Then "went away to town without saying more." (RHW) This coldness of heart, the neglect of her son, the villainous qualities that run throughout the story will ultimately be the cause of Paul's untimely death.
             Although at the end of the story Hester becomes increasingly concerned about Paul's deteriorating health, she still does not love him, even when he dies. At the beginning of the story, it is stated that "at the center of her heart was a hard little place that could feel no love, no, not for anybody." This image is repeated at the end of the story, when Hester sits by her son's bedside "feeling her heart had gone, turned actually into a stone." Every fairy tale, myth, or cartoon I can remember from my youth, all had people turning into stone when their eyes have feasted upon the wicked witch or possessed being. Hester's heart turns into a stone because she embodies the wicked witch, the one who has the power to turn others into stone; to kill them with an inner selfishness and neglectful tendencies. She does eventually succeed in her villainous attempts by turning her son Paul into stone when he dies at the end still trying to make his mother happy with his luck.
             Before he dies Paul asks, "Mother, did I ever tell you? I'm lucky," she responds, "no, you never did." However, the reader
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