Introductory Question regarding Perl Objects

[patstarks]

Hello,
I am just learning perl objects and I am having some trouble fully grasping the concept. So I made a simple example to figure it out however it is not working.
I created two files: object_tut.pl and Person.pm

In this simple example I have a string $seq which I turn into an object via a sub located in Person.pm called create. This sub turns $seq into an object. I then concatenate the string $seq into itself using a method located in Person.pm. However, when I print my strings I am getting some unexpected results about Person=HASH....

#############################
Here is object_tut.pl:
#############################
#!/usr/bin/perl
use warnings;
use strict;
use lib 'C:\begperl\Lessons\L5_Objects';
use Person;

my $seq = "AGCTGTGACGA";
print "Here is the string before create call " , ref($seq) , " $seq\n";
$seq = Person->create($seq);
print "Here is the string after create call " , ref($seq) , " $seq\n";
my $added = Person->concatenate($seq);
print "$seq\n";
print "$added\n";
exit(0);

#######################################
Here are the contents of Person.pm
#######################################
#!/usr/bin/perl
package Person;
use warnings;
use strict;

sub create{
my $class = shift;
my $self ={};
bless($self, $class);
return $self;
};

sub concatenate{
my $string = shift;
my $ret_string = $string . $string;
return $ret_string;
}

1;

##################################
Here is the output
##################################
Here is the string before create call AGCTGTGACGA
Here is the string after create call Person Person=HASH(0x6faf14)
Person=HASH(0x6faf14)
PersonPerson
################################
How come it does not return the string concatenated to itself? Is there something I am missing?

Thanks,
Starks