up and do it herself, what does she tell Narciss? ______24. Bonnie Dee’s father comes to her new house. He says his truck is broken. What does Bonnie Dee tell him?______25. Edna Earl and Daniel both get $20 a week as allowance from the Ponder money. When Edna Earl goes to the bank for their $20, she finds out that Daniel has already stopped by for money and he also got what? ______26. The Bank Teller tells Edna Earle that Bonnie Dee and Daniel are spending more in one month, than the Ponders spend in ______. 27. What happens that makes Bonnie Dee Peacock PONDER tell Edna Earl to get out of her house? ______

28. Ovid Springer (Edna Earl’s boyfriend) says that he saw Bonnie Dee in Memphis at a movie theater with some other girls and soldiers and Bonnie Dee did what? ______29. Why doesn’t Bonnie Dee want to answer the telephone ? ______30. In the storm, why won’t Bonnie Dee let Narciss use the phone to call Daniel for help? ______321 Explain how Bonnie Dee dies: ______32. Did Edna Earl do anything to make Bonnie Dee die? ______If YES, what? ______33. Did Daniel do anything to make Bonnie Dee die? ______If YES, what?______

34. At the funeral, Daniel tells Bonnie Dee’s father that Daniel is giving him what? ______35. At the funeral, Daniel finds out that he is to be charged with what crime? ______36. At the trial, Narciss testifies that she took a message from Daniel to Bonnie Dee. What did he ask Narciss to tell Bonnie Dee?______37. While the trial is going on, Daniel goes to the bank and asks for how much money? ______38. Why did Daniel fire his attorney during the trial? ______39. Why does Daniel say he “killed” Bonnie Dee ?______

40. In Literary Terms, Daniel’s saying “I’m going to kill you…….” Throughout the text is an example of the author using what literary technique/ term? ______

41. Look at your answers to questions 13 – 17, there was big change between what you wrote for 13 – 17 when compared to the Bonnie Dee in questions 23 – 27. This big change in Bonnie Dee is an example of the author creating the character Bonnie Dee using what types of Characterization? (circle correct answers to the 3 different areas that follow -) Direct Characterization or Indirect Characterization Round Character or Flat Character Dynamic or Static Character