How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
Everybody else said of her: "She is such a good mother. She adores her children." Only she herself, and her children themselves, knew it was not so. (1)
Hester publically overcompensates for her indifference to her children, which is obvious to the children, but not to anybody outside the family. Sounds like Hester's a tough nut to crack.
Quote #2
The children could hear it all the time, though nobody ever said it aloud. (5)
The children can sense their parents' constant anxiety over money, even though the adults try to cover it up with expensive toys. Too bad the house is such a blabber, whispering to the kids and all.
Quote #3
The boy saw she did not believe him: or rather, that she paid no attention to his assertion. This angered him somewhere, and made him want to compel her attention. (40)
For Paul, his mother's attention is simply an acknowledgment that he exists. He needs her attention; otherwise, he feels invisible.
Quote #4
"I started it for mother. She said she had no luck, because father is unlucky, so I thought if I was lucky, it might stop whispering." (149)
This is the smoking gun: Paul begins to bet on horses for his mother. It's all an effort to win his mother's love.
Quote #5
When there were no visitors, Paul now took his meals with his parents, as he was beyond the nursery control. (170)
The family dynamic shifts here when Paul finally grows out of the nursery. He's taking a seat at the table, next to his mother and father, suggesting he hold a more equal status in their eyes. Technically, he's pulling in a lot of money and supporting them, although they don't know it yet.
Quote #6
"[…] My family has been a gambling family, and you won't know till you grow up how much damage it has done. But it has done damage […]" (189)
Isn't it ironic? Hester still doesn't know about Paul's gambling or what it's doing to his wellbeing.
Quote #7
His mother had sudden strange seizures of uneasiness about him. Sometimes, for half an hour, she would feel a sudden anxiety about him, that was almost anguish. (209)
Hester almost starts to worry and actually care about her son—or does she sense that her wealth is somehow tied to her son? Is her anxiety really spurred by her subconscious fear of losing her money?
Quote #8
Then he fell with a crash to the ground, and she, all her tormented motherhood flooding upon her, rushed to gather him up. (226)
Paul finally gets the motherly love he has so desperately desired—but only when he collapses from a brain fever.
Quote #9
"What does he mean by Malabar?" asked the heart-frozen mother.
"I don't know," said the father, stonily. (230-1)
These are the only words spoken by his father, and the word "stonily" suggests that he is not in touch with his human emotions. Is he even human, or is he denser?
Quote #10
He neither slept nor regained consciousness, and his eyes were like blue stones. His mother sat, feeling her heart had gone, turned actually into a stone. (235)
Like the father, both Paul and Hester are compared to stones, suggesting that while Paul has literally died, his parents have figuratively died. They are dead to the real, human emotions that a mother and a father ought to feel toward their dying son.