vantage of that. What Paul does not realize is that, his mother has already taken advantage of him because she wants more and more money. She cannot get enough of it. Paul felt that if he was lucky, then the house just might stop whispering. The mothers greed gets stronger and more powerful. Paul makes and intuitive connection between his mothers inability to love him and houses insistent demands (858). He mistakenly believes that, if he can bring the house enough money, all would be well. This implicates that the mothers influence on Paul had made him give more and more gifts to his mother. Hester also becomes sexually frustrated, she had bonny children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her (Kaplan 1972). She feels not fulfilled, but violated. Not only does the mother exemplify greed; she also reveals her selfishness. Hester is a selfish woman who blames her husband for not having any luck. Hesters talent for drawing is another gift that she declines with her belief that she is unlucky. A young woman artist earned several thousand pounds a year (858), but mother only made several hundreds. Mother is dissatisfied here because another woman makes more, and she cannot stand the fact that someone is making more money than she is. This dissatisfaction reveals Hester as a woman who wants more and better things than anyone else. All Hester thinks about is she. Paul, her son, has five thousand pounds to give to his mother for her birthday, which will be distributed to her over the next five years. Hester becomes even more obsessed with money (Kaplan 1971). She apparently does not appear happy and wants all five thousand pounds at once. Pauls mother should love him unconditionally, and he should fell secure in his mothers love (Kaplan 1972), but he is not. One reason could be that his mothers heart is too hardened to love her child (Kaplan 1972). She tries to give them presents, but the children and the mother both kno...
