Bon-Bon (short Story) - Themes and Analysis

Themes and Analysis

Like many of Poe's early tales, "Bon-Bon" was, as Poe wrote, "intended for half banter, half satire" and explores attempts at surviving death. Poe pokes fun at the pretentiousness of scholars by having his character make references to classic Greek and Latin authors, only to hear their souls have been eaten. The comedy in the story is verbal, based on turns of phrase, funny euphemisms, and absurd names.

The phrase "Bonbon" stems from the French word "bon", literally meaning "good", and is often used to describe sweet eatables. Poe examines the Greek tradition of the soul as Pneuma, an internal flame which converts food into a substance that passes into the blood. As the narrator of "Bon-Bon" says, "I am not sure, indeed, that Bon-Bon greatly disagreed with the Chinese, who held that the soul lies in the abdomen. The Greeks at all events were right, he thought, who employed the same words for the mind and the diaphragm".

Among the devil's list of victims are the souls of Plato, Aristophanes, Catullus, Hippocrates, Quintilian and "François Marie Arouet", the real name of Voltaire. As Bon-Bon is offering his own soul, the devil sneezes, referring to a prior moment when the devil says that men dispel bad ideas by sneezing.