Pages 7 - 27 Summary

The story "The Ponder Heart" by Eudora Welty tells the story of kind-hearted Daniel Ponder who is accused of murder by the family of his deceased wife. The story is told by Daniel's niece, Edna Earle Ponder, who runs the Beulah Hotel in the small town of Clay. Themes of the story include differences in people, fickleness and the impact of money and trouble on friendship.

In this first section of the novel, narrator Edna Earle Ponder describes her Uncle Daniel and his love of people. She speaks of his vice of giving things away freely, and lists the different things that he's given away in the past. She speaks of the trouble that her grandfather had with Daniel because Daniel gives away his father's possessions as well as his own. Despite this failing, Daniel is admired by his father and...