Heartless

The final chapters comprise the narrative’s denouement. Here, Cath’s character arc reaches its end, and the novel’s remaining conflicts are resolved. However, because the narrative charts Cath’s descent into evil, its resolution cannot be anything other than Cath’s total devolution into the Queen of Hearts. As Cath completes her transformation, all three of the narrative’s major themes reach their culmination: Being True to Your Own Heart, Love as a Constructive and Destructive Force, and Escaping Fate.

Cath’s response to Jest’s death signals the beginning of her decline and further develops the theme of love’s potential for destruction. In the absence of Jest, her love, Cath becomes consumed by rage and hate, until her preoccupation with revenge blinds her and she trades her heart for the opportunity to achieve her vengeance. Cath’s deal with the Sisters symbolizes the emptiness she’s given into in the absence of love; she leans into hatred and bloodlust to escape the pain of Jest’s death. Cath’s love for Jest—and grief at his loss—motivates the choices that ultimately cement her devolution into the Queen of Hearts, demonstrating love’s potential to catalyze destructive choices. However, because these drastic choices were motivated by Cath’s desire to escape the pain of lost love, the narrative simultaneously reinforces love’s necessity as a force for good.

The tragic conclusion of Cath’s character arc also reinforces the theme of following one’s heart, as the consequences of dismissing one’s true self are evident in Cath’s decision to court hate after Jest’s death. Throughout the novel, Cath’s true heart lay in her passion for baking and her dreams of a life with Jest; by the end of the novel, these dreams are destroyed, and Cath’s better self along with them. Just as Cath embraces hatred to avoid her grief, she likewise turns to power to compensate for the anguish of disappointed dreams. Cheshire’s comments to Cath before her wedding in Chapter 51 poignantly illustrate this; he calls Cath “empty” and reminds her of the power of hope to make the impossible possible. This indicates that by casting aside her own hope and dreams, Cath has discarded the possibility for renewal and has trapped herself in a self-imposed perception of helplessness. The imagery of Cath’s heart after it’s been cut out of her chest provides a physical manifestation of the damage she has done to herself: “[The heart] was broken, cut almost clean in half by a blackened fissure that was filled with dust and ash” (442). While Cath’s dismissal of her true self led to this moment, the conversation Cath has with her parents in Chapter 51 prompts the reader to question how much influence others may have had on her fate as well. This conversation concludes Cath’s conflict between her true feelings and the expectations of others, presenting a thematic statement on the importance of following one’s heart—and of having others support it.

Similarly, the reader is also prompted to consider to what degree Cath is responsible for her own fate. The final chapters emphasize the theme of escaping fate as they prominently question how characters’ actions determine their fates, and Hatta’s foil to Cath particularly demonstrates this. Both characters bear responsibility in the series of events—Cath ignored the Sisters’ advice and went through the door, and she slew the Jabberwock; meanwhile, Hatta was the one who first planted the pumpkin seeds in Peter’s patch, despite knowing the potential consequences. However, while Cath continually blames others—Mary Ann, Hatta, the Sisters—Hatta concedes in Chapter 52 his role in how things have turned out: “I know it is [my fault], and I will pay for it with my sanity, just as the Sisters said” (435). Hatta’s reaction starkly contrasts Cath—while she redirects blame and clings to vengeance in a desperate attempt to ‘undo’ the events, Hatta acknowledges that he sealed his doom and others’ with his own hands and accepts the price for it. In the end, neither character could escape their fate, but the foil between them highlights the importance of one’s own choices in determining fate.

The novel’s final line is the ultimate signal of Cath’s foregone fate, as she utters the Queen of Hearts’s defining phrase: “Off with his head” (449). Previously, Cath used this phrase in Chapter 34 as a self-fortifying invocation to slay the Jabberwock and protect those around her, but now it is a merciless command for execution. The use of the Queen of Hearts’s iconic phrase connects the conclusion of Cath’s character arc with the reader’s outside knowledge, indicating that Cath has not escaped the fate this knowledge foreshadowed from the outset.