KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS - Mater Lakes
PinkMonkey Literature Notes on . . .
The Westing Game
by
Ellen Raskin
1978
[pic]
MonkeyNotes Study Guide by Ray Mescallado
Reprinted with permission from Copyright ( 2006, All Rights Reserved.
Distribution without the written consent of is strictly prohibited.
KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS
SETTING
The outskirts of Westingtown, which is situated on Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The two main locations are within sight of each other: the newly built Sunset Towers and the Westing house, abandoned for many years before the start of the novel.
LIST OF CHARACTERS
Major Characters
Sam "Windy" Windkloppel a.k.a. Sam Westing / Barney Northrup / Alexander "Sandy" McSouthers / Julian R. Eastman - The mastermind of the Westing game, he fakes his death as self-made millionaire Sam Westing to unite his extended family and find a suitable heir for his estate. As realtor Barney Northrup, he convinces most of the Westing heirs to move into Sunset Towers. As Sunset Towers doorman Sandy McSouthers, he befriends the heirs and helps guide the events in the game. As Julian Eastman, he continues to run the Westing Paper Products Corporation as its newly-elected chairman.
Flora Miller Baumbach - Tenant in 2C, a dressmaker whose daughter Rosalie died a year before the novel begins.
George Theodorakis - Tenant in 2D and owner of the coffee shop in the lobby, he dated Violet Westing before she was forced into an engagement she didn't want.
Catherine Theodorakis - Tenant in 2D who runs the coffee shop with her husband George.
Theo Theodorakis - Tenant in 2D and older son of George and Catherine, a high school senior who wants to be a writer.
Christos "Chris" Theodorakis - Tenant in 2D and younger son of George and Catherine, he suffers from a neurological disease which confines him to a wheelchair.
Sydelle Pulaski - Tenant in 3C, the secretary to the president of Schultz Sausages.
Jake Wexler - Tenant in 3D and a podiatrist who keeps his office on the first floor.
Grace Windsor Wexler a.k.a. Gracie Windkloppel Wexler - Tenant in 3D, a social climber and self-professed decorator.
Angela Wexler - Tenant in 3D and older daughter of Jake and Grace, she is known for her beauty and her engagement to young, promising intern Denton Deere.
Tabitha-Ruth "Turtle" Wexler - Tenant in 3D and younger daughter of Jake and Grace, she is less attractive than Angela and interested in the stock market.
James Shin Hoo - Tenant in 4C and owner of Shin Hoo's Restaurant on the fifth floor.
Sun Lin Hoo - Tenant in 4C and James' second wife, she came from China to marry and wishes to return to her homeland. She begins the novel unable to speak English.
Douglas Hoo - Tenant in 4C, son of James and stepson of Sun Lin, he is a high school athlete who shows much promise.
Judge Josie-Jo Ford - Tenant in 4D, her parents worked for the Westing family when she was a child.
Berthe Erica Crow - Tenant in the maid's apartment on the fourth floor, actually the ex-wife of Sam Westing who became an alcoholic before finding religion and dedicating herself to a Skid Row soup kitchen.
Otis Amber - Delivery boy for Sunset Towers and worker at Crow's soup kitchen, he is also a private investigator hired by Sam Westing, Barney Northrup, and Judge Josie-Jo Ford.
Denton Deere - A medical intern engaged to Angela Wexler.
Minor Characters
Ezra Ford - Josie-Jo Ford's father, when she was a child he worked for the railroads and on weekends was a gardener for the Westing family.
Unnamed Ford - Josie-Jo Ford's mother, who worked as a servant for the Westing family when Josie-Jo was a child.
Violet Westing - The daughter of Sam Westing and Berthe Erica Crow, she drowned herself twenty years earlier when Crow forces her to break up with George Theodorakis and become engaged to a crooked politician.
Unnamed politician - The fiancé Berthe Erica Crow chose for her daughter Violet.
Unnamed newspaperman - Helps Judge Ford research the heirs to the Westing estate.
Rosalie Baumbach - Flora's mentally retarded daughter, she died at nineteen a year before the novel begins.
Unnamed husband - Flora's husband, who left her years earlier.
Ambulance Attendant - Tends to Sydelle Pulaski's injury after the bombing
Policeman - Works with the bomb squad, investigates the explosions caused by the bomber.
Fire Inspector - Checks on the explosions caused by the bomber.
Psychiatrist - Called by Denton Deere to examine Sydelle Pulaski.
Cookie Barfspringer - Attends Angela's wedding shower.
Bomb Squad Detective - Talks to Theo Theodorakis after he causes an explosion at his high school's chemistry laboratory.
Dentist - Recommended by Sandy McSouthers, he takes care of Turtle Wexler's cavity.
Conrad Schultz - President of Schultz Sausages, eventual husband of Sydelle Pulaski.
Shirley Staver - Chris Theodorakis' eventual wife, who he meets in college.
CONFLICT
Protagonist - The sixteen Westing heirs, asked in Sam Westing's will to solve the mystery of who took his life. The players who are most aware of the truth behind this game are Judge Josie-Jo Ford and Turtle Wexler.
Antagonist - Sam Westing, whose will is a game to find a deserving heir for his fortune as well as to bring together relatives and other people whose life he influenced.
Climax - Sandy McSouthers dies in front of the heirs, and soon after is revealed by Turtle Wexler to be Sam Westing in disguise.
Outcome - Turtle Wexler keeps to herself the entire truth, which is that the will asked the heirs to find "The Fourth": that is, the fourth disguise of Sam "Windy" Windkloppel, who turns out to be the newly-elected chairman of Westing Paper Products, Julian Eastman. Turtle wins the Westing game and becomes the secret heir of the Westing fortune.
SHORT PLOT/CHAPTER SUMMARY (Synopsis)
Realtor Barney Northrup rents out the apartments of the newly-constructed Sunset Towers to a select group of tenants that includes the Wexler family (podiatrist Jake, wife Grace, daughters Angela and Turtle), the Theodorakis family (coffee shop owner George, wife Catherine, sons Theo and Christos), the Hoo family (restaurant owner James Shin, second wife Sun Lin, son Douglas), Judge Josie-Jo Ford, secretary Sydelle Pulaski, and dressmaker Flora Baumbach. The building not only has spaces to accommodate the businesses of Jake Wexler, George Theodorakis, and James Hoo, but also has a cleaning woman, Berthe Erica Crow, who also lives in the Towers, a doorman, Sandy McSouthers, and a delivery boy, Otis Amber. The tenants move into their new homes in September; on Halloween, smoke is seen rising from the Westing house, on a cliff that's within view of Sunset Towers. Rumors have it that Sam Westing, the rich industrialist who owns Westing Paper Products, has either returned to his old home or has been dead on the Oriental rug for a long time. On a dare, Turtle Wexler goes up to the Westing house where she discovers what she thinks is Sam Westing's body, dressed up like Uncle Sam.
The morning after, the newspaper reports Sam Westing dead. The inhabitants and workers at Sunset Towers - minus Barney Northrup, George Theodorakis and wife Catherine - receive letters inviting them to a reading of Westing's will the next day, as does Angela Wexler's fiancé D. Denton Deere. After the heirs gather at the appointed time, attorney E.J. Plum reads the testament, where Sam Westing reveals he has not died of natural causes and that one of the heirs present is guilty. The will asks his sixteen heirs to play a game to discover who took his life. To do this, the players are assigned into pairs: Jake Wexler and Madame Hoo, both of whom do not attend the reading and thus forfeit the money; Turtle Wexler and Flora Baumbach; Christos Theodorakis and D. Denton Deere; Alexander McSouthers and J.J. Ford; Grace Windsor Wexler and James Shin Hoo; Berthe Erica Crow and Otis Amber; and Sydelle Pulaski and Angela Wexler. Each of the pairs present are given a check for ten thousand dollars to encourage their participation and clue words written on pieces of Westing paper towel.
In the two weeks that follow, the pairs each go about this Westing game, interpreting their clues in very different ways as well as trying to find out the clues of other pairs. Along the way, new friendships and alliances are formed among the pairs. Grace Wexler becomes a de facto partner in James Hoo's restaurant and convinces him to revamp it as the sports-themed Hoo's on First. Turtle Wexler, long ignored by her mother, finds a new maternal figure in Flora Baumbach, who lost her daughter a year earlier. Through the intervention of Denton Deere, Chris Theodorakis, who suffers from a neurological illness that confines him to a wheelchair, takes a new medicine that improves his condition enough that an expensive operation becomes unnecessary. Jake Wexler and Madame Hoo strike up a friendship, as Jake teaches Sun Lin how to speak English. Otis Amber is the answer that two teams comes up with for Westing's murderer - Angela and Sydelle, as well as Theo and Doug. Theo is disgusted with his suspicions, however, when he discovers that Berthe Erica Crow and Otis Amber are busy running a soup kitchen in Skid Row. Neither Otis nor Crow seem focused on the game, as Crow is more concerned about Angela's welfare and tries to help her covertly.
Judge Josie-Jo Ford has a contact at the local newspaper to research Sam Westing and the Westing heirs; she also hires a private investigator who turns out to be one of the heirs. She finds out connections to Sam Westing, which varied in importance. James Hoo feels cheated by Sam Westing for stealing an invention of his, while Judge Ford's partner Sandy was fired from the Westing paper factory after trying to organize workers. As for the Judge herself, she grew up in the Westing home and her parents were its servants; she played chess with Sam Westing, who paid for her first-rate education. She suspects that Westing wanted a judge indebted to him and is determined to pay him back rather than be corrupted.
Judge Ford gives her half of the ten thousand dollar check to Sandy, and they piece together the main tragedy in Sam Westing's life: his daughter Violet was forced by his wife to give up her true love George Theodorakis so that she could marry a politician. (The wedding dress was made by Flora Baumbach.) Believing this fiancé to be crooked and worthless, Violet chose to kill herself rather than marry him. Mrs. Westing apparently went insane from this and disappeared, while Sam Westing later suffered great injuries during a car accident and had not been seen in public since. With Sandy's help, Judge Ford realizes that Berthe Erica Crow is the former Mrs. Westing and that she's the target of Sam's revenge. Further, Sandy thinks Otis Amber is really Sam Westing, which troubles Judge Ford as she believes she played right into Sam Westing's hand, as she did in her childhood games of chess.
There are other forces at work as well, outside the realm of the game, as criminal elements besides a possible murderer also reside in the building. There is a thief in the building, stealing valuables from various tenants; this turns out to be Madame Hoo, who's trying to get enough money to return to China. There is a bookmaker among the tenants, placing illegal bets in the manner of all bookies; this turns out to be Jake Wexler. Judge Ford and Sandy also find out that Sydelle Pulaski was a mistake in the Westing game: the tenant was supposed to be Sybil Pulaski, a childhood friend of Berthe Erica Crow.
Most alarming of all, a bomber strikes three times: first at the Theodorakis coffee shop, then at Shin Hoo's Restaurant, then at Angela Wexler's wedding shower party. While no one is injured at the coffee shop, Sydelle Pulaski hurts her ankle during the second incident - a huge irony, as she had already been using crutches to gain attention for a feigned injury - and Angela Wexler is hurt with the third bomb, tilting the box with the fireworks towards her face when sister Turtle tried to look inside. Already partners in the Westing game, Angela and Sydelle also end up sharing a hospital room. Turtle figures out Angela is the bomber, unhappy as she is about always trying to please mother Grace and coerced to marry a doctor. To protect her sister, Turtle sets off a fourth bomb in the elevator of Sunset Towers and makes sure she gets caught and branded as the one responsible for all the bombs.
Two weeks after the first reading of the will, the heirs are gathered again at the Westing house to give their answer on which heir took Sam Westing's life. The pairs provide a wide range of answers, starting with Jake Wexler and Sun Lin Hoo's futile "Boom!" and ending with Sydelle Pulaski singing from "America the Beautiful" before stating Otis Amber is her and Angela Wexler's answer. After a short break where Crow fetches refreshments and refills Sandy's liquor flask, it's revealed that none of them have the right answer, and the will further instructs the heirs that they must now work individually. Locked in the library, they have a limited amount of time to come up with the right answer and win the inheritance.
Theo suggests pooling everybody's clues as the will specifies that it's what the heirs don't have that leads to the answer. Sandy McSouthers leads this process, making Judge Ford suspicious: she realizes that Sam Westing's disguise isn't Otis Amber, but her own partner. With all the clue words gathered, they make out the first stanza of "America the Beautiful" with some missing words - those missing words add up to the answer "Berthe Erica Crow". Judge Ford pleads to the others to not turn in Crow on this basis, but as she's about to reveal Sandy's secret identity of Sam Westing, the doorman collapses. As Doctors Wexler and Deere try to comfort the dying man, E.J. Plum rushes back into the room with a police sheriff and Doctor Sikes, who pronounces the man dead. Plum reminds the heirs of the deadline to giving the right answer and winning the Westing inheritance. No one speaks until a minute is left, when Crow names herself as the answer and instructs that her expected inheritance be split between the soup kitchen and Angela Wexler.
Berthe Erica Crow is taken away by the police, Sandy McSouthers is pronounced dead, Plum resigns as the executor of the Westing estate, and the remaining fourteen heirs return to Judge Ford's apartment. There, the various heirs compare information about Sandy as it becomes apparent to Judge Ford and Turtle Wexler that he was actually Sam Westing. Turtle asks Judge Ford to hold a mock trial, and the heirs agree to this. During the trial, Otis Amber reveals that he was hired twenty years earlier to watch over Berthe Erica Crow, who is Sam's ex-wife: she had gone crazy after her and Sam's daughter committed suicide, becoming an alcoholic before finding religion. Further, Madame Hoo returns the things she had stolen from the other heirs, who choose not to condemn her actions. With Otis and the testimony of others, Turtle proves that Crow did not kill Sam Westing, but reveals that she was the former Mrs. Westing and Sam was disguised as doorman Sandy McSouthers, secretly guiding the heirs before and during the game. Turtle contends that Sam Westing was slowly dying and he simply let his medicine run out, choosing his time to die as he controlled so many other things in life. All throughout the trial, however, Turtle is secretly trying to figure out the true nature of the Westing game - something Judge Ford suspects, as only the two of them realize that Sam Westing was also Barney Northrup. Finally, Turtle comes to the conclusion that the will had specific the heirs to find the "Fourth".
As the trial ends, E.J. Plum and Berthe Erica Crow arrive. There was a misunderstanding with Crow as the coroner determined Sandy had died of a heart attack. Further, Plum has the last page of the will, which he hands over to Judge Ford: these final sections thank the heirs, reveals that Sam Westing and Sandy McSouthers were indeed the same person, and gives the heirs equal shares of the deed to Sunset Towers. Finally, it bestows to his former wife three checks for ten thousand dollars for the soup kitchen and closes with a happy birthday wish to Crow as well as wishing everyone a Happy Fourth of July. The heirs consider this odd or insane, then watch as the Westing house bursts into fire in a flurry of fireworks.
The next morning, Turtle Wexler goes to the home of the newly elected chairman of Westing Paper Products, Julian R. Eastman; Doctor Sikes lets her into the mansion and she meets a smiling Eastman, proving her hunch correct. In secret she plays chess with Eastman every Saturday, now the secret heir to the Westing fortune. Many years pass and the lives of all the Westing heirs changes, often for the better. As an adult, Turtle - now known as T.R. - has made a fortune on the stock market and married Theo Theodorakis. She is there when Julian Eastman dies on the Fourth of July many years later - and with him, Sam Windkloppel (his real name), Sam Westing, Barney Northrup, and Sandy McSouthers. As legal counsel and chief stockholder of Westing Paper Products, T.R. Wexler will eventually become the chairman of the company. She also continues the tradition of her uncle Sam by playing chess every Saturday afternoon with her niece, Alice, the daughter of Doctors Angela and Denton Deere.
THEMES
Major Themes
The main theme of this novel is information and how people interpret it: not only in the mystery that defines the Westing game, but also in the other conflicts among the Sunset Towers residents. A related theme is identity: how people often employ masquerades to hide their true selves, and how people can change the way they perceive themselves. Related to this theme of identity is the theme of family: the large cast of characters become a kind of extended family for the eccentric millionaire Sam Westing, connected in various ways - blood, work, shared histories - that brings them closer together over the course of the novel.
Minor Themes
While games are an important motif in the novel, they actually are a minor theme: that is, the games in the novel are used primarily to help flesh out the ideas of the major themes described above but the idea of games is itself not developed much as a theme in its own right. The major theme of identities ties into the related sub-themes of work and education, both popular means by which identities are molded. Patriotism and the American dream is another minor themes which play out over the course of the book, as well as the unexpected directions of life.
MOOD
The mood of the novel is often light, not willing to take the events seriously even as it adeptly describes the behavior and motivation of its large cast of characters. This is in keeping with the tradition of the cozy mystery, whose mood often plays upon a sense of jeopardy but does so in such a way as to reassure readers that nothing truly awful will happen to the likeable characters in the book.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION - BIOGRAPHY
Ellen Raskin was born on March 13, 1928, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A good student, she entered the University of Wisconsin at Madison with the intention of being a journalist but instead discovered an interest in fine art. Raskin married and had a daughter; after moving to New York, she obtained a divorce and began working at a commercial art studio. She then moved on to freelance illustration and design: among other things, she contributed to The Saturday Evening Post and designed book covers, including the original cover for Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time. She won various awards for her art and held exhibitions of her work.
In 1960, Raskin married Dennis Flanagan, editor of the well-known periodical Scientific American. Wanting to work with her own ideas on her own terms, Raskin's wrote and illustrated her first children's book, Nothing Ever Happens on My Block, published in 1966.
Though an artist first and foremost, Raskin's skills as a writer were formidable. Her first novel, The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel), was published in 1971. Her second novel, 1974's Figgs & Phantoms, was named a Newbery Honor Book. This was followed by The Tattooed Potato and Other Clues the following year. In 1978, Raskin published her fourth and final novel, The Westing Game, which won the Newbery Medal the following year. Raskin long suffered from a painful disease of the connective tissues which finally claimed her life. Ellen Raskin died on August 8, 1984, at the age of fifty-six.
LITERARY / HISTORICAL INFORMATION
The Westing Game is a young adult novel in the tradition of the cozy mystery. The cozy mystery earns its name by being a safe kind of story: likeable, often quirky, characters are placed into jeopardy but ultimately remain well as the mystery is solved. The stories often focus on the solving of elaborate puzzles by amateur detectives. In stark contrast, the hard boiled or noir mystery is much more sinister, with characters that are often distinctly unlikable who deal with more gruesome cases with unpredictably violent outcomes. Perhaps the best known writer of cozies is Agatha Christie; examples of well-known noir writers are Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett.
As a cozy, The Westing Game follows the general mood - bemused observation of the foibles of a large, quirky cast of suspects - as well as the general plot structure, as new secrets are revealed at regular intervals that overturn and redefine reader expectations. Perhaps most important, the novel never threatens the reader with any traumatic events that aren't quickly remedied. For example, while Turtle is the most saddened and distraught by the death of Sandy McSouthers, she is also the only one to understand it wasn't real and triumphantly wins the game.
CHAPTER SUMMARIES WITH NOTES
1. Sunset Towers
Summary
The sun sets in the west but the newly-built Sunset Towers faces east. On the Fourth of July, delivery boy Barney Northrup delivers letters to the chosen tenants-to-be of Sunset Towers: the six letter extol the virtues of the building's apartments and mentions the availability of spaces for a doctor's office, coffee shop, and restaurant on the premises. The first appointment is with Jake and Grace Wexler, as Barney dazzles Grace with the apartment specially selected for their family. Barney points out the rent is even cheaper than the cost of the house where they currently live; Jake wonders how he would know that. Grace is impressed by the view of Lake Michigan, imagining the envy of her friends. Later that afternoon, Sydelle Pulaski is less thrilled by the smaller apartment she's shown: it doesn't have a view of Lake Michigan but Barney points out that this apartment better fits her secretary's salary with all the same luxuries. Sydelle notices a mansion on the north cliff, which Barney says is the old Westing house. She says she'll think about it but Barney lies and says twenty other people want the apartment, prompting her to accept. In one day Barney rents out all the apartments and other premises, the names already printed on the mailboxes. However, Barney had rented one apartment to the wrong person.
Notes
From the beginning, the themes of the novel are set into motion: we get a sense of something not being right with Sunset Towers, the significant date of the delivery of the letters to the building's future tenants, a sense of familial dysfunction with Grace Wexler's social climbing anxieties, the sense of control and gamesmanship in convincing these predetermined tenants to accept, and finally the unexpected directions life can take when it's revealed Barney Northrup made a huge mistake.
2. Ghosts or Worse
Summary
On September 1, the new tenants move in. The next day, Shin Hoo's Restaurant opens on the fifth floor, but the exclusive neighborhood means only three people come. In contrast, the Theodorakis Coffee Shop in the lobby enjoys brisk business from tenants and workers from nearby Westingtown.
The afternoon of Halloween, four people are standing outside the Sunset Towers driveway: the doorman Sandy McSouthers, high school seniors Theo Theodorakis and Doug Hoo, and delivery boy Otis Amber. Junior high student Turtle Wexler bicycles up to them with news of smoke coming out of the chimney of the Westing house. Otis assures everyone that old man Westing is most likely dead, that rumor has it his corpse is on a fancy Oriental rug being eaten by maggots. Sandy thinks this is just, as the cheerful doorman is still bitter about losing his job at the Westing paper mill twenty years earlier.
As for the smoke, it may be kids again, Sandy opines, like the two from Westingtown who visited the house exactly a year ago. Otis tells the story of a one dollar bet that the two couldn't stay in the house for five minutes. They barely got inside when they were chased out by a ghost - or worse. One fell over the cliff, the other emerged with bloody hands and has only repeated two words since then: "Purple waves." Sandy laments such suffering over one dollar; Turtle responds that for two dollars per minute, she'll also go to that house. From the front window of 2D, Chris Theodorakis watches his brother and the others accept Turtle's bet; in two hours he will tell Theo about the person with a limp that he saw enter the Westing house. Chris is confined to a wheelchair and prone to violent spasms, but likes to watch birds.
Notes
The story of Sam Westing dead on an Oriental rug is an image that repeats itself significantly at the climax of the novel, precisely as Westing planned. Readers immediately get a sense of how unusual Turtle Wexler is with her desire to earn enough money for a subscription to the Wall Street Journal, a foreshadowing of her future greatness as a businesswoman. The story used to dare Turtle into visiting the Westing house that night is of course part of the plan that Westing - present as Sandy McSouthers - has set into motion. We later learn that the person Chris sees entering the Westing house is Doctor Sikes, a friend of Sam Westing's who was injured in the same car accident that disfigured Westing's face. It should also be noted that "Westing house" may be a reference to the company Westinghouse Electric, once known for its lights and light bulbs. Light bulbs are often used as symbols for inspiration or insight, just as inspiration and insight is required to win this game.
3. Tenants In and Out
Summary
In 3D Angela Wexler is being fitted for her wedding dress by Flora Baumbach, the dressmaker who lived on the second floor. Grace Wexler watches on, cautioning Flora about her daughter's delicate skin. Angela tells her mother she wasn't pricked but saw smoke coming from the Westing house, news that Turtle brings upon her arrival. Turtle asks Flora to hem her witch's costume but Mrs. Wexler says that Flora's too busy with Angela's wedding dress to have time for a silly costume. Turtle snaps back that a wedding dress is just as silly and who'd want to marry a stuck-up doctor such as Denton Deere. Mrs. Wexler restrains herself from hitting Turtle and Angela offers to hem Turtle's costume. In Doctor Wexler's office, Mrs. Crow also sees the smoke from the Westing House as Jake Wexler is cutting out a corn. Jake notes that she's hurt her shin, and Crow points out that Turtle kicked her, which is what happens when there's no religion in a home.
At Hoo's restaurant, Mr. Hoo is skeptical of the story Doug tells of Westing's corpse rotting on some kind of Oriental rug. He tells Doug to go study, and the son acquiesces. There are only reservations for two customers that evening. Hoo thinks that if Westing is home again, he won't get off so easy this time. Meanwhile, Hoo's wife stares out the restaurant's east window, as if looking past Lake Michigan all the way to China.
Sandy salutes Judge J.J. Ford as she drives up in her Mercedes and points out the smoke from the Westing house and the rumor of the Westing corpse on the rug. He says he's repeating what Otis Amber said, and Judge Ford opines that Otis is stupid if not mad. She considers how to gather money if Sam Westing has indeed returned, and asks Sandy not to repeat what she said about Otis. The doorman assures her he won't, as she's the biggest tipper in Sunset Towers.
Chris Theodorakis tries to tell Theo about the limping man but his stuttering overwhelms him. Instead, Theo describes a spooky scene of Westing dead and rotting on the Oriental rug, much to Chris' delight.
Sydelle Pulaski gets out of her taxi, receiving no help from the driver and Sandy nowhere to be seen. Even though she is limping now, Sydelle is never noticed by anyone, though she moved to Sunset Towers with the hope of meeting elegant people. The only person who pays attention to her is crippled Chris Theodorakis, who she pities. However, her purchases today - painting utensils and crutches - will get her noticed. She does not pay attention to the smoke rising from the Westing house.
Notes
Most of the major traits and interpersonal dynamics of the large cast of the novel are captured in a shared moment of watching the smoke rise from the Westing house - which is symbolically the signal for the beginning of the game proper. In the Wexler family, readers see beautiful Angela as being favored by Grace over the more difficult Turtle, as well as Angela's bovine willingness to do whatever her mother wants. Turtle asks Flora for help, something which becomes more common as the novel progresses. Doctor Jake Wexler is away from his family, indicating his emotional distance as well. Crow's religious fervor is also displayed, as well as its irrational use to blame people she doesn't like for non-religious reasons. With the Hoo family, readers see James' anger and Madame Hoo's longing for China. Chris Theodorakis is portrayed as pitied and rarely heeded, despite the valuable knowledge he wishes to share. Sydelle Pulaski's desire for attention blinds her to the smoke that starts the Westing game - which is fair, since she's the mistake in Northrup's choosing of tenants and doesn't have the same initial stake in the game as the others.
While all this is obvious enough, the subtle dynamic that becomes more obvious from a second reading is between Judge Josie-Jo Ford and doorman Sandy McSouthers. The trust Judge Ford establishes with Sandy McSouthers is assumed by the judge to be about money: first the large tips she gives and later the way she gives Sandy her half of the ten thousand dollar checks during the Westing game. Thus, she simplifies both Sandy's motives and feels no need to question his identity. This trust is also part of Sam Westing's plan, as it makes it easier to manipulate Judge Ford throughout the game.
4. The Corpse Found
Summary
As Doug Hoo watches and keeps time, Turtle in her witch costume stepS into the old Westing House determined to not be scared. At two dollars a minute, twenty-five minutes would get her a subscription to The Wall Street Journal. After eleven minutes, according to Doug's stopwatch, Turtle screams and runs out of the house.
Turtle has seen the corpse, not rotting on an Oriental rug, but tucked into a four-poster bed. She heard a whisper of "Pur-ple" or "Tur-tle" calling her to the master bedroom on the second floor. Very early the next day, Turtle sees in the newspaper that Sam Westing was found dead. The newspaper account clears up some questions of Turtle's time in the house: Westing's love of games explains the game room where she picked up a billiard cue to protect herself, while Sam Westing's elaborate Fourth of July fireworks displays explains the boxes marked Danger - explosives in the ground-floor storeroom. However, there was no explanation of how the body was found, nor of the envelope at the bedside with the message If I am found dead in bed, nor mention of any prowlers or witches or tracks left by Doug or Turtle. She then goes to collect her twenty-four dollars from Doug, Theo, Otis, and Sandy.
At noon Otis Amber delivers sixteen letters from attorney E.J. Plum, naming the recipients as beneficiaries of Samuel W. Westing's estate and asking them to attend the reading of the will at 4 PM the next day. All are required to fill in their position as well as signature; some are stunned at the news that they were heirs. Among those who received a letter is Otis himself.
Notes
Several pieces of the puzzle are provided but again only become obvious with a second reading of the novel: the whisper was likely intended to catch Turtle's attention and may indeed have been her name being called, as Sam Westing knows her well in his role as Sandy McSouthers. The newspaper's omission of certain facts did not come from ignorance but Westing's purposeful manipulation of the media. The fireworks Turtle encounters are what Angela uses for her bombs, as well as what Sam Westing uses to finally burn the Westing house down.
5. Sixteen Heirs
Summary
With the exception of father Jake, the Wexler family arrives at the Westing house for the reading of the will. Grace believes herself the rightful heir, based on family gossip about a rich uncle Sam. They are greeted at the door by Crow, the Sunset Towers cleaning woman. The lawyer E.J. Plum greets them in the library and asks them to take a seat. Turtle sees an open coffin in a corner with the dead man: in his hands are his mother's silver cross, which Turtle dropped the night before and Grace had noticed to be missing. Grace greets Doctor Denton Deere, Angela's fiancé, surprised at his presence. Next arrive Mrs. Baumbach, then Otis Amber, Doug Hoo, Mr. Hoo, and Sandy McSouthers. Grace Wexler thinks they are all former employees being rewarded.
When the Theodorakis brothers arrive, she asks where the parents are; Theo explains that they weren't invited. Judge Ford arrives next and Grace greets her cordially. Mr. Hoo says his wife is not coming, while Grace says her husband was called away on an emergency operation - which Turtle tells Flora Baumbach is really a football game. E.J. Plum states that two people are left to arrive. Crow soon enters and sits next to Amber, then finally Sydelle Pulaski with her brightly painted crutches. Denton Deere notices that Sydelle favors one leg and then the other and diagnoses this to Angela in an attempt to impress her. Sydelle takes out her notebook and prepares to take notes.
Notes
Grace Wexler is correct in her assumption of being related to Sam Westing, though the events in this chapter - as well as her obvious desire for social prominence, which ironically has her give up the name Windkloppel for Wexler (and in doing so, make her connection to Sam Westing less evident) - leads readers away from that truth.
The decision of Jake Wexler and Madame Sun Lin Hoo to not attend the reading of the will shows their lack of interest in these affairs (one from choice, one from not being informed), as well as illustrating how disconnected these two people are from the rest of their respective families. Further, Jake's secret life as a bookie is hinted at by Turtle. Denton's quick diagnoses of all the people he sees with an ailment becomes a source of unexpected comedy, both at the people he describes as well as at his own pomposity.
The choice of an attorney named Plum may be an homage to the board game clue, which has a character named Professor Plum. Sydelle's note-taking becomes an important part of the game as it progresses.
6. The Westing Will
Summary
The lawyer Edgar Jennings Plum introduces himself, explaining that even though he has never met Samuel W. Westing he was appointed executor of the will. He says that though the will seems eccentric, its legality is assured. He then reads the will, which is broken down into numbered sections, such as FIRST and SECOND. with some interruptions. When the will states that Westing has gathered his sixteen nieces and nephews, Grace Wexler yells in surprise - and, as written in the will, is told to sit down. When Westing writes in his will that he did not die of natural causes but his life was taken by one of the sixteen, Chris Theodorakis begins to flail and everyone else expresses concern of a murderer in their midst.
The will goes on to ask if the worthy Westing heir will be the one who finds the - and at this point Sandy McSouthers yells, "Ashes!" Some people laugh at the joke while others are annoyed. The will then mentions the heirs will play the Westing game; when Judge Ford gets up to leave, the will asks the judge to sit down and read the letter Plum will be handing over to her. Plum finds the letter and gives it to Judge Ford, who puts it in her purse unopened. The will then asks for a minute of silent prayer before the heirs go to the game room: Flora is the only one to cry, Crow the only one to pray, and Sydelle takes too long to assume a reverential pose.
Notes
The initial W. in Samuel W. Westing is a reference to Windkloppel, his real surname. Readers take for granted that as this will is broken down into sections, they will be numbered. The idea that those numbers - specifically, the word FOURTH - will themselves provide the answer to the game is one of the big revelations of the book. Sam Westing's control of the situation is seen not only in the way he throws off the other heirs by yelling at the crucial point of the will's reading, but also in the way he anticipates in the will itself the behavior of the less agreeable players in his game, Grace Wexler and Judge Ford. The minute of silence asked for Sam Westing in this chapter is matched by the same request towards the end of the novel, when Sam Westing and Sandy McSouthers are revealed to be the same person. Here, the response to the minute of silent prayer is greeted by a general lack of interest.
However, the reactions of three characters are significant. Flora Baumbach seems to cry because she's a weak, emotional person, but she also has ties to the Westing and knows intimately the tragedy of Violet Westing's suicide. Crow prays because she's fervently religious, but she's also the ex-wife of Sam Westing. Sydelle is concerned about making the right appearance - described as a "pose of reverence" which implies that she doesn't feel the actual sentiment - but her desire to be the center of attention gets in the way of her doing so, as her crutches get in the way both literally and figuratively (that is, her dependence on attention is itself an emotional crutch).
7. The Westing Game
Summary
In the game room, eight card tables are set up. Theo finds someone had started a chess game with a white pawn moved and he moves a black knight in response. Plum continues the reading of the will with the rules of the Westing game: sixteen players will be broken into pairs, each will receive $10,000 and a set of clues, and if any player drops out so must the partner. Absent pairs forfeit the money but their clues will be held until the next session, which will be announced two days beforehand. At that point, each pair must have one answer ready.
The pairs are announced along with the positions they filled when they received the initial letter. First are Madame Sun Lin Hoo and Jake Wexler, whose respective spouses plead for them and the money but to no avail. Second are Turtle Wexler and Flora Baumbach, which pleases Flora. Third are Christos Theodorakis and Denton Deere, which has Theo protesting he should be with his brother while Grace Wexler feels Doctor Deere should be paired with his fiancée; Chris, however, is delighted with the whole situation. Alexander McSouthers is paired with J.J. Ford and Judge Ford is self-conscious of the full occupational title she used for naming her position. Fifth are Grace Windsor Wexler and James Shin Hoo, both lamenting the lost five thousand dollars from their spouses. Sixth are Berthe Erica Crow and Otis Amber, with Crow feeling self-conscious of her guilt and Chris noting she limps. Seventh are Theo Theodorakis and Doug Hoo, who are happy to be paired. Eighth and last are Sydelle Pulaski and Angela Wexler, with Angela initially self-conscious of how embarrassing Sydelle is - then correcting herself, believing this is her mother speaking and not herself.
Each pair then receives a check for ten thousand dollars and an envelope containing a set of clues, with no two clues being alike. The will further warns that it isn't what you have but what you don't have that counts. Each pair receives cut squares of Westing Superstrength Paper Towels with one word typed on each square. All but the last pair look at their clues, as Sydelle is intent on watching and listening, which Angela admires as a smart move. Judge Ford apologizes to Sandy and says she will leave the game because of the minstrel dialect in her clues, but Sandy pleads for her to stay for the money that will help his family. She agrees. Turtle makes sure Flora memorized all their clues then she eats the papers they're printed on. E.J. Plum explains that no copies of the will will be made available, but the heirs realize they do have a copy: the shorthand of Sydelle Pulaski, now pleased with the attention she suddenly receives. Sandy asks if there's a final statement and that nothing makes sense, only to have the will conclude that death is senseless and life is senseless unless you know who you are, what you want, and which way the wind blows. In closing, the will reminds the heirs to buy Westing Paper Products.
Notes
Outside of the will itself, chess is the most important game in the novel. Tellingly, until the very end of the novel, one person plays with all the other chess players in the game: Sam Westing in his different guises. As Sam Westing, he taught Josie-Jo Ford chess as a child; as Sandy McSouthers, he secretly plays chess with Theo; and as Julian Eastman, he plays chess with his heir Turtle Wexler.
The pairs of players that Westing designates in his will are shown to be "perfect" partners as Christos Theodorakis asserts at the second meeting. Several of these partnerships serve clear functions in the game: Judge Ford is paired with Sandy McSouthers in order to keep her involved and monitor her activity; Otis Amber is paired with Crow in order to keep her in the game against her better judgment.
Raskin's love for wordplay is seen in how the absent Jake Wexler fills out the line for "position", punning on the idea of how one poses one's body as opposed to occupation; this also shows what little regard Jake has for his job as a podiatrist, which contrasts sharply to the more elaborate job descriptions offered by Denton Deere and Judge Ford.
8. The Paired Heirs
Summary
The snow that started the night of the will reading becomes a blizzard. The tenants of Sunset Towers are stuck in the building with no telephone or electricity. Turtle goes from apartment to apartment selling candles she made during summer camp, striped to mark time. Jake Wexler is upset over the lost five thousand dollars; no one told Madame Hoo about the game yet. Denton Deere is at the hospital, Sandy at home, and no one knew where Otis Amber or Crow are. Sydelle Pulaski has been invited to visit seven tenants, all wanting to see her copy of the will.
Chris Theodorakis has not invited Sydelle but she visits Chris anyway. Sydelle is condescending to him, which makes Angela uncomfortable - but Angela herself is initially unable to talk to the boy at all. Chris knows Sydelle limps but that she's faking it, so he isn't worried by her. Chris asks about grains and Angela names several kinds, including oats. Chris grows excited at this as his clues of FOR PLAIN GRAIN SHED indicate Otis Amber and Judge Ford. He uses his birdwatching binoculars to look at the Westing house and sees somebody is snowbound there, as well.
Turtle believes the clues she was given tell her what to spend the ten-thousand dollar check on, interpreting "Take stock in America" and "Go for broke" as advice to invest in the stock market. When Flora asks about the murderer, Turtle says there isn't one. She puts together a list of stocks to invest and includes Westing Paper Products, as per the closing line of the will. Flora thinks they're on the right track because the will said "May God thy gold refine," which she thinks must be a Bible quote and Turtle thinks is from Shakespeare.
Mr. Hoo and Grace Wexler look over their clues of FRUITED PURPLE WAVES FOR SEA. Grace asks about Hoo's wife, who is actually a second wife who came from Hong Kong two years ago. Grace interprets the last two words as meaning the murderer lives in apartment 4C, but Hoo scoffs since he lives there and the words don't mean that
Doug is putting his half of the check to his savings account, Theo's half goes to his parents. The clues they have are HIS N ON TO THEE FOR. Theo guesses they may mean numbers, while Doug wonders if ON is really NO. Theo asks Doug about the night Turtle went to the house on the bet but Doug saw no clues that night. Theo mentions playing chess with somebody in the game room but has no idea who. Theo suspects all the clues together create one message and that the message will point to the murderer. Doug thinks the killer won't hand over the clues since it will be incriminating. Wanting to stay in shape for track, he runs up and down the stairs and hallways.
Judge Ford is insulted by the clues she received, SKIES AM SHINING BROTHER. She does not think Westing was murdered and she opens the envelope Plum gave her, which is a certificate of sanity from the previous week, signed Sidney Sikes, M.D. Remembering the newspaper obituary, she finds that Sikes is a friend of Westing and that both were involved in a near-fatal automobile accident. Judge Ford thinks that Sam Westing is using the Westing game to persecute one of the heirs, but she's not sure which one. She wonders how everyone is connected beyond Sunset Towers and realizes this is a good starting point. With the telephones working again, she calls up Barney Northrup and reaches an answering machine. She calls the newspaper and asks for information, which they don't usually supply but will do so in her case.
Angela finds what she wants in Turtle's desk and rejoins Sydelle, who unseals the envelope with their clues: GOOD GRACE FROM HOOD SPACIOUS. Sydelle thinks they should check automobile hoods for more clues. They go over the comments of the others in the game room last night and in their talks that day and come up with more clues: KING QUEEN PURPLE WAVES ON (NO) GRAINS MOUNTAIN (EMPTY). There is a knock on the door: it's Theo, asking for a game of chess. The object of the game is "to win" but Angela thinks it may mean "twin". Angela is scared at the thought of a murderer among them but Sydelle thinks it's about money so they're safe. But upon returning to Sydelle's apartment, they discover somehow had stolen her shorthand notebook.
Notes
Turtle's striped candles become a significant part of the story as they provide the fuses to all the bombs that are set off - by Angela, herself, and ultimately Sam Westing. The fact that the Sunset Towers tenants are snowed in results in their keeping the front door of their apartments unlocked, paving the way for Madame Hoo to take advantage and start stealing from them.
As readers become aware of the clues the heirs possess, some reactions in the previous chapter become clearer. Clearly, the way each pair interprets their clues is based on who they are and what their interests are - for example, the umbrage that Judge Ford takes at the words of her clue have to do with racism, as she is African American. Further, Judge Ford immediately proves how dangerous she is to Sam Westing's game by thinking outside of it, correctly assuming that he had not been murdered and seeking out hiss real motive. In that sense, she is the main detective for the majority of the novel, finding relevant facts for the reader that help piece together Westing's true intention. Angela may have taken the striped candles for her bombs in this chapter, as she is looking for something and it's not stated what it is exactly.
9. Lost and Found
Summary
The next morning a typed index card was tacked to the elevator's back wall asking for the return of Sydelle's shorthand notebook. Others took to posting up notices including: a request from Grace Wexler for her missing cross, a meeting to discuss clues tomorrow at 10 AM, the return of a missing Mickey Mouse clock by Turtle, an ad for Shin Hoo's restaurant, the return of a lost string of pearls by Flora Baumbach, a teasing note to Turtle and her kicking habit, an invitation to an informal party at Judge Ford's apartment at eight o'clock that evening, and a reminder by Grace Wexler for Turtle to be home at seven thirty.
At Flora Baumbach's insistence, Turtle follows that last note and returns home. No one is home but Grace soon arrives. Grace fixes Turtle's hair, asks if she'd eaten, and tries to coerce Turtle into revealing her clues. Angela and Sydelle then arrive; Grace asks Angela about her missing engagement ring, Angela explains she had developed a rash. Grace likes the idea of Judge Ford's party and suggests to Mr. Hoo to contact the judge about providing hors d'ouevres. Grace tries to coax Sydelle into showing her notes - which Sydelle suspects Grace may have stolen - and Grace mentions that Angela would also benefit if she wins the inheritance. This angers Turtle.
Theo is tending bar for Judge Ford's party, and Judge Ford is speaking to the newspaperman on the files he researched. As Mr. Hoo delivers the appetizers, Judge Ford finds out over the phone that Hoo had claimed that Westing sole his idea for the disposable paper diaper. There's also a stack of clippings on Doug Hoo's high school sports accomplishments and a good deal of Westing clippings. Ford hangs up, as the party is to begin.
Notes
The use of the elevator as a bulletin board is a sign of how the Sunset Towers heirs are becoming more of a community, opening up new means of communication in unexpected places. It also hints at Madame Hoo's stealing of valuables from other tenants, as Flora Baumbach is missing her pearls. Angela's reluctance to marry is revealed in her refusal to wear the engagement ring, while Grace Wexler's slow transformation into a restaurateur is seen in her suggestion to have Hoo provide food for Judge Ford's party.
10. The Long Party
Summary
Grace and Jake Wexler are the first to arrive, Grace not wanting to miss a clue or wait around in her apartment with a murderer loose. The party goes on and on, as no one wants to be the first to leave. Jake checks on daughter Angela, who is upset for two reasons: everyone mentions Denton when speaking to her and Grace scolded her in front of everyone for dressing up in a "twin" costume with Sydelle. Jake then speaks with Madame Hoo; Angela points out she doesn't speak English but Jake says she never will if no one talks to her. Judge Ford speaks to Angela about her upcoming marriage, and Sydelle joins them, trying to get her to speak about twins. The judge leaves and Sydelle complains to Angela about the twin angle not working.
Judge Ford watches the only pair in Sunset Towers who are not heirs, George and Catherine Theodorakis, the parents of Chris and Theo. Chris continues to watch legs for a limp. There's a long line at the bar as Theo tries to explain chess to Sydelle. Mr. Hoo chides his son for not hosting Theo's meeting at the restaurant instead of the coffee shop. Grace speaks to Angela again about dressing up the same as Sydelle, then mentions Mr. Hoo catering the wedding shower on Saturday. Upset, Angela rushes into the kitchen to be alone; instead, she finds Crow there, who provides comfort. Flora and Turtle call for bets on whether "May God thy gold refine" is from the Bible or Shakespeare. Turtle guesses that Sydelle's shorthand notes were stolen when they argue over the exact wording. Theo asks politely and Sydelle quotes the line, "Spend it wisely and may God thy gold refine". Disappointed that there were no further clues, the guests end the party.
Notes
The title "The Long Party" may be an homage to the classic Raymond Chandler novel The Long Goodbye. Jake finally befriends his partner, Madame Hoo, by simply talking to her and in doing so encourage her to learn English. He sees no reason to do otherwise, showing an innate empathy that isn't as evident in his wife Grace. The behavior of the different pairs helps reveal what their suspicions are, as seen by the "twin" costumes of Angela and Sydelle as well as Theo asking everyone for a game of chess. The stress of outside expectations begins to take its toll on Angela, who is consoled by Crow. This begins the subplot of Crow seeing her long-dead daughter Violet in Angela, who bears a strong resemblance in both looks and situation. As with the meeting at the Westing house, the fact that George and Catherine Theodorakis are not heirs is noted again, this time by Judge Ford; their lack of participation is a clue that not only reveals a connection to Violet Westing, but also Sam Westing's desire to be more compassionate than in the past.
11. The Meeting
Summary
Both Grace and Angela forget Turtle the next morning, the third snowbound day for Sunset Towers, so she goes to Flora Baumbach's apartment and asks Flora to braid her hair. Flora talks of her dead daughter Rosalie and Turtle complains that her mother doesn't think she's beautiful. Flora finds out Turtle's real name is Alice.
On the elevator message wall, a reward is offered by Judge Ford for the return of a gold railroad watch inscribed to Ezra Ford. Chris says something to Theo which Theo thinks is Ford, but it's actually 4D - where Judge Ford lives. As the meeting begins at the coffee shop, Mr. Hoo asks Grace Wexler where Turtle is. She says Turtle may be helping her father with his bookkeeping, which elicits laughter from Hoo. Theo asks for everyone's attention and asks everyone to pool their clues together to figure out the murderer and win the game; if they do so, the inheritance can be divided into equal shares. Sydelle says she should get a larger share because of her notes which provokes Mr. Hoo to slap the shorthand notebook on the counter. Sydelle grabs the book and calls Hoo a thief, but he says he found it on a table in his restaurant this morning; Grace Wexler, who knows shorthand, adds that she looked at the book but it didn't translate into words. Sydelle then reveals that she wrote the shorthand in Polish.
Hoo suggests that Sydelle Pulaski get a larger share than the others and again stipulates he and Grace Wexler are not thieves. He offers to share his clues but Judge Ford stops him, saying she has questions and thinks others do, as well. The group decides to write questions on paper, unsigned, and read them aloud. The first question is if anybody is a twin, which no one answers; the second is about Turtle's real name, which Grace Wexler says is "Tabitha-Ruth" and puzzles Flora Baumbach. The third question asks who has actually met Sam Westing and only James. Hoo raises his hand; Judge Ford does not raise her hand since it's her own question. The last question is who was kicked last week, but Chris' question goes unanswered as panic ensues.
Notes
Turtle prides herself on her braids, so her decision to seek out Flora's help in that matter not only shows how the Wexler family is falling apart, but how the Flora/Turtle bond is quickly growing. This works both ways, as Turtle has a maternal figure in Flora and Flora has a daughter figure to replace her dead Rosalie. Turtle's request that Flora call her Alice is a way for the two to share a bond all their own, even if it isn't Turtle's real name. The choice of Alice may reflect the most famous literary Alice, as Turtle herself is in a strange new wonderland within the intricacies of the Westing game.
Theo's common sense notion of pooling resources is foiled by the conflicts between the heirs, first from Sydelle's missing notebook and then by the explosion described in the next chapter.
12. The First Bomb
Summary
Loud bangs shock the group. Theo and Doug run into the kitchen and Mrs. Theodorakis runs out, covered in what looks like blood but is actually tomato sauce. Everyone but Sydelle goes into the kitchen, which is covered in tomato sauce and fire extinguisher foam. Hoo thinks the cans of tomato sauce exploded from stove heat but George Theodorakis asserts that it was a bomb. Catherine Theodorakis says there's no real damage but they'll need to close up several days to clean up. Sydelle at last arrives in the kitchen, assuring everyone she's fine but a bit woozy.
Angela is in Sydelle's apartment while her partner transcribes her Polish shorthand, when Turtle knocks on the door demanding the newspaper Angela took from her desk. Turtle asks if Angela has seen her Mickey Mouse watch and warns Angela that she left the engagement ring on the sink again. Sydelle says Grace Wexler wouldn't stoop low enough to steal it, which makes Turtle laugh. Turtle says Grace thinks Angela stole the shorthand notebook since Angela does anything her mother wants her to do. Angela asks if their mother really said that and Turtle says she didn't but knows how adults think. As an example, she adds that Angela doesn't want to marry Denton Deere; when Sydelle disagrees, Turtle says that at least she doesn't need a crutch to get attention. Angela tries to defuse the situation and sends Turtle away; Sydelle opines that Turtle's figurative crutch is her big mouth, but Angela knows it's her braids.
The newspaperman calls Judge Ford and says that a photograph from twenty years ago lists George Theodorakis as the escort of Violet Westing, Sam Westing's daughter. She now knows of four heirs with Westing connections: James Hoo, Theo's father, Sandy McSouthers, and herself. She decides to hire a private detective, looks in a phone book, and finds a name which grabs her attention. She isn't sure if she's playing into Sam Westing's hand but calls anyway and is greeted by "a snowbound private investigator" whose voice is the same as the person she thinks it is.
Notes
The first bomb immediately stirs tensions among the tenants and the heirs, but the lack of any real damage indicates a desire for mischief but not any real suffering. The bombs are a release of anger and a cry for help, but not vindictive or evil. Readers learn in this chapter that Angela has taken a newspaper from Turtle's desk, but the candles may still have been taken as well at the time. The revelation of George Theodorakis' romance with Violet Westing paves the way to expect something similar between the two younger characters who most resemble them in looks, Theo Theodorakis and Angela Wexler.
13. The Second Bomb
Summary
The bomber sets the next bomb in a can in the kitchen of Shin Hoo's Restaurant, fused with a color-striped candle to go off at six-thirty when no one would be around. That evening Grace Wexler works as the seating hostess for the restaurant, which expects a good deal of business with the coffee shop shut down. Theo's mother and father order down while everyone else ate at the restaurant itself. Grace decides to pair off people as she pleases, just as Sam Westing did: she places Chris Theodorakis with Sydelle, while Theo is seated with Angela Wexler. Theo talks about wanting to go to college but having to work to help pay for his brother's operation. Angela says her fiancé may be able to help; she went to college for one year, wanting to be a doctor, but her family didn't have enough money and her mother said medical school was too difficult for women. Theo adds he wants to be a writer and asks if Angela will go to college if she wins the inheritance. Angela doesn't answer.
Josie-Jo Ford sits with Flora Baumbach; they discuss wedding gowns and the shop Flora kept for many years, first with her husband and then by herself when her husband left. She speaks of Angela's wedding gown and how Angela reminds her of another girl she made a wedding dress for: Violet Westing.
Sydelle Pulaski and Chris Theodorakis have fun while they eat together, laughing and joking. Turtle is seated by herself, listening to stock market news as her investments drop in value. Grace is joined by her husband Jake, who she seats with Turtle while she checks with Mr. Hoo, who she now calls Jimmy. Mr. Hoo comes by and suggests food to eat, then asks in a lower voice about the point spread on the Packers game. Jake tells him to see him later but Turtle says it's okay, she already knows her father is a bookie.
Sydelle asks Chris directly if he can walk, a question usually asked in whispers to his parents. She thinks he has the perfect alibi to be a thief or murderer, which delights Chris and cements their friendship. He asks to read her notes and she assures him that will be soon. She then decides to go to the kitchen to compliment the chef; as she enters the kitchen, Angela rushes to stop her. Otis Amber arrives with news that the roads are clear - and then the bomb goes off.
Mr. Hoo tells everyone to stay put as he rushes into the kitchen, where fireworks have gone off. He calls for an ambulance as there's been an accident. Madame Hoo and Angela take care of Sydelle; according to the ambulance attendant, she fractured her right ankle. Grace says Angela can visit Sydelle in a few days but Sydelle calls for her; Jake tells Angela she can go with her friend and so Grace relents, saying she could see Doctor Deere while there.
The policeman and fire inspector agree it was just a gas explosion. Grace asks the policeman about the burglaries but he's with the bomb squad. As for the coffee shop accident, that was also a gas explosion. Jake is skeptical but the fireman explains that happens in weather like this. He instructs the tenants to air out their kitchens before lighting ovens, and Grace Wexler does so for the next three days for fear of ruining Angela's wedding shower party. However, this is exactly where the bomber strikes next.
Notes
Grace is now hostess at the restaurant, furthering this subplot of assuming a new identity in her work. That she takes pride in creating new pairs of people show that she takes a little after her uncle Sam, with whom she compares herself. Theo and Angela begin to bond a little as a result, hinting at a possible romance. Judge Ford finds out Flora's relation to the Westing family, while Sydelle shows a good side of her attention-hungry personality by having fun with Chris. Her blunt questions delight Chris, who also wants attention and adventure. Angela's attempt to stop Sydelle from entering the kitchen is a clear hint that she is the bomber. Jake allowing Angela to accompany Sydelle to the hospital shows him beginning to assert a more traditional paternal role in the family, part of the slow return to a more productive familial dynamic for the Wexlers.
14. Pairs Repaired
Summary
The snowplows and warmer weather free the tenants of Sunset Towers. Angela is the first one out, checking under the hoods of all the cars in the parking lot. Flora Baumbach and Turtle Wexler are next, going to their broker's office to watch their stocks and seeing a major loss on one of their picks, which went by the ticker code SEA.
Sandy tells Judge Ford that he wiped her Mercedes clean but refuses to accept a tip, since the judge gave him her share of the ten thousand dollar check. She asks Sandy about his family and he speaks of boxing after he got fired from the Westing plant, which is why his face still looks somewhat smashed. He shows what he's figured out with their clues: SKIES could refer to Dr. Sikes, AM BROTHER to Otis Amber; SHINING to James Shin Hoo or shins as in what Turtle kicks; and BROTHER referring to Theo or Chris Theodorakis. Judge Ford then reminds Sandy they are looking for one name not six. Judge Ford mentions Theo's proposal to pool clues together but Sandy refuses because it seems too easy. Sandy then expresses puzzlement at why he's one of the heirs, and Judge Ford suggests they find out more about all the other heirs.
Grace Wexler tries to talk Jimmy Hoo into an advertising campaign and a redecoration for the restaurant but he refuses. She considers if he's the murderer but he couldn't even kill a waterbug in the sink that morning. Returning to her apartment, she hears Otis Amber arguing with Crow about losing the notes. Though they both remember the clues, Otis doesn't want the clues to be found by someone else. Crow buttons up her coat and Otis closes the open window, remarking on how cold it is. Grace says she doesn't want a gas explosion. Otis suddenly yells "Boom!" which surprises both women; he continues to yell "Boom!" on unsuspecting people for the rest of the week as he delivers groceries for everyone.
Denton Deere says he cannot help Chris Theodorakis, as he's an intern specializing in plastic surgery. Chris doesn't care, he just wants to play the game with the intern. He knows Deere will keep returning as long as he doesn't sign the check, so he continues to refuse to do that. In the lobby, Angela continues embroidering her trousseau, waiting for Denton. Theo comes in with a stack of library books: he has traced the quote "May God thy gold refine" to the third stanza of "America, the Beautiful". He begins by reading the stanza but finds himself singing it. Angela thanks him when Doctor Deere comes to pick her up; Theo asks him for a game of chess but is ignored. Sandy opens the door for them, whistling "America, the Beautiful".
Denton and Angela argue about Sydelle Pulaski, who Denton thinks is crazy for claiming to have a wasting disease she doesn't truly have. Denton called a psychiatrist to check on Sydelle and is concerned about how troubled Angela has been recently. Angela knows she doesn't want to marry Denton but doesn't want to hurt his feelings or her mother's; she wonders how they'll react when everyone finds out she isn't perfect. Angela talks to the psychiatrist after he sees Sydelle: he says Ms. Pulaski is fine and that the crippling disease was just to get some attention, which he considers harmless. Angela talks to Sydelle: she tells her partner that it's a simple fracture and that her crippling disease is incurable but cold have a remission of five years or more. This leaves Sydelle reassured. Angela brought Sydelle's makeup and as she checks her bag for it she finds a letter asking for forgiveness with two clues taped at the bottom, THY BEAUTIFUL.
Notes
The heirs continue to search for answers, each using their own idiosyncratic interpretations of their clues. Sandy gives a convincing reason for his mildly disfigured face, which helps obscure that the disfigurement came from Sam Westing's accident. Because his self-image is tied so deeply into his job as a plastic surgeon intern, Denton misunderstands Chris' intentions in not signing the check; Chris doesn't seek a cure, but simply wants to continue playing the game. The possibility of a Theo-Angela romance continues to bloom, while the new-found depth of Angela's friendship with Sydelle is evident in her decision to accommodate her partner's strange behavior. The clues Angela finds in her bag are from Crow, who has taken a special interest in her.
15. Fact and Gossip
Summary
On Friday, life returns to normal: Flora is alarmed at the three thousand dollars they've lost in the stocker market in the past five days but Turtle assures her it isn't a big deal. The five people who made the bet on Halloween - Sandy McSouthers, Otis Amber, Theo Theodorakis, Doug Hoo, and Turtle Wexler - discuss that night. Turtle insists Sam Westing looked too peaceful to have been murdered; Theo argues that perhaps Westing didn't see it coming. They discuss possible ways Westing could have been killed unaware. Doug is suspicious of the person opening the hoods of cars a couple days ago, using Turtle's boots. Turtle says her boots were stolen and returned. Otis thinks none of them are murderers but Theo isn't as sure: if there's no murderer then there's no answer and no winner. He asks Sandy if anybody led Sunset Towers on Halloween night before Turtle and Doug. Sandy can only recall Otis Amber and Crow leaving around five o'clock. Turtle asks Sandy for a story and he tells one of a soothsayer who predicted the day of his own death, was surprised nothing happened on that day, and laughed so hard he died of laughter one minute before midnight.
Jake Wexler goes to Hoo's restaurant for lunch and to talk with his wife. He asks about presents on the coffee table, which are for Angela's wedding shower the next day. Mr. Hoo delivers a plate of spareribs and joins the Wexlers, as Grace brings up an advertising campaign she's planned that would rename Shin Hoo's to Hoo's On First. Jake laughs and supports the idea, though Hoo himself objects and walks off with the plate of ribs.
Judge Ford and Sandy McSouthers wish to interrogate George Theodorakis and James Shin Hoo, so they decide to order dinners from each on alternating nights. When they order up from the coffee shop, they're disappointed to have Theo deliver their meal and have no questions for him. Theo has a question for them about chess, and Sandy confesses to not knowing the game. Going over clippings from the newspaperman, Judge Ford and Sandy review information on the Westing Family.
There is very little information on Mrs. Westing, no first name or maiden name and few photos. The final picture is of her in a black veil leaving a cemetery. Neither Jimmy Hoo nor Flora Baumbach ever met Mrs. Westing; Violet's fiancé took her to the shop for fittings. Sandy saw Mrs. Westing once or twice and remembers a mole on the right corner of her mouth. Judge Ford did not remember the mouth and her memories of the woman are very different from what Sandy describes.
Violet Westing is next. They review the headline of Violet to marry a senator; the senator turned out to only be a state senator and is now serving a five-year bribery sentence. As Flora claims, Violet looked a great deal like Angela Wexler and George Theodorakis was the man dancing with her in the society page clippings. Sandy explains that Theo looks like his father, who Violet Westing wanted to marry. According to gossip at the time, Violet killed herself rather than marry a crooked politician. Judge Ford asks if Angela and Theo are involved and Sandy hopes not: if Sam Westing wants to replay that terrible drama, Angela Wexler has to die.
Notes
Turtle's refusal to be phased by the vagaries of the stock market are a subtle foreshadowing of the nerves of steel she needs to win the Westing game. The clues to the identity of the person looking in the hoods of cars is apparent with Turtle's boots, but as with the identity of the bomber, no one even thinks to consider Angela as a suspect. Sandy's soothsayer fable for Turtle is a kind of secret confession, as Sam Westing predicts his "death" and takes great delight in playing with his destiny.
The pun of Hoo's On First of course refers to the vaudeville routine popularized by Bud Abbott & Lou Costello. That Grace comes up with this clever title and Jakes approves of it shows that a chance for re-connection is still possible. Where the Wexler wordplay is evident of Raskin's own playfulness, the more literal-minded concerns of other people are reflected in James Hoo's impatience at this idea. The mystery of Mrs. Westing - no one seeing her clearly or remembering what she looks like - is necessary in order to delay the revelation that she is, in fact, Berthe Erica Crow. When Sandy McSouthers hopes history doesn't repeat itself with Angela Wexler being a second Violet Westing, it initially seems like mild concern. Knowing he is really Sam Westing, readers can find greater significance in his insistence that a romance between Angela and Theo isn't possible. He isn't merely an observer but a survivor of the Violet Westing tragedy, and does not want to see it happen again to a niece of his.
16. The Third Bomb
Summary
Grace Wexler accepts another wedding shower gift delivered by Otis Amber, who's still yelling "Boom!" Angela is opening the gifts and slowly unravels the gold ribbon on one present when Turtle impatiently peeks under the box's lid. Angela jerks the gift away from her sister as fireworks fly out of the box. In the aftermath of the panic, Angela burns her hands and there's a bloody gash across her cheek.
Later, Judge Ford calls a police captain to the lobby of Sunset Towers. The heirs have become paranoid, as they fear not only a murderer among them, but also a thief and bomber. The police captain explains that there isn't enough evidence to search all the apartments, as the heirs try to figure out who's guilty of these crimes. Theo asks the captain if the explosions at the coffee shop weren't from gas pipes but bombs; the captain hedges by calling them pranks. After a religious outburst from Crow, Theo tells Chris that she'd be a likely suspect except she wasn't in the building for the first two bombs. Chris says she was indeed in the building but Theo says she wasn't. The captain says the bombs were just fireworks triggered by a striped candle in an open jar and that Angela wouldn't have hurt herself if she hadn't tilted the box towards her face. The next day, Chris notes that Otis Amber limps.
Angela is placed in the hospital bed next to Sydelle Pulaski. Angela says she doesn't remember and Jake assures her that it's only traumatic amnesia. Turtle thanks her sister for keeping the box from going off in her own face and had brought Angela's tapestry bag to the hospital. The doctors have said that the burns on her hands will heal but there will be scars on her face. Turtle reminds Angela that she never placed any value on being pretty but adds that the incident was a dumb thing for Angela to do. Sydelle, who was pretending to be asleep, realizes her partner was the bomber - and is proud of her for it.
Notes
Otis Amber's "Boom!" at the Wexler's door foreshadows what happens in this chapter. Angela's decision to tilt the box in her direction and thus injure herself emphasizes how she wishes to scare others but do no real harm. Ironically, the only person who suffers a permanent injury from the bombs is the bomber herself, Angela - out of choice, as she considers her scar a useful reminder. Turtle intuits that Angela is the bomber, and finds it foolish; in contrast, Sydelle takes pride on finding this out, understanding that Angela needed some way to assert herself. In the same way Angela accommodates Sydelle's strange behavior, Sydelle does the same for Angela out of empathy and friendship, neatly illustrating why they're ideal partners. Theo does not think Crow was in the building for the first two bombs but does not know she lives in the building; Christ tries to tell him but goes ignored, paving the way for Theo's surprise encounter with Crow soon after.
17. Some Solutions
Summary
On Monday, Turtle's stocks continue to drop and the bomb squad is called for suspicious parcels that arrive - including a box of chocolate Jake Wexler sent his wife Grace. The next day Jake sends a dozen long-stemmed roses, and Turtle rushes into the building yelling "Mrs. BAUM-bach", which was mistaken for "bomb". Madame Hoo learns more English from her partner Jake, who promises to help Grace Wexler and Doug Hoo with their clues and not take a share of the inheritance if they won. The clues PURPLE FRUITED make Grace think of the lawyer E.J. Plum, which James Hoo agrees must be the answer; however, Jake asks about the other clues, FOR SEA WAVES. Madame Hoo serves ribs, using a word she learned from Otis Amber: "Boom!"
Sandy McSouthers has bought a notebook to keep all the information from reports that Judge Ford passed along to him from the private investigator she hired. They go over the notes on the Hoo family, the Westing connection being that James Hoo had sued Sam Westing over the invention of the disposable paper diaper. Mr. Hoo settled with the company out-of-court and his latest invention is paper innersoles, which Sandy takes some credit for when he complained to Jimmy about standing all day.
Late that night, Theo is working on his chemistry homework when he realizes his clues could be interpreted as a chemical solution if FOR and THEE become FOUR and THREE. With N HIS NO that leads to NH4NO3 and leaves four letters out, which spell the name OTIS. He goes to tell Doug what he's discovered, piquing his brother's curiosity. He uses the stairs to go to the fourth floor, knocings on one of two unmarked doors. Crow answers the door, telling Chris he knew she would come, and tells him to pray with her for his angel's deliverance. Crow lives in a maid's apartment between 4C and 4D.
Notes
Turtle's calls of "BAUM-bach" is a classic example of how information can be misinterpreted when one is in a certain frame of mind. Madame Hoo learning the word "Boom!" becomes significant, as it is the nonsense answer she and Jake give at the second meeting of the Westing heirs. Sam Westing makes up for stealing James Hoo's paper diaper invention by offering him the idea for the paper innersole in the guise of Sandy McSouthers. Sam Westing seems to take a special pride in this, even pointing it out in his deathbed, showing the ruthless egotistical side of Westing that not only helped him build his paper empire, but also allows him to control his heirs through the Westing game. Though his game is an atonement for past sins to his chosen heirs, it doesn't mean Westing has changed completely from past ways.
Theo's interpretation of his clues is perhaps the wildest and most brazen, and yet Raskin makes it a distinct possibility when the formula is revealed to be that of ammonium nitrate. Crow sees Theo as the one who will save Angela, something Theo does not understand when she speaks of his "angel". Crow is clearly re-living the experience of her daughter, with Theo as a stand-in for his father George, who was Violet's true love.
18. The Trackers
Summary
Flora Baumbach now braids Turtle's hair regularly while Turtle reads The Wall Street Journal. She reads aloud a news piece that Julian R. Eastman, the newly elected chairman of the Westing Paper Products Corporation, has announced from London that earnings are expected to double next quarter. Turtle decides to sell all their stocks and put all the money into Westing. Turtle tells Flora she likes when she calls her Alice but that Turtle needs to call Mrs. Baumbach something different after the bomb scare. Turtle suggests Mrs. Baba and Flora shortens it to Baba. Turtle asks Baba about her daughter Rosalie but this only makes her angry.
In apartment 4D, Sandy is writing notes on Flora Baumbach: about the death of her retarded daughter Rosalie last year which prompted her to sell her bridal shop, and how her Westing connection was as Violet Westing's wedding dressmaker. He then looks at the data the private investigator has on Otis Amber and starts laughing. On the way to school, Theo Theodorakis stops Doug Hoo and asks who lives in the apartment next to his; Doug says it's Crow. Theo doesn't tell Doug about what happened with Crow last night, nor of the letter she gave him but which was only a Westing Paper Hankie in his bathrobe pocket this morning. Theo does tell his partner that their clues led to the answer ammonium nitrate, a chemical used in fertilizers, explosives, and rocket propellants. He then tells Doug to follow Otis Amber.
At the stockbroker, Flora Baumbach watches as shares of Westing Paper Products leap in value. After classes, Doug Hoo follows Otis Amber on foot, though Otis travels by bicycle and then bus. Doug follows Otis to the lawyer E.J. Plum, then to the hospital, a stockbroker's office, the high school, and then back to Sunset Towers. Exhausted, Doug is surprised when Otis Amber pounces on him, delivering a letter from Plum. There will be a second meeting of the heirs at the Westing house on Saturday night.
Judge Ford and Sandy go over their notes together as time runs short. The file on Otis Amber ties the delivery boy to Westing as he's the one who delivered the letters from Plum both times. The medical intern Denton Deere's connection to Westing seems to be that he's engaged to marry Violet Westing look-alike Angela Wexler. Sydelle Pulaski has no known tie to Westing and her supposed muscular ailment only happened after she started her vacation from Schultz Sausages, where she works. Judge Ford muses on how Sydelle does not seem to fit.
At the hospital, Angela tells the plastic surgeon she doesn't want the scar on her face removed. Denton protests, leading to a discussion of whether Angela wants to be married. Turtle arrives, asks Angela what she wrote under position when she signed for her newest letter, then leaves as a male nurse and E.J. Plum enters the room. As Plum talks to Angela, interested in her romantically, Grace Wexler enters the room and screams, as her clues led her to believe the attorney is the murderer.
Three people come to visit Chris Theodorakis that day. First is Otis Amber, who delivers the letter. Next is Flora Baumbach, who talks about her daughter Rosalie and, feeling guilty about seeing one of Chris' clues, tells him one of her own, MOUNTAIN. Last is Denton, who takes Chris to the hospital so he can be seen by a neurologist who has a new medicine that may help his condition. Chris says he will sign the check but Denton is no longer concerned about that. As they leave Sunset Towers together, Chris delights in the possibility that he's being kidnapped.
Notes
Flora's braiding of Turtle's hair shows she has completely supplanted Grace Wexler as a maternal figure. We have the first mention of Julian Eastman in a news piece - the same means by which news of Sam Westing's death was made public, and thus controlled by Sam Westing as part of his master plan. Turtle reciprocates her fondness for Flora by giving her a pet name - thus, the two have names for each other that no one else knows. However, the same problem she faces in her actual family - a rivalry with a "sister", in this case the dead Rosalie - troubles her.
Theo's encounter with Crow from the previous night is made stranger by the disappearance of the letter she gave him; we learn in the next chapter that Chris found it and assumed that the name on the front meant it was a love letter from Theo to Angela, not a gift from Crow to Angela. Doug following Otis becomes a game of tag at the end, as Otis pounces on Doug by surprise; that Otis was aware of Doug is a hint that he's not as idiotic as he seems, foreshadowing the revelation that he's actually a private investigator. Angela's decision not to repair her scar serves several related functions: a kind of punishment and reminder for her sins as the bomber; an assertion of her independence as a person; and a refusal to be defined by surface beauty.
Again, we see the odd dynamic between Denton Deere and Chris Theodorakis. Denton is still concerned about his identity as a doctor, but is now using it to help Chris - something he initially denied he could do. This is so important that he doesn't even care about the check, which was his initial concern - a foreshadowing of how he re-prioritizes his life when he eventually abandons plastic surgery to become a neurologist. Meanwhile, Chris is oblivious to the help Denton is offering, instead thinking about another unlikely adventure happening to him.
19. Odd Relatives
Summary
The stock for Westing Paper Products continues to rise. Turtle is seen by the school nurse: she claimed to suffer from a toothache when she was found with a radio plugged in her ear. Otis Amber warns Crow to be careful, and is convinced that James Hoo is the bomber. Believing Otis, Crow swears vengeance on the person who scarred Angela Wexler's face.
Judge Ford looks over the information of Berthe Erica Crow: she was married to a Windy Windkloppel at 16, divorced at 40, was an alcoholic until she found religion. She now runs a soup kitchen in Skid Row and works as the cleaning woman of Sunset Towers, and has no discernible connection to Westing.
Crow goes up to Shin Hoo's, where Jake Wexler is having lunch and Grace Wexler is sorting sports photographs for the restaurant's upcoming makeover. Jake asks Crow to join him and Madame Hoo serves dumplings; Grace watches Madame Hoo giggle at Jake and suddenly feels jealous. Crow complains to her podiatrist about the pain in her feet and James Hoo comes to her rescue with a pair of his paper innersoles. She tries them on and the relief she feels convinces her that Otis was wrong about Mr. Hoo being the bomber.
Chris Theodorakis visits the hospital room where Angela Wexler and Sydelle Pulaski are recovering. Chris gives Angie the envelope he found in his brother Theo's bathrobe pocket, believing it to be a love letter for her. He then gives them MOUNTAIN, the clue Flora gave him, in revenge for Turtle Wexler kicking his partner Denton Deere. Angela opens the letter and finds it's not from Theo, as the note contains two clues that are from Otis and Crow, WITH MAJESTIES.
Doorman Sandy McSouthers and Judge Ford continue to go over the heirs, now examining the Wexler family of Jake, Grace, Angela, and Turtle. The Westing connections are that Grace Windsor Wexler claims Sam Westing is her real uncle, while Angela Wexler looks like Violet Westing, Sam's dead daughter. Sandy reluctantly tells Judge Ford that Jake Wexler is a bookie; Judge Ford isn't pleased by this but points out that Sam Westing never smoked, drank, or gambled - despite being crooked in many other ways. The Judge then sees that Grace Windsor Wexler was born Gracie Windkloppel, the same last name as Berthe Erica Crow's husband Windy. Looking over the notes from the private investigator more closely, Judge Ford also finds a transcript for a taped interview with a friend of Berthe Erica Crow: the friend's name is Sybil Pulaski, which means that Sam Westing had chosen the wrong woman as one of his heirs. Sandy asks what this means and Judge Ford explains that Sam Westing made his first mistake.
Notes
The final clues for Berthe Erica Crow's identity are provided in this chapter, as the Windkloppel name also ties together Sam Westing's actual extended family of the Wexlers. Jake's friendship with Madame Hoo is meant in part to stir jealousy in his wife, to remind her of her responsibility as wife and mother. Readers find out what happened to Crow's letter to Angela via Theo in this chapter, as Chris delivers the letter to Angela in the hospital.
Readers also finally find out who the mistake is in Westing's plan, showing how life can take unexpected - but fortuitous - directions, even with the best plans. Despite being a "mistake", Sydelle's notes are a crucial part of the Westing game and Turtle's eventual solution, while her strange quirks are matched by her partner Angela, thus giving them a special bond. In these ways, Sydelle makes herself invaluable to the extended Westing family despite having no "right" to be there in the first place.
20. Confessions
Summary
On Friday, Turtle Wexler skips school and goes with Flora Baumbach to the stock broker. When Westing stock reaches fifty-two dollars a share, the highest in fifteen years, Turtle tells Baba to sell. Meanwhile, Doug Hoo does not attend classes as he prepares for the track meet on Saturday by following Otis Amber again. He waits for Otis outside a rooming house but at least his feet doesn't hurt: when he went to see Doctor Jake Wexler about his blisters, he was directed to see his own father, who gave him paper innersoles that worked wonderfully. At five Otis bicycles back to Sunset Towers and Doug follows him. However, he does not know where Theo is. Theo is in the hospital emergency room as his "solution" experiment led to an explosion at the high school chemistry lab. The bomb squad detective questions Theo due to the incidents at Sunset Towers, but Theo has an alibi for the third bomb at the Wexler apartment.
George Theodorakis finally delivers in person one of Judge Ford's orders to the coffee shop, giving the Judge a chance to ask him about Violet Westing. George explains that his father was a factory foreman and he was childhood sweethearts with Violet. However, Violet's mother wanted her to marry somebody important - which surprises Judge Ford, as she thought it was Sam Westing who objected to the romance. George explains that Sam Westing wanted Violet to become involved in his business and someday run the company, but that she was interested in being a teacher instead. He then goes on to say that Mrs. Westing chose the politician who Violet was to marry, believing he may someday be president and Violet the First Lady. Violet thought she was a cheap crook, however, and committed suicide rather than marry him. After that, Mrs. Westing went insane, but that was a long time ago. With all this, Sandy finishes his notes on the two Theodorakis heirs, George's sons Theo and Christos.
Sandy McSouthers tells Judge Ford that the new medicine for Chris is working but that he needs more help. Judge Ford wonders why the boys' parents weren't heirs. Sandy guesses that Sam Westing may not have wanted to embarrass George since he's married, or that he was too busy with the coffee shop, or blamed George for Violet's death since they could have eloped. Judge Ford dismisses the last point, as she believes if Sam Westing blames George Theodorakis, he would involve him in the miserable game. Judge Ford wants to stay focused on the real issue: which heir does Sam Westing want punished and why? Sandy guesses it would be the person who hurt him the most, who would be the person that caused Violet's death. Judge Ford agrees but Sandy points out that Mrs. Westing is not one of the heirs. Judge Ford, however, believes she must be one of the heirs and that Mrs. Westing is the answer to the game.
Notes
With the increasing popularity of James Hoo's innersoles, Jake Wexler's already waning interest in podiatry dims even further. In both cases, identity and occupation are tied together: James becomes happier as his true calling of inventor is validated by the happy feet of his customers; Jake's disillusionment with his own job is evident in his inability to help his patients Crow and Doug Hoo.
Judge Ford's distrust of Sam Westing is evident in her belief that the Westing game is meant to torture those involved, and thus George Theodorakis being excused from the game means he's not the target. Ironically, Sam Westing is himself telling Judge Ford why George was not made an heir, in the first two of the three reasons he offers her as Sandy McSouthers.
21. The Fourth Bomb
Summary
Flora Baumbach and Turtle Wexler are counting their money in 2C when Theo Theodorakis bursts in, desperate to borrow Turtle's bicycle. He tells her that he didn't tell the bomb squad anything when they talked to him today. He was implying that he wouldn't reveal Turtle as the bomber, but Turtle thinks that he knows the truth - that it's Angela - when he mentions seeing her in the hospital. Turtle throws him the key to her padlock; she then calls her sister's hospital room but it's not accepting calls. Confused and scared, Turtle tells Baba that she's not feeling good and going to bed. Using Turtle's bicycle, Theo follows Crow and Otis to Skid Row, where he watches them work at the Good Salvation Soup Kitchen. Returning to Sunset Towers, Theo feels dirty for spying on them and taking part in Sam Westing's game.
Judge Ford believes she and Sandy McSouthers were done with researching the heirs, but Sandy reminds her that they haven't looked at themselves yet. Sandy goes over his own background, an immigrant from Scotland with an eighth grade education who worked at the Westing Paper mill for twenty years and was fired by Sam Westing for trying to organize a union. As for Josie-Jo Ford, her mother was a servant for the Westings and her father worked for the railroad and was a gardener for the Westings on his day off. Josie-Jo grew up in the Westing house, saw little of Violet and Mrs. Westing, but often played chess with Sam Westing himself. She was sent to boarding school at twelve and only returned to the Westing house two weeks ago, at the reading of the will. Sam Westing paid for her education, which includes Columbia University and a law degree in Harvard. She believes Sam Westing wanted a judge that was in his debt and so she recused herself from any Westing-related cases. She has yet to repay her debt to Westing.
Theo is at Sunset Towers waiting for the elevator, still mad at himself about spying on Crow and Otis. As the elevator door opens, fireworks explode out of it. When the bomb squad arrives and checks on the elevator on the third floor, they see Turtle crying and Grace reprimanding her for doing so. In the elevator the police find a sign on the wall THE BOMBER STRIKES AGAIN!!! On the other side of the paper is an essay by Turtle. Grace demands to know if Turtle's really the bomber and Turtle asks for a lawyer.
The bomb squad hand Turtle over to Judge Ford, who realizes Turtle prefers to kick shins over setting bombs. She thinks Turtle is trying to protect the real culprit behind the first three bombs and grills the child on who it could be. She's surprised when her first, least likely guess, sister Angela Wexler, receives such a vehement protest from Turtle. However, it does make sense as Judge Ford thinks about it. She makes Turtle promise to never play with fireworks again. Turtle then confesses to being in the Westing house on the night that Mr. Westing died. She explains the story and how Sam Westing didn't look murdered but rather like a wax dummy. Turtle then asks for some bourbon on a piece of cotton to kill the pain for a cavity. Judge Ford sends Turtle home, which to Turtle means Flora Baumbach. Sandy runs into Turtle and doesn't appear at all disappointed in her despite the news that she's the bomber. Instead, he wants to buy one of Turtle's striped candles as a gift for his wife's birthday the next day. She has only one left and agrees to sell it to him for five dollars.
Back at the hospital, Angela Wexler and Sydelle Pulaski keep reading and re-reading the clues they've assembled, re-arranging the words to make sense of them. Sydelle now really needs her crutches and so has difficulty walking around. The pair had switched off the phones and put up a No Visitors sign to get their privacy. Nevertheless, Denton Deere slides a note under the door: he says he understands her need to think things over, then provides a clue that Chris Theodorakis wanted to pass along to her, PLAIN. With that word, Sydelle figures out the solution to the clues, that they're all words of the song "America the Beautiful".
Notes
Again, misinterpretation of information is crucial: Theo hints that he "knows" Turtle is the bomber but Turtle thinks he is threatening to expose Angela. Thus, Turtle sets off a fourth bomb to place blame squarely on herself for all the bombings - and ironically proves correct Theo's wrong-headed hunch about the bomber's identity. Sandy seems to forgive Turtle for being the bomber, when we discover at novel's end that he knew it was really Angela. The endgame of the Westing game is also in sight: he asks for a striped candle for his wife's birthday - which is a true but typically incomplete account, as he lights it on Crow's birthday to burn down the Westing house. Tellingly, Turtle's notion of going home is the comfort of Baba, not her parents.
Theo's disgust at himself is due to his misunderstanding of Otis Amber: he thinks a man who works at a soup kitchen cannot possibly be the murderer and is in fact of a higher moral fiber than Theo himself. However, this again turns out to be only part of the truth, since Otis is himself an expert of deception as a private investigator. Sandy's personal history playfully hints at the truth: Sam Westing was indeed an immigrant, we find out, had little education and worked at the factory. Readers also discover Judge Ford played chess with Sam Westing as a child, which helps to reveal with whom Theo played chess at the Westing house.
22. Losers, Winners
Summary
Saturday morning, Turtle Wexler posts a message on the elevator wall confessing to the bombs, apologizing for what she did, and promising to buy everyone a Chinese dinner when she wins the inheritance. James Hoo feels sorry for Grace Wexler and the situation with her daughters. Madame Hoo is happy, since she knows today is the day Doug has a track meet. She decides to never steal Doug's medals, though she's been stealing for two years to pay for her return to China. Madame Hoo also decides she won't sell the Mickey Mouse clock of Turtle Wexler.
Walking down the hall and to the elevator, Grace resists the idea of going to the track meet with Jake or even attending the Westing house that evening. Jake tries to calm Grace down but she only grows more agitated, inadvertently insulting her husband by implying he's not a real doctor. Grace begins to cry and Jake comforts her, telling her they'll go home. Turtle sees them on the second floor and apologizes again for the bombs, wanting to protect Angela and his mother, who would be even more upset if she knew the truth. Jake tells Turtle and Flora Baumbach to have fun at the track meet, but that's not where they're headed. At the Wexler apartment, Jake asks Angela and Sydelle Pulaski to leave him and Grace alone for a while. Angela is surprised that they showed no interest in how she got home, but is pleased by this. She and Sydelle go to Sydelle's apartment and when Sydelle sings "For purple waves of grain," Angela corrects her with "amber waves". This makes them think of Otis Amber.
Judge Ford is concerned that Sam Westing will have his revenge at the meeting of the heirs this evening and she needs to protect the former Mrs. Westing. Further, Turtle's story makes her think Sam Westing is still alive and had left a wax dummy as his corpse. A knock on her door disturbs her: it's Denton Deere with Chris Theodorakis. Everyone else has gone to the track meet and doorman Sandy McSouthers suggested that Judge Ford wouldn't mind watching Chris for the afternoon while Denton is at the hospital. She agrees to this, noting that Chris' hand is steadier than before, a sign that his new medicine is helping. Chris observes some Canadian geese, which impresses Judge Ford. However, she returns to her clippings and realizes the wax dummy of Sam Westing that Turtle found was based on how he looked fifteen years ago, before the car accident with Doctor Sidney Sikes. In that accident, Westing suffered facial injuries and today he must have a new face from plastic surgery.
Turtle is at the dentist having her cavity drilled. She thinks of how Barney Northrup had come to the Wexlers this morning demanding payment for all the damages from the bomb. Turtle responded by kicking him hard in the shins, the hardest she's ever done. Lost in these thoughts, Turtle is surprised at the lack of pain from the dental work. However, she's also going with Flora to the beauty parlor to cut off her singed hair.
Though a high school senior competing against college students, Doug Hoo wins the mile run at the track meet. Doug says he owes it all to his father; James Hoo believes that his paper innersoles and Doug's feet will take them to the Olympics. That evening, Madame Hoo tells Doug in English, "Good boy."
Sandy McSouthers arrives in 4D and asks Judge Ford if she's spoken with Barney Northrup. Northrup just fired Sandy when he returned from the track meet, claiming that complaints were filed against the doorman. Judge Ford says she hasn't seen Barney Northrup since she rented the apartment, then wonders if Northrup was Westing's disguise. Excusing themselves from Chris, Judge Ford tells Sandy that they will give no answer that evening at the meeting of the Westing heirs. Their duty is to protect the former Mrs. Westing, which Sandy guesses is Crow. Sandy then goes on to express suspicions about Otis Amber, who he thinks is really Sam Westing. This alarms Judge Ford, who thinks that if this is so, she played right into Sam Westing's hands.
On the road up to Westing house, Otis is urging Crow to hurry up. Crow says she feels Sam Westing's presence and that he's looking for Violet Westing's murderer. She believes someone is in real danger and it's herself.
Notes
Though he remains a secondary figure during much of the Westing game, Douglas Hoo's reason for being - his athletic skill as a runner - finally takes center stage briefly in the story. He is so taken by his victories in this track meet, for the rest of the novel he cares about the Westing game even less than before. There is a stab at family unity among the Hoos as James takes pride in his "dumb jock" son - who in turn takes pride in his father's new invention - while Sun Lin finally communicates her own pride in English. Readers also find out Sun Lin Hoo is the thief in a very casual fashion, as Sun Lin decides what stolen goods she will keep and what she will never steal - her stepson's medals, which further reinforces the sense of familial unity. Meanwhile, the Wexler family begin to mend in the wake of Turtle's confession: Jake comforts Grace over her sense of shame, while Angela is no longer the center of her mother's attention.
Further clues of Sam Westing's disguises surface in this chapter: the visit to Sandy McSouthers' dentist points to the use of false teeth as a disguise, while Turtle kicking Barney Northrup provides another important clue to unraveling the identity shell game Westing has been playing. Westing also continues to push the endgame: as Sandy, he reports being fired by Barney Northrup. He also flummoxes Judge Ford's plan with his "suspicion" that Otis Amber is really Sam Westing.
23. Strange Answers
Summary
Lawyer E.J. Plum is in the game room when Otis Amber enters, as are Flora Baumbach and Turtle Wexler, whose long hair had been cut. Flora shows Turtle a photo of her daughter Rosalie, and Turtle says she would have liked her. Sydelle Pulaski and Angela Wexler arrive next: Turtle had convinced Angela not to confess to being the bomber. As the heirs arrive, they comment on Turtle's haircut. Theo doesn't do so, as he sees the chess game has continued since last meeting and it's now his move. Judge Ford makes a grand entrance wearing a turban and an African print gown. Doug Hoo and his parents arrive, triumphant from the morning's track meet. Jake and Grace Wexler arrive, drunk from spending the afternoon at a cafe they frequented before they married. After everyone is seated with their partner at their designated tables, Otis asks if they can open the envelopes there. Inside is another ten thousand dollar check for each pair; Judge Ford signs her check and gives it to Sandy McSouthers to help him until he finds a new job.
Reading from the will, E.J. Plum instructs each pair to give their answer when called. As Plum calls out the name and listed occupation of each pair, several of the heirs are puzzled at the occupation listed for themselves. First is Madame Sun Lin Hoo, cook, and Jake Wexler, bookie: they finally look at the clues they should have received at the first meeting, OF AMERICA AND GOD ABOVE, and Jake asks Madame Hoo to say something. Table One's answer is what she says: "Boom!" Second is Flora Baumbach, dressmaker, and Turtle Wexler, financier: they place on the table the original ten thousand dollars and the profit earned from their investment. Table two's answer is $11,587.50. Sandy applauds and Turtle bows. Third is Christos Theodorakis, ornithologist, and D. Denton Deere, intern: Chris says that Sam Westing is a good man whose last wish is to do good deeds and give each heir the perfect partner to befriend. Table Three's answer is Mr. Westing was a good man. Fourth is J.J. Ford, judge, and Alexander McSouthers, fired: they have no answer, as planned. The judge looks to Denton Deere, who she gave a note earlier; he shakes his head to tell her that Otis Amber has never had plastic surgery on his face, meaning he isn't Sam Westing. Fifth is Grace Windkloppel Wexler, restaurateur, and James Hoo, inventor: Grace is drunk and stands up to announce the grand reopening of Hoo's On First on Sunday, then falls down when she sits where the chair wasn't. Table Five's answer is Ed Plum. Sixth is Berthe Erica Crow, mother, and Otis Amber, deliverer: Crow is surprised and asks if she wrote mother, while Otis believes she signed the receipt Good Salvation Soup Kitchen. Since Crow repeats it, Table Five's answer is mother. Seventh is Doug Hoo, champ, and Theo Theodorakis, writer: Doug is basking in his glory still, and Theo feels guilty because their chemical formula answer led to Otis Amber, who helps the poor at the soup kitchen. Table Seven also has no answer. Eighth and last are Sydelle Pulaski, victim, and Angela Wexler, person: Sydelle, dressed in red and white stripes and her clutches painted blue with white stars, stands up and sings the first stanza of "America the Beautiful". Table Eight's answer is Otis Amber.
Reading the next document, E.J. Plum instructs the heirs that there will be a short break and asks that Berthe Erica Crow go to the kitchen for refreshments. Fearful, Crow follows this instruction. Judge Ford sends Sandy to follow her; he does so, asking Crow to fill his flask. Angela leaves the room and is followed by Turtle, who wants to make sure she doesn't go to the fireworks room again. The other heirs stare at Otis Amber, who mocks them by pointing his finger and making machine gun sounds. Crow and Angela return with trays, followed by a relieved Turtle. Denton Deere tells Judge Ford that none of the heirs have had plastic surgery but that her partner Sandy McSouthers could use it. Sandy asks if anyone wants a drink from his flask and Judge Ford cautions him to remain clear-headed. Theo goes to the chess table and sees it's his turn again: he takes his mystery opponent's queen and believes he's won the game. E.J. Plum tries to talk to Angela Wexler while Sydelle Pulaski asks if he has the answer; when Angela repeats Sydelle's question, he responds he's following a schedule of instructions. He then realizes he's one minute late and rips open the next envelope for the next document: it tells everyone to "Go directly to the library. Do not pass Go."
Notes
From deriding the minstrelsy of her clues at the first meeting of the Westing heirs, Judge Ford makes a striking statement of reclamation when she appears at the second meeting in an African print gown (a wrapper or dashiki, as it's called). That is, she takes the offensive stereotype of the minstrel and replaces it with the image of the proud African American who is aware of her heritage. This contrasts against the two actual immigrants in the novel: Sam Windkloppel changes his name to Westing in order to have a brand that consumers will positively associate with paper products, while Sun Lin Hoo feels constrained by wearing the traditional Chinese dress - called a cheongsam - as that isn't what she'd wear in her homeland. Rather, it's imposed on her by her new husband James, who himself adds the name Shin to seem "more Chinese" for the sake of the restaurant. This is a common dynamic in America: the choice to shed or reclaim parts of one's ethnic heritage at will in a manner that better reflect one's individual identity and one's individual relationship to that heritage. Sometimes it's better to let go, sometimes it's better to take these traits on again; and sometimes, as with the Hoos, there is a conflict of interests.
Another important transformation is Turtle's hair. The new hairdo is symbolic of her move from childhood to a new maturity, as it's also tied into her sacrifice for Angela by claiming to be the bomber. As the one who finally wins the Westing game, the haircut is a rite of passage towards the woman she'll eventually become in order to deserve the inheritance. Readers also learn that Angela obtained her fireworks for the bombs from the cache kept in the Westing house.
The positions that Sam Westing gives to some of the heirs is meant to expose secrets and catch the heirs off-guard. Westing continues to set up the endgames with Sandy's drunkenness: having him drink more obviously from his flask distances him further from Judge Ford's image of Sam Westing, a teetotaler who never drank alcohol. It also sets up the accusation against Crow, who Sandy asks to refill his flask. The phrase "Do not pass Go" comes from the game Monopoly, when a player is sent to Jail and not allowed to collect the money usually given at the starting square. In that sense, the library becomes a "jail" for the heirs - and indeed, they'll be locked in there against their will.
24. Wrong All Wrong
Summary
At the long library table, the partners sat in pairs. E.J. Plum opens another envelope, removes a tagged key, and unlocks the upper left-hand desk drawer with the next document. This document informs everyone that all answers are wrong. Partnerships are cancelled and the lawyer will return with the authorities. Further, this document of Sam Westing's informs the heirs that time is running out and they must name the person who took his life before he takes another. It further reminds everyone that it's not what they have, but what they don't have that counts.
Madame Hoo feels the tension in the room and thinks it's because of her and what she's stolen from them. Ed Plum leaves the room and locks the door behind them. Sandy encourages Turtle Wexler, telling her the game's not over yet and she can still win. Everyone grows paranoid until Theo Theodorakis asks that they work together as a team and share the inheritance. They all agree and Sydelle Pulaski asks if anyone has a clue word not in the song "America the Beautiful". There's some confusion over what words people have until Sandy McSouthers takes charge, drinking from his flask and instructing everyone to give their clues to Sydelle. Judge Ford watches Sandy suspiciously, wondering why he's doing this, then thinks of what Chris had said about everyone getting the perfect partner: in her case, she now realizes, her partner is really Sam Westing.
Sydelle assembles all the clues and finds parts of words missing - the BER in AMBER, the ERICA in AMERICA, the CROW in CROWN - as well as one whole word, THE. Placed in order, the missing segments spell out BERTHE ERICA CROW. Crow pales at this discovery, but Judge Ford gets everyone's attention and asks what they will do. There is no proof that she killed Sam Westing or that Sam Westing was even murdered; Berthe Erica Crow's only crime is her name appearing in a song and to turn her over to the police would be selling the life of an innocent human being whose been their neighbor and helper. She's then about to turn her attention to Sandy McSouthers / Sam Westing when he begins to choke and falls on the floor. The two doctors, Jake Wexler and Denton Deere, help him out while Theo bangs on the door for help. Ed Plum opens the door and two other men come in, Doctor Sikes and the Westing county sheriff. Turtle Wexler is distraught as she watches her good friend Sandy grow rigid as, in a last violent twitch, his right eye closes then opens again. Doctor Sikes pronounces the man dead, making Judge Ford think she was wrong.
The Westing county sheriff takes the heirs back to the game room, where Ed Plum asks him for permission to read the next document as per instructions in the will. The sheriff allows this though he's puzzled by all he's witnessed, especially as he was called in the middle of dinner, a half hour before anyone died. Plum reads the document, where Sam Westing reveals he was born Sam "Windy" Windkloppel of Watertown - changing his name to Westing to make it more marketable for paper products - and declaring that if nobody gives a name in five minutes, the will is null and void. The document closes by wishing everyone good luck and a happy Fourth of July. Everyone struggles with their conscience over the two million dollar inheritance and Turtle is puzzled by the closing part of the document; several think of how Crow filled Sandy's flask, which may have been poisoned. With one minute left, Berthe Erica Crow is named... by Berthe Erica Crow herself. Angela Wexler and Otis Amber protest, but Crow stands by her answer and splits the inheritance she's won in half: one half to Otis and the Good Salvation Soup Kitchen, the other half to Angela.
Notes
Sam Westing continues to stay one step ahead of all the heirs, including Judge Ford and Turtle Wexler, when he fakes his death as Sandy McSouthers. As readers later learn, Sandy's last violent eye twitch before "dying" is actually a wink to Turtle; this and his final words of encouragement to her shows that Sam Westing has chosen his heir and is simply waiting for her to solve the puzzle of his identities.
Judge Ford's plea to protect Crow strikes a chord with all the heirs, emphasizing not only her innocence but her role in the community of Sunset Towers; the mention of selling a life also takes on significance, as Judge Ford is African American and the specter of slavery is implicit in such a phrasing. Crow's decision to hand herself over for the supposed murder of Sam Westing is also her symbolic acceptance of responsibility for daughter Violet Westing's suicide; thus, she seeks further atonement by passing along the Westing inheritance she thinks she's won to her soup kitchen and the story's Violet stand-in, Angela Wexler.
25. Westing's Wake
Summary
With Sandy dead and Crow arrested, the remaining fourteen heirs return to Judge Ford's living room to go over what happened. When Otis Amber mourns what's happened to Crow, Turtle Wexler stands up for her friend Sandy McSouthers. Denton Deere tells Turtle that she should have remembered that before kicking him in the shins. Turtle protests, saying she never did that but Denton insists there was a bruise on his shin from being kicked today. Turtle persists, with Flora Baumbach as her witness: she hadn't seen Sandy until that evening and the only one she kicked today was Barney Northrup. Theo then says that Sandy was also his friend, as they played chess together at the Westing house, though Sandy didn't know Theo knew who he was playing with. Both Turtle and Judge Ford are surprised by this, but Theo explains that his partner Doug Hoo had kept an eye on the chess board and saw Sandy make his moves. Theo then adds that he almost won the game, as he had taken Sandy's queen; Judge Ford then realizes Theo fell for the queen's sacrifice, the famous Westing trap. She informs Theo of this and how she's lost a few games herself that way.
Turtle tries to pull together all this seemingly nonsensical information: Sandy's bruised shin, the chess game, the dentist where she saw the false teeth, Sandy's words of encouragement that the game wasn't over and how he winked when he said that. She then realizes the last violent twitch of his right eye was actually a wink, as well. She asks sister Angela for her copy of the will and reads the transcript. A line about ashes being scattered to the four winds reminds Turtle of Sam Westing's real last name, Windkloppel, which means her mother Grace was right about being related to him.
Judge Ford then pieces together the history of the Westing family: Berthe Erica Crow married Sam Windkloppel, who changed his name to Sam Westing. They had a daughter, Violet, who drowned herself the night before her wedding. If Sam blames Crow for that death, then the sole purpose of the game was to punish his ex-wife. Theo asks why Sam Westing would give his ex-wife a chance of inheriting the money if he wanted revenge. Chris wonders if maybe Sam Westing wanted forgiveness from his enemies.
Turtle continues to read the transcript of the will. Otis Amber points out that Crow won't inherit anything if found guilty for murder, making Judge Ford realize that Crow was the queen's sacrifice in the Westing game the heirs all played. Judge Ford calls herself stupid, having played into Sam Westing's hand again. Denton Deere points out that Sam Westing wasn't stupid but insane, reminding everyone of the Happy Fourth of July greeting today, in November. Otis adds that it's November fifteenth, Crow's birthday. Turtle remembers how Sandy had bought her last striped candle from her for his wife's birthday and realizes the game is still afoot. She thinks of how everyone was instructed about "it's not what you have, it's what you don't have that counts". Without giving away her hand, she asks Judge Ford if she can call her first witness.
Notes
The rest of the clues are now pieced together regarding Sam Westing's elaborate masquerade: the damage to his shin, which could only have been to Barney Northrup; the chess game with Theo, which is traced back to Sandy McSouthers; Judge Ford's realization that Theo fell for the queen's sacrifice, a signature Sam Westing move; the false teeth at Sandy's dentist, which relates to the disguises; the last twitch which was actually a wink; and Sam Westing's real last name of Windkloppel, which validates Grace Wexler's early claim to being related to Westing in the first place. Turtle and Judge Ford seem to be the only ones who see the larger picture, which is why Judge Ford allows Turtle to hold a mock trial. Judge Ford later sees something of Sam Westing's bravado and demeanor in Turtle, which is what raises her suspicion that Turtle may have a game of her own.
26. Turtle's Trial
Summary
Despite James Hoo's protest, a makeshift court is assembled: Judge Ford in her flowing African robes as the judge, Sydelle Pulaski as the court stenographer who keeps notes in Polish, and thirteen-year-old Turtle Wexler as the lawyer. Judge Ford is amazed at how much Turtle resembles her Uncle Sam not only in looks but in manner. Turtle proceeds with her case of how Sam Westing and Sandy McSouthers are dead but that Berthe Erica Crow did not do it.
She calls Chris Theodorakis as her first witness: he saw Doctor Sikes enter the Westing house on Halloween, when a fire was started in the fireplace. Her next witness is Otis Amber; when he sits, Judge Ford instructs him to hand over his gun. Everyone else is shocked, including Turtle. Under questioning, Otis Amber reveals that he isn't the idiotic delivery boy everyone believes him to be, but a licensed private investigator with three clients: Samuel Westing, Barney Northrup, and Judge Ford. Twenty years ago, after Berthe Erica Crow left Samuel Westing, Westing hired Otis Amber to follow her, keep her out of trouble, and make sure she didn't use the Westing name. He was mailed a check every month to do this until last week, when he was informed his services were no longer needed.
The realtor Barney Northrup hired Otis to investigate six people: Judge J.J. Ford, George Theodorakis, James Hoo, Gracie Windkloppel, Flora Baumbach, and Sybil Pulaski. Otis made a mistake with the last name, investigating Sydelle Pulaski instead; he did not realize this until after Judge Ford hired him to look into Crow's early life. Otis tells the Judge he couldn't tell her about Crow being the former Mrs. Westing, as it was privileged information with a client; Judge Ford realizes that was why Otis Amber was one of the heirs in the Westing game, as well as to convince Crow to play along. Turtle asks Otis about the three heirs he didn't investigate: Denton Deere, Crow, and Sandy McSouthers. Otis answers that Denton came up in his report on Gracie Windkloppel, had recommended Crow to Barney Northrup when the realtor expressed a need for a cleaning woman at Sunset Towers, and has no idea how Sandy became the doorman.
Turtle then asks about Otis' investigation for Judge Ford, and Otis explains he didn't investigate the judge or her partner, Sandy. Turtle confirms that Otis had never investigated Sandy McSouthers for any of his clients. Turtle then mentions the Halloween story of a corpse on an Oriental rug at the Westing house, provoking a cry from Grace Wexler, who drunkenly recalls Sandy dead on the Oriental rug earlier that evening. Meanwhile, the repeated question of "who" causes Madame Hoo to slip away in terror. Otis explains that Sandy told him that story on the morning of Halloween, and they decided to scare the kids of Sunset Towers with this tale. Turtle connects this to the smoke from the Westing house, which together with this tale led to the dare which led to her discovery of Sam Westing's "body".
Turtle next calls Denton Deere to ask about his examination of the body in the coffin, getting him to admit it could have been a wax dummy. Regarding Sandy McSouthers' death, she has Denton explain that he didn't examine the doorman but merely made him comfortable until Doctor Sikes took over, who declared him dead. Denton states that he thinks Sandy died of a heart attack, and Turtle has him point out that the lemon juice she saw Crow put in his flask could not have been responsible for that. She then verifies that Sandy had a bruise on his shin from a kick.
Turtle then calls upon Sydelle Pulaski and points out how the last word is missing in Section Three of the will, which instructs "The heir who wins the windfall will be the one who finds the". Sydelle states no one heard the last word because Sandy made a joke. Turtle goes on to read the next section, beginning, "FOURTH. Hail to thee, O land of opportunity!"
Next, Turtle asks Judge Ford to introduce into evidence the letter E.J. Plum had handed to her. The judge opens it, thinking it was a certification of sanity for Doctor Sikes; instead, she finds a receipt for two payments in five thousand dollars that paid off completely the debt she owed Sam Westing for her education. At this point, Madame Hoo returns with the goods she stole from the other residents of Sunset Towers. Everyone forgives Madame Hoo, and Turtle allows her to keep the Mickey Mouse clock.
The trial resumes and Turtle considers that she has a half hour left. She goes over what she knows of Sam Westing's life, revealing that he was also Sandy the doorman. She points out that Sandy did not drink whiskey in his flask: she knows how whiskey tastes because of her toothache and she noted a funny aftertaste when she used his flask on Halloween. Sandy was sick and the flask contained his medicine. This evening, as Crow filled Sandy's task with lemon juice, Turtle saw Sandy go into the library. He wrote the last part of the will after the heirs gave their answers, then locked it in the library desk with a duplicate key. As for the murder, there was none. The life Sam Westing claims was taken from him was when he became Sandy, and Sandy died when his medicine ran out.
Judge Ford listens and wonders why Turtle does not mention Barney Northrup, who they both know was also Sam Westing. Turtle herself is wondering why Sam Westing played two roles, Barney Northrup and Sandy McSouthers. As Judge Ford asks Turtle if Sandy McSouthers committed suicide, Turtle fits the last part of the puzzle, reading the last sentence of the will's third section right into the fourth section: "The heir who wins the windfall will be the one who finds the FOURTH." Turtle must find Sam Westing's fourth identity and she knows who it is. When Judge Ford repeats her question about Sandy committing suicide, Turtle responds that Sandy / Sam was a dying man who merely chose his time to die. As she asks the others to observe a minute of silent prayer for Sam Westing / Sandy McSouthers, Otis leaps to his feet when Ed Plum and Crow enter the apartment.
Notes
The absurdity of this mock trial and how it would appear to outsiders shows Raskin's refined sense of humor, but also serves to emphasize how this community has indeed become closer and something of the extended family that Sam Westing intended. After all, this kind of indulgence and silliness is best associated with family gatherings of all kinds, the shared language and experiences of a group of people who've come to know each other well. This is further reinforced by the embarrassed forgiveness that everyone extends to Madame Hoo when she returns their valuables.
Otis Amber reveals his true profession in order to fill in the rest of the story of the Westing family, but the fact that he wasn't aware Sam Westing and Barney Northrup are the same person shows he was also a pawn. Gracie Windkloppel Wexler's drunken cry over the dead body on the Oriental rug calls attention to the Halloween tale told by Sandy McSouthers, now revealed to be a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy that was part of Sam Westing's performance. Judge Ford's own issue with Sam Westing is resolved as she finds out he considers the two checks she signed over to Sandy McSouthers as her debt paid in full.
Turtle Wexler's lies - both through omission (not mentioning Barney Northrup) and fabrication (stating Sam Westing had a fatal disease and merely chose his time to die) - show how much she is like her uncle Sam, wanting to win the game and willing to deceive others for it. Judge Ford is the only other heir to suspect this, as she's the only one who also figured out Barney Northrup was one of Westing's disguises. The attempt for a second minute of silence for Sam Westing is interrupted by the arrival of Crow and Plum - which is appropriate, as Sam Westing doesn't deserve that minute of silence since he's still very much alive.
27. A Happy Fourth
Summary
Crow tells Otis Amber and the others that she was told she was innocent. Ed Plum explains that the coroner determined Sandy McSouthers and Sam Westing both died of a heart attack. Plum then goes on to say he resigns from matters regarding the Westing estate, apologizing to all concerned. Judge Ford asks about a last document from the will, which Plum hands over to her. After Plum leaves, Judge Ford reads that document aloud. The seventeenth part wishes goodbye to the heirs, thanking them for participating in the game. The eighteenth part leaves equal shares of the deed to Sunset Towers to the heirs, and three ten thousand dollar checks - the first one forfeited by Table One, and the two that Judge Ford signed over to Sandy - to his former wife, Berthe Erica Crow. The nineteenth part wishes Crow a happy birthday and his heirs a happy Fourth of July.
The others want to know about the two hundred million dollars. Judge Ford says they lost the game, adding an "I think" as she looks at Turtle. Turtle gets up from Flora Baumbach's arms to the window and watches as the Westing house explodes in a burst of fireworks, setting the manor on fire.
The next morning, Turtle bicycles past the remains of Westing house to meet the fourth identity of Windy Windkloppel, someone whose name completes Sam Westing, Barney Northrup, and Sandy McSouthers. She had found this person's Sunrise Lane address in the Westingtown phone book, the mansion of Westing Paper Products' newly-elected chairman. She rings the doorbell and is greeted by Doctor Sikes, who says she's expected. She goes to the library, meets a stern-looking Julian R. Eastman. When she sees Eastman smiling, Turtle says, "Hi, Sandy, I won!"
Notes
Ed Plum's resignation as executor of the Westing estate and handing over of the final papers to Judge Ford is another subtle reinforcement of the extended family of Westing heirs. Plum is an outsider after all, and the Westing inheritance has now become a strictly family matter best handled by those within the circle. Note also that this happens at Sunset Towers, showing how the extended family is moving on from the past of Sam Westing to their own futures - as will the novel in the remaining chapters. The destruction of the Westing house also works in the same symbolic fashion.
The choice of Sunrise Lane for Julian Eastman's mansion is of course a play on Sunset Towers: where Sunset Towers is the close of Sam Westing and Sandy McSouthers' lives, Sunrise Lane is the start of Julian Eastman's.
28. And Then...
Summary
Turtle Wexler never told anybody the secret. Every Saturday afternoon she visits Julian Eastman, playing chess with him in the library. Along with the other Westing heirs and sobered member of the Good Salvation Soup Kitchen, Turtle attends the wedding of Crow to Otis Amber at Shin Hoo's restaurant: Jake Wexler gives away the bride, James Hoo is the best man, Angela Wexler and Sydelle Pulaski are the bridesmaids. Flora Baumbach altered Angela's wedding dress to fit Crow.
Judge Ford will never sole the Westing puzzle, but her debt to Sam Westing was repaid. She sells her share of Sunset Towers to pay for the education of Chris Theodorakis. Chris is lonely with Theo already off to college, and says goodbye to Judge Ford before she leaves Apartment 4D for good, asking if she will come see him. She promises to do so when she can, and to write.
Hoo's Little Foot-Eze becomes a success. James Hoo promises his business partner Madame Hoo they will go to China once they corner the Milwaukee market. Madame Hoo agrees to this but she now has good friends in Sunset Towers, doesn't have to cook in the restaurant, nor wear those uncomfortably tight dresses. As a result, she no longer is in a rush to return.
Sydelle Pulaski returns to her job as secretary to the president of Schultz Sausages, her ankle mended and crutches discarded. She gets all the attention she can take as an heiress. Friday, Mr. Schultz asks her to lunch.
Jake Wexler gives up being a podiatrist and a bookie, as he is appointed on Judge Ford's recommendation to the governor's inquiry panel for a state lottery. Grace Wexler, the new owner of Hoo's On First, is a great success, offering free meals to sports figures in town and thus generating more customers. Among the autographed photos of athletes is one from Doug Hoo. Angel Wexler's cheek will always have a scar, but she doesn't care as she studies for medical school. She returns the engagement ring to Denton Deere and refused the attention of Ed Plum. Outside of studying, she shops every week with Sydelle and spends Sundays at Otis and Crow's soup kitchen. Turtle spends her time at school, with Flora Baumbach, or at the library.
Crow and Otis Amber move into the apartment over the Good Salvation Soup Kitchen, now renovated and expanded. Grace Wexler supervises the decoration of the storefront mission.
Notes
Turtle never shares the secret of Julian Eastman's real identity, or even that she meets him every Saturday to play chess. This iron will and gift for deception is very much in keeping with her Uncle Sam, and perhaps a nod to the less admirable qualities that Sam Westing and Turtle Wexler share. Turtle seems to have reached a kind of familial detente with her parents and siste;, however her deception over Julian Eastman and preference for Flora Baumbach's company shows that she has supplanted her actual family with substitute parental figures in Flora and Eastman.
With the Westing game over and the heirs closer in a variety of ways, they can start to leave the actual building yet still retain ties with each other, as seen in Judge Ford and Chris Theodorakis' respective departures. The changes in careers for several characters also corresponds to happier lives for them, as their sense of identity now corresponds better to their virtues and desires: James Hoo as an inventor, Sun Lin Hoo as a business woman, Jake Wexler as a government official, Grace as a restaurateur, Angela Wexler as a med school student, and even Sydelle Pulaski as an "heiress" (making her suitable marriage material for her boss).
29. Five Years Pass
Summary
James and Sunny Hoo have moved to a lakefront home and are having the Westing heirs over for the homecoming of Olympic gold medalist Doug Hoo. Crow thanks James for the donation of Foot-Eze innersoles for the mission, the product now doing well across America. He has yet to return to China with his wife. Theo Theodorakis graduated from journalism school and has become a cub reporter, Sunny now speaks English fluently, and Jake Wexler is the chairman of the State Gambling Commission. Denton Deere, now a neurologist but still single, greets Angela Wexler, who's in her third year of medical school. Sydelle Pulaski attends this party with a crutch, as she sprained her knee at the office party. With her is her fiancée, Conrad Schultz.
Chris Theodorakis introduces his friend Shirley Staver to Judge Ford, who knows all about her from their letters. Judge Ford is now a judge on the United States Circuit Court of Appeals. Though much improved from the medication, Chris will always remain in a wheelchair. However, he and Shirley are going on a birdwatching tour of Central America that summer.
Grace Wexler caters this party herself, though she now owns a chain of Hoo's On restaurants. Theo asks Grace about the attractive young woman talking to Flora Baumbach. Grace says it's her daughter Turtle, only eighteen but in her second year of college. Now going by the name of T.R. Wexler, she had earlier that day won her first game of chess against Sam Westing.
Notes
The story's sudden jump five years ahead feels odd, but ties in thematically to the notion that life can take unexpected turns. Thus, we find various surprises, most notably that Angela Wexler re-unites with Denton Deere on a more equal footing. The possibility of romance between Angela Wexler and Theo Theodorakis is no longer considered, but a new wrinkle occurs when Theo takes an interest in another Wexler, Turtle - now T.R.
30. The End?
Summary
Turtle spends the night at the bedside of eighty-five-year-old Julian R. Eastman. With a master's in business administration and an advance degree in corporate law, she has served as legal counsel for the Westing Paper Products Corporation and is a multimillionaire from her stock investments. Sandy is dying, but asks Turtle about the Westing heirs. Judge Ford is now on the United States Supreme Court; Turtle tells Sandy that Crow and Otis are still at the soup kitchen, but they'd died within a week of each other two years ago. Sydelle Pulaski Schultz moved to Hawaii and keeps in touch with Angela. Sandy asks of Angela, revealing that he knew she was the bomber - something Turtle never knew he knew. Angela is now an orthopedic surgeon, married to Denton Deere, and they have a daughter named Alice. Flora Baumbach gave up dressmaking and moved in with Turtle, who like everyone else calls her T.R. now.
Mr. and Mrs. Theodorakis retired to Florida: their son Chris and his wife Shirley are university professors in ornithology and Chris discovered a new subspecies that was named after him. Douglas Hoo won two Olympic golds in a row and is now a sports announcer; Sandy asks about the paper innersoles, which he reminds T.R. he gave James Hoo the idea for. Turtle says they're doing well; she does not mention that James Hoo had died and Sunny Hoo made her trip to China but returned to run the business. As for Sandy's niece, Gracie Windkloppel, she has ten restaurants, nine are successes and she holds onto the tenth one to be near husband Jake, now the state crime commissioner. Sandy then inquires about T.R.'s husband, Theo Theodorakis, whose first novel sold poorly but received great reviews and is finishing up a second book. Sandy asks when they'll have children, and Turtle lies, saying some day; actually, Turtle and Theo decided against children from the possibility of inheriting Chris's disease. Sandy asks if Alice Deere is as beautiful as her mother Angela, but Turtle tells him she doesn't, that Alice looks like Turtle and Sandy. Sandy asks Turtle to tell Crow to pay for him and dies, at sunset on the Fourth of July.
T.R. Wexler had never revealed the secret of Julian R. Eastman to anyone, including Theo. She had been Eastman's legal advisor, would inherit his stock and serve as the company's director until she's elected chairman of the board. After Eastman's funeral, she goes home for her regular Saturday afternoon meeting with her niece Alice, when they play chess.
Notes
The novel jumps forward again, this time twenty years after the events of the Westing game - the obituary during the game stated Westing was 65, and Eastman is 85 on his deathbed. While the heirs have generally continued to prosper, there are several nods to the less ideal side of life. Several heirs have died - Crow, Otis Amber, and James Hoo - though T.R. hides this from Eastman. Eastman's request that Crow pray for him recalls Crow praying for him at the first meeting of the Westing heirs, when she first believed he had died.
T.R. and Theo have decided not to have children, for fear of having children with brother Christos' disease - a ruthless decision in some ways, as Chris is leading a fulfilling life and they have the financial resources to care for such a child. Last, and perhaps most tellingly, Theo is the only heir who hasn't seemed to fulfill his ambitions as well as he could have. This may be attributed to Raskin's own understanding of the difficulty of writing as a profession: while other successes don't break one's suspension of disbelief, a best-selling novelist may be stretching matters too far.
The cycle of life, that one generation passes on its wisdom and wealth to the next generation, is continued in the same way Sam Westing chose his heir: T.R. now has a niece, Alice, with whom she plays chess every Saturday.
OVERALL ANALYSES
CHARACTER ANALYSIS
The character development in the novel can be broken down into two parts: during the timeframe of the Westing game, and the sudden leaps forward in the final chapters.
During the timeframe of the Westing game, the defining development of the characters comes not from changes in personality or perspective so much as the revelation of depth. Characters are often initially presented in terms of a single trait of some sort: not only do readers see them in this way, which makes it easier to tell who's who in this large cast, but other characters perceive each other in a similarly simplistic way. This ties into the theme of masquerade in the broadest sense: while some characters do indeed pose as somebody they're not, many of them hide secrets about themselves and present a false mask to those around them. The last three chapters briefly cover the next twenty years in the lives of these characters. Many continue on the path of success set down for them soon after the Westing Game, but to have them all prosper in this manner would not have been as realistic or made the ending as interesting for the reader. Thus, we have several expectations upended and turned around.
The most complex characters are the ones who dominate the story: Sam Westing in his various guises, Judge Ford, and Turtle Wexler. In this trio, we have a mentor and two protégées, strong women who he nurtures and encourages to excel, though they themselves are not completely aware of this influence - and in Judge Ford's case, misunderstand the intentions.
As the grand mastermind of the Westing game, Sam Westing is not only seeking an heir to his fortune, but also to resolve the problems he finds in his extended family. His much-lauded patriotism is tied closely to his success as a poor, uneducated immigrant who became a multimillionaire industrialist. However, this land of opportunity was seized by Sam Westing, not merely bestowed upon him: to succeed he had to be cruel at times and unfair to others, as seen by his treatment of James Shin Hoo, Josie-Jo Ford, and even his own wife Berthe Erica Crow. However, the loss of his daughter and the accident which disfigured his face showed him the emptiness of such behavior. When he re-emerges in Westingtown, he does so in disguise and to make amends as he sees fit.
However, this doesn't mean he changed who he is essentially. Outside of finding himself loved by the tenants in the role of Sandy, Sam Westing does not change his essential personality. He remains an aficionado of games and disguises, never revealing to the heirs his final role of Julian R. Eastman. To pull off the game, he must be as controlling and as ruthless as he was in his days as a captain of industry. Westing also continues to be a proud individual, as seen by his protective attitude towards his Westing heirs and the way he takes credit for inspiring James Hoo to invent the paper innersole. If anything, readers see that the traits used to make Sam Westing a successful businessman were also used to make him a successful benefactor in the Westing game: the manipulation and deception, such as it is, were used for moral good instead of financial gain. Further, he passes along these traits to his ultimate heir, Turtle Wexler.
Josie-Jo Ford's character is defined by her sense of the past, as the child of Sam Westing's servants and as an African American. She feels trapped by her debt to Sam Westing, who paid for her education, and wishes to free herself from this obligation. She believes she has earned her position as a justice of the court and takes pride in her accomplishments. As a result, she is also sensitive to issues of race, which is played subtly for much of the novel but arises noticeably in her disgust at the clues she receives at the first meeting of the Westing heirs as well as the African robe she wears at the second meeting. She seems to make her peace with Sam Westing when he forgives her debt to him, though she doesn't seem to do so enthusiastically. Following the footsteps of her unlikely mentor, Judge Ford decides to fund the education of Chris Theodorakis, striking a friendship with him which is far different from the estrangement between Sam Westing and young Josie-Jo when she went off to be educated. Freed of her debt to Westing, Judge Ford goes on to become a Supreme Court Justice - though it's worth noting there has yet to be a female African American to serve on that court in reality.
Turtle Wexler is first encountered as a child who kicks the shins of people she doesn't like and wants to make a fortune on the stock market. Already, this indicates that she is very much like her Uncle Sam, who has alienated himself from people around him and built a fortune through his paper products. We are also told that they closely resemble each other, as a distinction is drawn between family beauties (such as Violet Westing, Gracie Windkloppel Wexler, Angela Wexler) and the plainer-looking members (Sam, Turtle, and Alice Deere). She matures over the course of the novel: she sacrifices herself as the bomber to spare both Angela and the mother who ignores her, she has her hair cut in a symbolic act of growth, and finally solves the mystery of the Westing game.
This last development is the most important because she seems to be groomed by Sam Westing, in the guise of Sandy McSouthers, to be the heir. To do this, however, requires that she be complicit in the hidden aspects of the game: that is, that she keeps the secret of Sam Westing's two other identities to herself, and even propagates the lie that Sam Westing died when Sandy McSouthers died. Thus, we see her mature into somebody very much like her uncle Sam, which is something she already was essentially: ruthless, manipulative, deceptive, dedicated, dogged in the pursuit of financial gain... but also aware of the importance of family and willing to make concessions to that priority. Her later success as a lawyer and stock trader shows this, as is her patrimony of the Westing financial empire. Her close ties to Flora Baumbach and later to niece Alice are the best indication of this last trait of familial love, though the bonds to her immediate family (her parents and sister) aren't as close.
The other characters emerge in a less complex manner, but many still indicate a depth of personality that's in keeping with the themes of the novel.
Jake Wexler is a compromised authority figure, a podiatrist dissatisfied with his practice because he's not a "real" doctor and unhappy in his relationship with his family, especially his neglectful, social-climbing wife. This unhappiness manifests itself in his illegal activity as a bookie, where he actually goes against authority. However, he does have a gift for leading and instructing, as he shows when he befriends Madame Hoo, teaching her English when everyone else ignored her. After he mends his relationship with his wife and proves his sensitivity as a father to Angela and Turtle, he's given a chance to drop his previous professions to become a true authority figure in government.
Grace Wexler is seen as a superficial social climber who favors her pretty daughter Angela over the less attractive, pugnacious Turtle. However, her sense of appearances serves her well as she plans to renovate James Hoo's restaurant. Further, she finds that good appearances aren't the only thing that matters to her: Jake Wexler's friendship with Madame Hoo makes her jealous and her daughters are at the center of the bomb incidents, Angela scarred for life and Turtle apparently the bomber in a cry for attention. (Though the truth is slightly different.) She bonds with Jake again, becoming drunk and looking foolish on the night of the second will reading, gives Angela the space and freedom she craves, and learns to take pride in Turtle's achievements. In doing so, she also eventually becomes a first-class restaurateur, taking over James Hoo's place and turning it into a booming franchise.
Angela Wexler is the beautiful and pliant older daughter of Jake and Grace, defined by her impending marriage to Doctor Denton Deere. At first Angela seems concerned only with pleasing her mother, though readers very quickly get a sense that her values are quite different from Grace's. Angela's inability to express her anger at Grace's smothering attention comes out in her becoming the bomber of Sunset Towers, which is an expression of rage but not a desire to inflict real harm on anyone. Thus, she saves Turtle from one of her bombs and in doing so scars her cheek; Turtle then selflessly claims to be the bomber to save mother Grace the agony of discovering the truth about Angela's criminal behavior. Angela asserts herself by giving up her beauty - she keeps the scar on her cheek and breaks off her engagement with Denton so that she can resume college and go to med school. Thus, Angela's development isn't a change of who she is, but the will to assert that identity more forcefully to the people around her.
Theo Theodorakis is mainly active in trying to solve the Westing game, coming up with one of the most esoteric interpretation of the heirs. There are other aspects of his life, but he treats them passively: he wishes to be a writer but we do not see him write; he wants to go to college but can't do so because his family must pay for Christos' operation; he is interested in Angela Wexler romantically but does not pursue it beside some furtive conversations. Even his pursuit of the answer to the Westing game is thwarted: he attempts to unite the heirs and pool their clues, but the first bomb disrupts this; he then determines the answer is Otis Amber but refuses to name Otis out of shame. When the heirs finally pool their clues together, Sandy is the one who takes charge of the process. The last chapters show a resolve in Theo which weren't as obvious before: as a writer, Theo is not as successful as the other heirs in their respective callings, but shows a dedication glimpsed previously only in his pursuit of the Westing game clues. His development as a strong character of ambition happens almost entirely offstage, but is necessary for him to "earn" his place next to Turtle's side.
Christos Theodorakis is surprisingly comfortable with his affliction: in the same way that others see Angela as a beautiful young fiancée, Chris is seen primarily as pitiable crippled boy. This does not bother him, he barely takes notice of the pity, and even welcomes the more forthright questions of Sydelle Pulaski about his illness. He has an active imagination and inquisitive mind, reflected in his childishly adventurous scenarios about the Westing game and his birdwatching. As his medical condition improves, he's less concerned with his fantasies and more dedicated to his birdwatching, eventually aiming to become an ornithologist. This shift in focus, and the fulfilling life this brings, is his development.
James Hoo is the disgruntled former employee of Sam Westing who believes his invention was stolen by Westing. He is not happy running a restaurant but worries about making a profit from it. As Sandy McSouthers, Westing gives Hoo the idea for a new invention, which becomes Hoo's Foot-Eze, allowing him to give up his restaurant business and prosper as an inventor. With this success, his formidable temper is leavened and he pays more attention to his second wife and his son.
Madame Sun Lin Hoo starts out as a complete mystery, the cook for her husband's restaurant and unable to speak English. We learn that this situation has alienated her and makes her want to return to her native China, which in turn spurs her into becoming a thief who intends to sell stolen items to finance her return. However, she is not completely heartless: she is proud of her stepson Douglas and vows never to steal a medal of his. Jake Wexler helps break the language barrier and befriends her. However, her misunderstanding of the Westing game - or rather, complete lack of comprehension that a game was going on - leads her to give up her thieving ways and return all she's stolen. As she learns English and becomes closer to the people around her, her role as the restaurant’s cook gives way to the responsibilities of running her husband's new business with him. Her return to China becomes an ever-dwindling priority as she becomes a prosperous businesswoman and considers the United States her new home.
Berthe Erica Crow is seen as the slightly crazed, over-religious cleaning woman of Sunset Towers. However, her strong religious beliefs has as much compassion as judgment: she runs a soup kitchen with Otis Amber and feels a strong attachment to Angela Wexler, who resembles her dead daughter Violet Westing. Further, we find that she does feel guilty for Violet's death, which contributed to her mental imbalance but also leads her to sacrifice herself when she names herself as the answer to the Westing game. She does this to pass along the prize to what she values: Angela and the soup kitchen, though it turns out this brave act became moot. After the Westing game, the guilt she feels about Violet's death is let go and her life can move forward. She marries Otis Amber and continues to help others with her Skid Row mission. Further, she has a new surrogate daughter in Angela Wexler, who assists her in the soup kitchen.
Otis Amber is something of a mystery, as he spends almost the entirety of the novel posing as an idiot delivery boy when in fact he is a seasoned private investigator. As a delivery boy he is a fun-loving, playful, even annoying person; this seems to be a reflection of who he really is (or what he has become from playing his role), as he continues to be like this after his disguise is revealed. The only other trait he shows is a dedication to Crow, apparently as a good friend but one who has a romantic interest and who understands the strange behavior she often displays. Thus, the main development of Otis' character is the revelation of his double life as a private eye; he does not actually change, but the dimensions of his relationship with Crow - and the depth of his dedication to her - are seen in a different light by readers as a result of this new information.
Sydelle Pulaski is another character who remains essentially the same: desperate for attention and intent on gaining it in any way possible. The crutches she uses are symbolic of the neediness, of the emotional crutch she has by desiring such attention. However, her unearned narcissism and impolite behavior enables other characters to develop: Angela finds her a helpful companion as she breaks out of her shell, while Christos Theodorakis is delighted to talk to somebody who speaks to him in such a direct manner. The main development of her character isn't from inside herself, but from how others behave towards her: with rumors of her being a Westing heiress, she gets all the attention she needs and eventually marries her boss at the sausage factory.
Denton Deere is one of the rare characters who actually undergoes an epiphanic change, whose view of the world is transformed radically by his experience in the story. As a result of helping Christos Theodorakis improve his medical condition, Denton chooses to give up his internship as a plastic surgeon and instead becomes a neurologist. Implicit in this choice is a decision to not only pursue financial gain and value superficial appearances, but to help people and look beyond surfaces. This change is significant enough that he later wins over ex-fiancée Angela Wexler, marrying her after a five-year separation.
Some characters show themselves to be not much more than their single trait: Douglas Hoo is a champion athlete and remains simply that; Flora Baumbach is a grieving mother who finds a new surrogate daughter in Turtle Wexler, but we learn little else about her; George Theodorakis, father of Chris and Theo, functions solely as the childhood love of Violet Westing and coffee shop proprietor; even less is known about George's wife Catherine.
PLOT STRUCTURE ANALYSIS
The plot is built like any other traditional mystery: it gathers together the possible suspects and detectives, gives them a puzzle to solve, and provides a regular flow of new information that keeps readers guessing about the truth. However, as a cozy mystery it also focuses on characters for whom readers quickly build empathy. Thus, the story does not end when the mystery is solved; rather, the three last chapters give readers a chance to see how these characters turn out, to find out which ones lived happily and what else happened to them in the next twenty years.
With this in mind, there are three major kinds of plot threads in the novel, all dependent on the relationship between characters albeit in different ways.
The first major plot thread is the solving of the Westing game, as various pairs of heirs do their best to find the right answer and win the inheritance. Much of it involves the interpretation of their clues, and readers are in the same position as the heirs as all the clues aren't gathered until the story's climax - this because the first pair of heirs, Jake Wexler and Sun Lin Hoo, were absent at the first meeting of the Westing heirs and receive their clues at the second meeting. Thus, even if readers quickly intuit that the clues all tie into the song "America the Beautiful" they cannot know the significance of this until the last pieces of the puzzle are in place. Further, the fact that "Amber" is in the song helps place suspicion on Otis Amber, a useful red herring (that is, false clue) to divert the attention of readers. This first major plot thread also forces characters to interact who otherwise would not do so, either as heirs who are paired together or as fellow players who hold valuable information.
The second major plot thread is the unraveling of Sam Westing's past and his relation to the various Westing heirs. This is pursued primarily by Judge Josie-Jo Ford and her partner, Sandy McSouthers - who is really Sam Westing, and thus helps guide the conclusions that Judge Ford reaches from her research. Through this second plot thread, readers understand the motivation for Sam Westing's will and have a hint of his true intent. The tragedy of Violet Westing's suicide and the various connections the heirs have to the Westing family help to build the theme of family, as well as make Sam Westing a more sympathetic character.
The third major plot thread is actually a weave of subplots in the form of significant relationships between different combinations of Westing heirs, all of which serve to build the themes of the novel and the character development. It is a complex weave, as each character has ties to several other characters but is different from the weave of any other character. In that sense, the dynamic of these relationships accurately mirrors real life. For example, Angela Wexler is engaged to Denton Deere and trying to please her mother Grace Wexler, wishes to comfort her sister Turtle Wexler, is estranged from her father Jake Wexler, may develop a romance with Theo Theodorakis, is watched over by Berthe Erica Crow, and forms a close friendship with Sydelle Pulaski. Compare this to the weave of relationships built by Turtle Wexler: sister of Angela, ignored by parents Grace and Jake, friend of Sandy McSouthers, finds a substitute mother in Flora Baumbach, and has a mild enmity to the high school boys Theo Theodorakis and Douglas Hoo (who were crucial in the bet that led to her visiting the Westing house on Halloween night). With such a large cast, the network of connections and relationships grows highly complex but is easily tracked by the reader due to memorable traits and quirks for each character. This is not only a great source of pleasure and amusement for readers, but also helps to emphasize the theme of familial networks and the Sunset Towers community as an extended family.
THEMES - THEME ANALYSIS
As a cozy mystery which is dependent on strong characterization and a constantly shifting plot, the themes of the novel develop in conjunction with the revelations of the Westing game. That is, the solving of the mystery ties into and defines the themes: the more we know about the secret of Sam Westing and his heirs, the deeper our appreciation for the larger ideas at work in the novel.
The theme of information and how it is interpreted is at the heart of any mystery novel, and that is no different here. However, as a game where the different mystery solvers make illogical and sometimes wacky leaps in deduction, the emphasis of the Westing game itself is as much on the interpretations as in the information it tries to unearth. Each of the pairs of Westing heirs treat their clues in a different manner and come to radically different conclusions, many depending on wordplay of various kinds. However, none of the pairs come up with the right answer: all their interpretations, all the contortions of information to try to come up with the name of the heir who took Sam Westing's life, add up to nothing. It is only when the heirs pool all their clues and look for the absence of information - that is, the missing words - do they come up with the answer expected of them... however, even that answer, Berthe Erica Crow, isn't the real solution to the Westing game, as only Turtle Wexler discovers.
Because people are complex and its the quirks of people that are the heart of this novel, there is always more information that can be mined, as well as new ways of looking at information and understanding it. Turtle Wexler is the only one to see this after everyone else has abandoned the game: even after the Westing game ends for everyone else, she continues to look for an answer to a question she isn't sure about. When she discovers the true challenge - finding the fourth - she is able to solve the mystery and become the inheritor of the Westing fortune.
The theme of identity is of course tied intimately to the actual character development of the large cast (see above) but also manifests thematically in the use of masquerades and the way people present themselves - both to other people and to themselves.
Masquerades are not only a way that individuals present themselves to other people, it's a way that individuals better learn to understand themselves. It is a means to try out new roles, to allow new expressions of one's identity, and a way to help others as well. The obvious masquerader is Sam Westing himself, who was born Sam Windkloppel and assumes four identities: Sam Westing, Barney Northrup, Sandy McSouthers, and Julian R. Eastman. Each seems to involve different personalities: Westing is the entrepreneur immigrant, Northrup the dealmaker who makes sure Westing's plans are enacted, McSouthers the well-loved doorman, and Eastman the polished corporate head. In a sense, they are all aspects of who Sam Windkloppel has become, though readers of the novel will see him as "really" being Sam Westing or Sandy McSouthers. Each is, in a sense, an expression of who Sam Windkloppel truly is, or of what he wants to be to others.
Others also have significant double lives they lead: Angela Wexler the bomber, Jake Wexler the bookie, and Sun Lin Hoo the thief. Each have their own reasons for being these things, and it's worth noting that each resolves those reasons to leave behind that identity. Legally, all three are criminals - but since their actions take place within the family (at least for Angela and Madame Hoo) - these transgressions are forgiven and the identities dropped with little consequence.
The theme of masquerade persists until the end of the novel with two characters: Turtle Wexler and Julian Eastman, Sam Windkloppel's last disguise. Turtle pretends to be something she is not: a loser of the Westing game, like all the other heirs. She never reveals Julian Eastman's identity, not even to those closest to her. Equally significant, Turtle seems to keep the secret that Angela Wexler is the Sunset Towers bomber. She does this to spare her mother Grace grief, and in a way this helps bond family in a healthier manner.
The theme of family plays out initially with the major families of Sunset Towers: the Wexlers, the Hoos, the Theodorakis. Each of them suffer from a different problem, perhaps reflecting Tolstoy's aphorism that "All happy families are the same, but every unhappy families is unhappy in its own way." The other major way family is understood thematically in the novel is the extended family of the Westing heirs. It's easiest to understand the theme as the larger family - the collection of heirs Sam Westing has gathered for himself - as not only helping create a new bond between these people, but also to help the three nuclear families to become better families in their own right.
The Wexler families are the most clearly dysfunctional: mother Grace is a social climber, father Jake is a bookie, older daughter Angela wishes to please her mother so much that she's willing to marry unhappily, and younger daughter Turtle is so angry that her shin-kicking is legendary at Sunset Towers. The Westing game allows the Wexler family to bond with people outside their family as partners: Grace with James Hoo, Jake with Sun Lin Hoo, Angela with Sydelle Pulaski, Turtle with Flora Baumbach. Each provides the means by which the Wexlers find themselves individually, and in doing so become a stronger family (and for the daughters to start their own families by the end of the novel). The Hoos are more subtle in their problems: James Hoo is filled with anger at being cheated by Sam Westing years ago, his second wife Sun Lin Hoo wishes to return to China, and Douglas, James' son from his first marriage, is intent on his athletics. The Theodorakis family is troubled by the debilitating neurological disease of younger son Christos, which not only damages him physically but keeps the family from affording a college education for older son Theo. Through the Westing game they receive help from Denton Deere, who helps Chris medically (and in doing so makes Theo's college education possible again), and Judge Ford, who befriends Chris and provides financial assistance for his education.
There are also characters who are without a family at the start of the novel. Of these characters, there are those who lost the families they created - Berthe Erica Crow and Flora Baumbach - and those who never started a family - Sydelle Pulaski, Judge Josie-Jo Ford, Denton Deere, and Otis Amber. At the end of the novel, they have all established familial bonds of some sort: Crow marries Otis and "adopts" Angela Wexler, Denton marries Angela, Sydelle marries her boss, Flora becomes a surrogate mother for Turtle, and Judge Ford develops close ties to Christos Theodorakis.
It is significant that the one person who has a family of his own but which we never see is Sandy McSouthers, who speaks of his wife and children to Judge Ford and Turtle Wexler. Since he is actually Sam Westing, we find that everyone in Sunset Towers is his family, and being the doorman of this residence symbolically reflects how he decides who is an heir as well as guiding how they live their lives.
During the second reading of the will, Chris Theodorakis observes that all the heirs were paired with the perfect partner, and that indeed seems to be the case. By the end of the novel, the larger extended family of the Westing heirs have bonded and become close in an unexpected fashion. This strong familial bond is reinforced by the various marriages among the heirs: Otis and Crow, Denton and Angela, Theo and Turtle. Along that line, we also read of two events where the Westing heirs behave as a family, both celebrations: the wedding of Otis and Crow, and the triumphant homecoming of Olympic medalist Douglas Hoo.
Thus, this notion of family is the most dynamic theme in the novel: at the first reading of Sam Westing's will, it seems that his reference to the heirs as his "nieces and nephews" was metaphorical and not literal. By the climax of the novel, the metaphor of the Westing heirs as an extended family is revealed as more of a reality than anyone suspected: Sandy McSouthers is actually Sam Westing, Berthe Erica Crow is his ex-wife, and Grace Windkloppel Wexler is his actual niece. Along with the other Wexlers, that means six of the sixteen heirs are actual members of the Westing family. Further, the marriages of Otis Amber to Crow, Denton Deere to Angela Wexler, and Theo Theodorakis to Turtle Wexler further extends the family tree among the sixteen heirs, as does the "adoption" of Flora Baumbach by Turtle as a maternal figure in her life as well as a similar role Judge Ford plays for Christos Theodorakis, Turtle's brother-in-law.
The minor theme of games develops more as a motif for the major themes but develops as the nature of the Westing game changes for the heirs. If anything, the message that is gained from the theme of games is that one must be aware of all the rules before one can win at a game. Nobody knew all the rules to the Westing game, especially not the crucial entreaty that the heirs must "find the Fourth" - precisely because Sam Westing as Sandy McSouthers made it difficult for the heirs to realize this rule, yelling a joke at the proper moment. In a very real sense, this is the game that moves as you play, and Turtle Wexler is the only one mentally nimble and observant enough to realize that. Further, the game of chess becomes a kind of legacy that is passed on from generation to generation: Sam Westing passes it on to two generations, first Josie-Jo Ford and then Turtle Wexler; then Turtle as an adult passes it on to her niece Alice. It is not only the passing along of the game itself but also the intelligence and mental acuity that made these characters central figures in the novel.
The theme of work and education is described in detail for each character in Character Analysis, so it will suffice to say that the novel begins with many characters who are unhappy with their work situation and wish to change it. The Westing game and its aftermath result in changes that help steer most of these characters into new jobs and happier lives. For the younger characters, education is opened to them in various ways: the difficulties of paying for a college education are solved by the Westing game and its aftermath, so that Theo Theodorakis and Angela Wexler both go to college to pursue their respective ambitions of writer and doctor. Further, the other young characters - Douglas Hoo, Chris Theodorakis, and Turtle Wexler - all attend colleges and prosper from their experiences. In a sense, these young heirs are the next generation, an expansion of the educational boon that Sam Westing gave to Josie-Jo Ford many years earlier (and which Judge Ford continues in her payment of Chris Theodorakis' college education).
The theme of patriotism and the American dream is clearest in the success of Sam Westing, but his game also allows his various heirs to succeed as well. Patriotism is often played with in a light manner - the Uncle Sam costume and the use of "America, the Beautiful" being the prime examples. Underlying these obvious gestures is the notion of America as a land of opportunity. Ironically, the one other immigrant in the novel besides Sam Westing is Madame Sun Lin Hoo: she initially feels confined by her role in America, but as a result of the Westing game achieves happiness and becomes a prosperous American success story in her own right. America as a land of opportunity of course applies equally to those born in this country, and the closing chapters shows how many of the characters prospered through their work.
Last, the minor theme of the unexpected directions of life is seen in the constant shifting of the mystery plot, as one revelation after another makes readers re-assess what happened to Sam Westing in the past and what his intentions are in the present day. The last three chapters, which cover the twenty years after the Westing game, shows how some of the expectations created by the book aren't what happens after all. Most significant are the marriages of the Wexler girls. Both marriages shows how people often change and make decisions based on those changes, and that sometimes only time can reveal what those changes have wrought.
AUTHOR'S STYLE
In the tradition of cozy mysteries, the style of The Westing Game is light in tone, jaunty, with a sharp authorial eye on the quirks of its characters. It creates a sense of suspense and thrill, but it does not make readers too anxious or threaten to upset them. Thus it is a highly accessible, reader-friendly style, and one well-suited for young readers who want a story with a fast-paced plot and memorable characterization.
Narrating in the third person voice, the author plays with the reader and is selective in what she reveals: for example, the placing of the bomb at Shin Hoo's Restaurant is described, but not the person doing so. This maintains the suspense that a mystery novel requires while also building anticipation for the reader. Thus, one of the more interesting aspects of Raskin's writing style is the manner by which information is sometimes dropped casually to the reader, demanding greater attention in all the details described. For example, readers suddenly discover Madame Sun Lin Hoo is the thief of Sunset Towers with little build-up leading to this revelation; similarly, we learn of Jake Wexler's bookmaking sideline in an offhand manner. This downplays the importance of these revelations so that readers can continue to focus on the main mystery, but it also has the effect of making the reader more alert, to seek hidden meanings in passages that may otherwise seem free of secrets.
There is a great amount of wordplay in the novel, taking words and finding meanings that are unexpected. There are various puns in the novel, such as the renaming of James Hoo's restaurant into the sports-themed Hoo's on First. The way the Westing heirs interpret their clues often involves an elaborate jump in logic, such as the chemical formula that Theo Theodorakis devises and the way Chris Theodorakis divines the "Ford" and "4D" from his clues. To be fair, Raskin includes incidents of straightforward interpretations of words and clues: James Hoo protests Grace's elaborate misreading of the clues they receive, as well as expressing doubts on the new restaurant name being confusing to customers. Many heirs take to heart the suggestion in the will to buy Westing Paper Products, with Turtle Wexler taking it further and thinking the heirs are being instructed to invest in Westing Paper stock. Of course, all this wordplay ties into the theme of information and how it is interpreted.
By its very nature The Westing Game rewards at least one re-reading of the book. The first time the book is read, much will be lost to the reader simply because the significance of the information is not immediately apparent: this not only includes plot points about the mysteries in the novel, but also issues of characterization and developing relationships between the different players. Upon a second reading, the expectations shift and readers know what is important and what relates to other aspects of the novel.
IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS - QUOTES AND ANALYSIS
The Westing Game is full of puzzles waiting to be solved, including the opening paragraphs:
The sun sets in the west (just about everyone know that), but Sunset towers faced east. Strange!
Sunset Towers faced east and had no towers. This glittery, glassy apartment house stood alone on the Lake Michigan shore five stories high. Five empty stories high. (1)
Immediately, the importance of a sense of direction is reinforced by the contradiction between name and fact, a pattern that would repeat itself throughout the novel. Thus, even the building where the heirs live is a part of the overall mystery, a symbol of all that follows.
Further, the building faces away from the west - that is, Sam Westing and the past - and faces east - that is, Julian Eastman and the future of the Westing fortune.
Grace stood before the front window where, beyond the road, beyond the trees, Lake Michigan lay calm and glistening. A lake view! Just wait until those so-called friends of hers with their classy houses see this place. The furniture would have to be reupholstered; no, she'd buy new furniture - beige velvet. And she'd have stationery made - blue with deckle edge, her name and fancy address in swirling type across the top: Grace Windsor Wexler, Sunset Towers on the Lake Shore. (3-4)
This internal monologue shows how Grace Wexler values the opinions of her desired social peers, but also resents that her own lifestyle doesn't match theirs. These aren't friends but "so-called friends" and she relies on surface appearances and a fake maiden name to impress them, as seen by her imagined stationery.
With the tenants confirmed, the narrator asks rhetorically,
Who were these people, these specially selected tenants? They were mothers and fathers and children. A dressmaker, a secretary, an inventor, a doctor, a judge. And, oh yes, one was a bookie, one was a burglar, one was a bomber, and one was a mistake. Barney Northrup had rented one of the apartments to the wrong person. (5)
The question posed by the omniscient narrator is playful and reinforces the themes of the novel. First to be listed are the roles of family, next are the roles based on jobs. Then the interesting identities are listed: the ones based on criminal activity and hidden identities, then the "mistake" which changes the nature of the game. True to the cozy mystery, there is a slight hint of triumph in the last sentence, a sense of an impartial observer relishing in the mistakes of the subjects being observed.
The story of Sam Westing dead on an Oriental rug is explained in the following manner by Otis Amber:
"Nobody's seen him for years. Supposed to be living on a private island in the South Seas, he is; but most folks say he's dead. Long-gone dead. They say his corpse is still up there in that big old house. They say his body is sprawled out on a fancy Oriental rug, and his flesh is rotting off those mean bones, and maggots are creeping in his eye sockets and crawling out his nose holes." The delivery boy added a high-pitched he-he-he to the gruesome details. (6-7)
The story of Sam Westing as recited by Otis has several functions. First, it gives a sense of how legendary Sam Westing has become in his decision to become a recluse. Second, it provides what readers may assume is a sliver of truth: that Westing had been living on an island far away but has returned to Westingtown to settle business. Third, it provides the right mood for Halloween and the ironic sense of exaggerated menace throughout the novel. Fourth, it foreshadows an important scene much later in the book: Sam Westing - in the guise of Sandy McSouthers - sprawled out on the Oriental rug in his house, apparently dying.
Sam Westing's will begins with a statement that seems melodramatic but turns out to be factually correct, showing the difficulties in interpreting any sort of information in the novel:
FIRST I returned to live among my friends and my enemies. I came home to seek my heir, aware that in doing so I faced death. And so I did. (28)
Westing did indeed live among friends and enemies literally, as the doorman Sandy McSouthers. He did face his death, but not a real death: rather, he allowed his identity of Sam Westing to "die" in order to further the Westing game and find his heir.
Sandy tries to be as genial to Judge Josie-Jo Ford as possible, but there is some tension when they are paired together as Westing heirs in the game:
The judge did not return the chip-toothed smile. Doorman, he calls himself, and the others had signed simple things, too: cook, dressmaker. The podiatrist had even made fun of his "position." She must seem as pompous as that intern, putting on airs with that title. Well, she had worked hard to get where she was, why shouldn't she be proud of it? She was no token; her record was faultless. ... Watch it, Josie-Jo. Westing's getting to you already and the game has barely begun. (34)
Judge Ford is aware of the pretentious appearance of the job title she gave under "position" when she signed for her letter. However, she is also very proud of actually earning her place in the courts, pointing out "she was no token". Ironically, her closing warning about Westing getting to her is actually true at the very beginning of the passage as well - after all, Sandy McSouthers and his simple job title was what set her along this line of thinking in the first place.
Other pairs also face tensions of their own, most notably Angela Wexler when she finds she is paired with the gaudy Sydelle Pulaski:
Angela stepped tentatively behind the secretary, not knowing whether to ignore her disability or take her arm. At least her crippled partner could not be the murderer, but it was embarrassing being paired with such a... no, she couldn't feel that way. It was her mother who was upset (she could feel the indignant anger without having to look at Grace); her perfect daughter was paired with a freak. (35)
This is the first real stirring of rebellion on Angela's part, a desire to not listen to her mother and not be as judgmental about surface appearances. There are two threads of thought here: the voice that represents her mother's disapproval of Sydelle, and the resistance to that voice. Any actual opinion of Angela may have about Sydelle isn't expressed, further emphasizing the conflict between pleasing Grace Wexler and resisting Grace's influence. Angela spends so much time concerned whether she is pleasing or displeasing her mother that she doesn't really understand herself.
The importance of identity and self-awareness is emphasized in Sam Westing's will, as it instructs,
ELEVENTH Senseless, you say? Death is senseless yet makes ways for the living. Life, too, is senseless unless you know who you are, what you want, and which way the wind blows. (38-39)
The expected theme of a legacy - death making way for the living - is expressed, but within the flowery language of the last sentence we also have an important clue about the nature of the Westing game. The heirs must not only know who they are and what they want, but the way the wind blows - that is, the directions on the compass - will also expose who Sam Westing is. Also notice the tone of this passage: seeking to give advice, but arrogant and superior in doing so. It is very much what Sam Westing was like, for those who knew him.
Given their clues, the heirs begin to work with the words and engage in outrageous acts of wordplay to find a suitable answer. One such example is the following from Christos Theodorakis:
FORD PLAIN GRAIN SHED
Grain = oats = Otis Amber. For + d (from shed) = Ford. But neither the delivery boy nor the judge limped, and he still hadn't figured out she or plain. (42)
Words are chopped up and placed together, given meanings that require leaps of logic - parodied in the use of mathematical equations here - to try to determine an answer. However, that still leaves open unanswered questions, such as what has to be done with the words SHE and PLAIN once the answers FORD and OTIS AMBER are reached. Similarly, the team of Grace Wexler and James Hoo have their own troubles:
"Look! Grace pointed to the clues.
FRUITED PURPLE WAVES FOR SEA
"For sea! The murderer lives in apartment 4c!"
"I live in 4c," Hoo barked. "If Sam Westing wanted to say 4c he would have written number 4, letter C. S-e-a means sea, like what a turtle swims in." (44)
Grace is prone to make her own deductive leaps, showing a level of imagination that Hoo lacks. However, Hoo is correct in berating her about being too fanciful, though his own desire to keep the clues literal and factual bear no answers of their own. Ironically, all the heirs are too intent on looking at their clue that they too often ignore the advice that what they must look for are absences, what they don't have as opposed to what they have.
Such deception is obvious to Judge Ford, however, who has her suspicions about the nature of the Westing game:
The game: a tricky, divisive Westing game. No matter how much fear and suspicion he instilled in the players, Sam Westing knew that greed would keep them playing the game. Until the "murderer" was captured. And punished.
Sam Westing was not murdered, but one of his heirs was guilty - guilty of some offense against a relentless man. And that heir was in danger. From his grave Westing would stalk his enemy, and through his heirs he would wreak his revenge. (47-48)
Judge Ford's experience with Sam Westing convinces her that the game is an elaborate charade and that the heir that will be singled out isn't the one who took his life but the person upon whom Sam Westing wishes to exact revenge. The detailed description of Westing places him in a negative light, emphasizing a twisted sense of justice in the phrase that the heir is "guilty of some offense against a relentless man" - which isn't true guilt at all, but an act of vengeance on Sam Westing's part. This is an especially apt image, given Judge Ford's dedication to law. Further, the use of words such as "stalk" and "wreak" highlight the damage that Sam Westing is capable of committing on his victims.
There are others who are tormenting the tenants of Sunset Towers besides Sam Westing, most notably the bomber. After the first two bomb incidents, the events leading up to the third bomb begin with this description:
"Boom!"
Grace Wexler slammed the door on the delivery boy's silly face and returned to her party with a pink-ribboned gift. The gossiping guests were sipping jasmine tea from Westing Paper Party Cups, nibbling on tidbits from Westing Paper Party Plates, and wiping their fingers on Westing Paper Party Napkins. Madame Hoo served in a tight-fitting silk gown slit high up her thigh, a costume as old-fashioned and impractical as bound feet. Women in China wore blouses and pants and jackets. That's what she would wear when she got home. (94)
The opening exclamation by Otis Amber makes fun of the paranoia that the tenants are suffering as well as reinforces Otis' disguise as an idiot delivery boy. However, it also foreshadows the bomb that will go off in a matter of minute. The ridiculous nature of the party is highlighted by the use of paper goods, emphasized by using the full name of each paper product and showing that Grace Wexler has bought literally into the admonition of the will to buy Westing Paper Products. Madame Hoo's costume is described in detail, showing how she is playing a role that does not come naturally to her, despite the assumptions of others that a cheongsam is something women in China wear on a regular basis. And of course, the party itself is devoted to another woman forced to behave in a way that she doesn't want to: Angela Wexler, the reluctant fiancée who is responsible for the real Boom that will soon occur.
Yet another example of the outrageous interpretations the heirs place on their clues is committed by Theo Theodorakis:
By changing for and thee to the numbers four and three, Theo was able to arrange the clues into a formula (whether or not it was a chemical solution, let alone the Westing solution, was another matter).
N H(IS) FOR NO THEE (TO) = NH4NO3
But four clue letters were left out: isto, osit, itso, otis OTIS! He had it: a formula for an explosive, and the name of the murderer! He had to tell Doug. (102)
No longer limited to wordplay, there is now the search for a chemical formula, with the remaining words leading again to Otis Amber.
The interactions of the different players in the game lead to some interesting character portraits. Below, Christos Theodorakis meets Flora Baumbach and makes the following observations about her:
Then Flora Baumbach came to see him. He wasn't nervous at all with that nice lady. She smiles that funny smile because she's sad inside. She once had a daughter named Rosalie. She told him how Rosalie would sit in the shop and say hello to the customers, and how she would feel the fabrics. Mrs. Baumbach made wedding dresses, which are mostly white, so she bought samples of material with bright colors and patterns because Rosalie loved colors best. Rosalie had 573 different swatches in her collection before she died. Mrs. Baumbach said her daughter might have been an artist if things had turned out differently. (110)
In the small details, the quiet tragedy of Flora's life is revealed: the constant mention of Rosalie, the description of her wedding dress business, and the lament of what Rosalie could have been "if things had turned out differently". This also shows a sensitivity on the part of Christos, who is one of the sharper observers in the story.
Similarly, Theo's father George tells his story to Judge Ford and in doing so reveals aspects of himself as well as of the Westing family:
The subject was becoming painful, and Mr. Theodorakis faltered several times in the telling. "Mrs. Westing handpicked that politician - probably figured the guy would end up in the White House and her daughter would be First Lady. But Violet thought he was nothing but a cheap political hack, a cheap crook. Violet was a gentle person, an only child. She couldn't turn against her mother, she couldn't face marrying that guy. ... I guess she couldn't find any way out, except... Mrs. Westing sort of went off her rocker after Violet's death, and I... well, it was a long time ago." (120-121)
The descriptions of Violet - a "gentle person" who "couldn't turn against her mother, she couldn't face marrying that guy" immediately reminds the reader of Angela Wexler's own dilemma. The remark that Mrs. Westing "sort of went off her rocker" is an early clue to Crow, who suffered a bout with alcoholism before finding religion and opening a soup kitchen.
Judge Ford finds other surprises in her conversations with the tenants of Sunset Towers, not all of them related to the Westing game. When she speaks to Turtle Wexler about the bombing, she finds herself surprised when Turtle vehemently denies the real bomber is Angela:
The judge was astounded by the excited response. Angela could not be the bomber, not that sweet, pretty thing. Thing? Is that how she regarded that young woman, as a thing? And what had she ever said to her except 'I hear you're getting married, Angela' or 'How pretty you look, Angela.' Had anyone asked her ideas, her hopes, her plans? If I had been treated like that I'd have used dynamite, not fireworks; no, I would have just walked out and kept right on going. But Angela was different. "What a senseless thing to do," the judge said aloud. (128)
Judge Ford goes through a complex set of realizations. First she must deal with the fact that Angela may indeed be the bomber, then contrast that with what she thinks Angela is like. However, she realizes that how she sees Angela - how most everyone in Sunset Towers sees Angela - is precisely the reason why she would act out in such a violent manner as the bomber. This chain of reasoning exemplifies the complex relationships and motives at the heart of the novel, and of the way it rewards re-reading by constantly shifting reader expectations.
Judge Ford also comes to another important insight when she looks over her files on Sam Westing:
Stooping to gather the dropped clippings, she was confronted by the face of Sam Westing. The photograph had been taken fifteen years ago. Those piercing eyes, the Vandyke beard, that short beaked nose (like a turtle's). The wax dummy in the coffin had been molded in the former image of Sam Westing as he had looked fifteen years ago - not as he looked now. She searched the folder. No recent photographs, no hospital records, no death certificate, just the accident report from the state highway police: Dr. Sidney Sikes suffered a crushed leg and Samuel W. Westing had severe facial injuries. Facial injuries! It was the face that had disappeared fifteen years ago, not the man. Westing had a different face, a face remodeled by plastic surgery. A different face and a different name. (136)
In a way, this follows Sam Westing's advice to his heirs to consider what they don't have as opposed to what they have. That is, the absence of any photos of Sam Westing after his accident is itself an important clue, exposing the wax dummy that looked like the pre-accident Sam Westing as a hoax and putting Judge Ford on alert to find Sam Westing in a new disguise.
Knowing she must save one of the heirs, not accuse one of them, Judge Ford makes an appeal for Berthe Erica Crow when the heirs discover she is the apparent answer to the Westing game:
"Can we accuse an innocent woman of a murder that has never been proved? Crow is our neighbor and our helper. Can we condemn her to a life imprisonment just to satisfy our own greed? For money promised in an improbable and illegal will? If so, we are guilty of a far greater crime than the accused. Berthe Erica Crow's only crime is that her name appears in a song. Our crime would be selling - yes, I said selling, selling for profit - the life of an innocent, helpless human being." (151)
Aside from Sam Westing's seemingly fatuous claim that all the heirs are his nephews and nieces, this is the other significant reference to the Westing heirs as a kind of extended family, a community that must rely on each other - not for profit, but out of a deeper kind of bond. It is also significant that Judge Ford, who is African American, makes the appeal against the selling of a human for profit, as it carries the subtext of slavery. On a more personal note for Judge Ford, her parents were servants for Sam Westing and she feels indebted to him for the education that led to her becoming a justice.
The role of detective in the novel shifts from Judge Ford to Turtle Wexler after the Westing game seems to end for everyone else. We see this happen when Turtle begins to accumulate the discrepancies about her friend Sandy McSouthers after his death:
Turtle almost smiled. That Theo thinks he's so smart; well, Sandy showed him, Sandy beat him at chess. But Sandy didn't play chess. And she never kicked him either. Bucktoothed Barney Northrup was the one she kicked, not Sandy. But Sandy had the sore shin. Bucktoothed, chip-toothed, the crooked false teeth in the dentist's office (Sandy's dentist). "Cheer up, my friend, the game's not over. You still can win. I hope you do." Those were the last words Sandy said to her. He winked when he said that. Winked! One eye winked! Dead Sandy had winked at her!
Sandy had winked! (156)
The list of clues are linked together for the reader's ease, but also to show the chain of reasoning as it slowly dawns on Turtle. Finally she puts together the wink when Sandy encourages her to the last twitch of his eye as he "died" - this convinces her that the game is not yet over and has her search for the rest of the clues and hold a mock trial with the remaining heirs. As the mock trial in Judge Ford's apartment begins, readers are given this perspective:
Judge Ford rapped for silence with the walnut gavel presented to her by associates on her appointment to a higher court. Higher court? This was the lowest court she had ever presided at: a thirteen-year-old lawyer, a court stenographer who records in Polish, and the judge in African robes. Oh well, she had played Sam Westing's game, now she would play Turtle's game. The similarity was astounding; Turtle not only looked like her Uncle Sam, she acted like him. (159)
While Judge Ford thinks the court looks ridiculous, it is actually an affirmation of America as a land of opportunity: the ethnicities of the judge and Sydelle Pulaski are asserted in unexpected ways and young Turtle stands as proof of how a person can achieve anything if she sets her mind to it. Finally, the resemblance between Turtle Wexler and Sam Westing is noted by Judge Ford, paving the way for readers to not only accept the actual familial relationship - Sam Westing is the grand-uncle of Turtle Wexler - but also Turtle's right to the inheritance as both his physical and mental heir, the one who most embodies the man. As the trial comes to a head, Turtle proves her worth as Sam Westing's heir when she finally discovers the most important clue in the will.
Turtle was searching the will.
The estate is at the crossroads. The heir who wins the
windfall will be the one who finds the
FOURTH.
That's it, that has to be it: The heir who wins the windfall will be the one who finds the fourth! Windy Windkloppel took four names, and she knew who the fourth one was! (169)
Readers now realize that they were misdirected, as were the heirs, at the reading of the will at the first meeting at the Westing house. Along with Wexler, they now know the truth and are able to piece together who the fourth could be.
In the aftermath of the Westing game, we find this poignant description of Angela Wexler:
A narrow scar remained, and would always remain, on Angela's cheek. It was slightly raised, and she had developed a habit of running her fingers along it as she pored over her books. Enrolled in college again, she lived at home to save money for the years of medical school ahead. (176)
Notice how the second sentence provides a fluid transition from the cheek to the change in her life, including a broken engagement with Denton Deere and a return to college. In this way, the symbolic nature of the scar is not only a reminder of the questionable acts she performed as the bomber, but also the price she willingly pays to gain her independence and follow the path she wishes to follow, instead of the dictates of her mother and fiancé. She has let go of her beauty - which is superficial, as it is marred only by a "narrow scar" - for something far more important.
The actual death of Sam Windkloppel as Julian Eastman, twenty years after the Westing game, includes the following exchange:
"Turtle?"
"I'm right here, Sandy." She took his hand.
"Turtle, tell Crow to pray for me."
His hands turned cold, not smooth, not waxy, just very, very cold.
Turtle turned to the window. The sun was rising out of Lake Michigan. It was tomorrow. It was the Fourth of July. (182)
This date and the request to Crow are both significant. Sandy McSouthers / Sam Westing was thought to have died on November fifteenth, his wife's birthday. However, he called it the Fourth of July because of the fireworks he prepared that destroyed the Westing house. Further, the reference to the sun rising is a reminder of where the game first started, at Sunset Towers. In an odd inversion of meaning, a sunset symbolizes a beginning, while this sunrise represents an end. The novel closes with this passage:
Veiled in black, she hurried from the funeral services. It was Saturday and she had an important engagement. Angela brought her daughter, Alice, to the Wexler-Theodorakis mansion to spend Saturday afternoons with her aunt.
There she was, waiting for her in the library. Baba had tied red ribbons in the one long ponytail down her back.
"Hi there, Alice," T.R. Wexler said. "Ready for a game of chess?" (182)
The cycle of life continues with another invitation to a game, in the same way that the story's opening gambit - the invitation to move into Sunset Towers - initiated the events that would lead to the Westing game of the will. The name Alice, which Turtle once assumed, is now the real name of her niece; like Turtle as a child, Flora "Baba" Baumbach takes care of Alice's hair; and as with Julian Eastman and T.R. Wexler, the game takes place in the library, a place that values learning and knowledge. Thus, the next Westing heir seems to have already been chosen.
SYMBOLISM / MOTIFS / IMAGERY / SYMBOLS
The primary motif of the novel is the game of Sam Westing's will. This can be broken down into two parts: the will itself and the game it sets in motion.
The motif of the will ties into the sense of inheritance, of being able to pass along one's legacy to others. In that sense, the Westing game succeeds: an heir is indeed chosen when Turtle Wexler solves the mystery and tracks down Julian Eastman. The will not only stands as a set of clues to the game, but also as a statement by Sam Westing to people he's wronged or neglected. In that sense, the will is an embodiment of regret, a desire to right previous wrongs and to erase the bad history from the past to pave a way for the future. In this way, it defies death and asserts control over one's legacy and those who earn that legacy. As a player and manipulator in the game, Sam Westing does exactly these things throughout the course of the novel, though he only pretends to die - twice - in order to do so.
A game has certain characteristics: it is a challenge placed on the players, there are a set of rules that must be followed, and the goal is to win. All of this is indeed imposed on the Westing heirs, though the goal of winning is left nebulous by Sam Westing on purpose, tying into the theme of interpretation and the many ways it can take place. The notion of a game also lightens the mood of the story, keeps the violent threats - of a murderer and then a bomber - from making the novel too threatening. Indeed, several of the Westing heirs don't believe that Sam Westing was murdered and some simply don't treat the game seriously at all.
Other games are also played in the course of the novel: the mystery begins with a dare that Turtle Wexler accepts to stay in the Westing house, while Douglas Hoo's pursuit of Otis Amber is treated by Otis like a game of tag. The most important game outside of the will is chess, a game that takes great intellectual effort and a keen sense of strategy. Quite tellingly, all the heirs play chess in the novel do so against a different disguise of Sam Windkloppel: young Josie-Jo Ford plays the game against Sam Westing, Chris Theodorakis plays unwittingly against Sandy McSouthers, and Turtle Wexler plays against Julian Eastman. Finally, this tradition is passed along - as does the rest of Westing's inheritance - to a grown-up Turtle, who plays chess with her niece Alice.
A related symbol is the building Sunset Towers: like the will, it is constructed by Sam Westing to gather together his family. Also like the will, it is confounding in how it's constructed, as the opening paragraph points out that Sunset Towers does not face the sunset. By its nature, the building is a communal space, but this sense of community is heightened as a result of the Westing game. Partnered heirs spend time in each other's apartments as well as visiting other heirs; people start posting notes on the back door of the elevator as a makeshift bulletin board; during the blizzard after the first reading of the will people leave their apartment doors unlocked; the eateries on the ground and top floor become a regular source of food for many of the tenants.
In contrast and contraposition to the newly built Sunset Towers is the Westing house which faces it. From the start, it is a bleak symbol: abandoned and uninhabited, then purposefully associated with a ghost story about a dead man, Sam Westing's corpse on the Oriental rug. Where the Sunset Towers represents new life and the bringing together of Westing's "niece and nieces", the Westing house represents the tragic past that Sam Westing is trying to correct through his will and his game. Thus, the destruction of the Westing house at the end of the novel is also the act of letting go of the past in order to move forward.
Marriage is a minor motif of the novel, tied into the theme of family. Marriages are problematic at the beginning: the Wexlers and Hoos are unhappy in their unions, while Angela Wexler is getting married to Denton Deere to please her mother. Haunting the Wexler-Deere engagement is the specter of Violet Westing's tragic engagement, which resulted in her suicide; readers are told repeatedly that Angela Wexler bears a strong resemblance to Violet Westing, and that Theo Theodorakis bears a resemblance to his father George, who was Violet's true love. Thus, readers suspect that Theo and Angela will unite, a red herring about the past repeating itself. By the end of the novel, the Wexler and Hoo marriages have become happier, Angela willingly married Denton on her own terms, and there are several other happy marriages for the heirs. This includes the union of Theo Theodorakis and Turtle Wexler, who in solving the Westing game is the true heir to Sam Westing and the "new" Violet in Sam's affections. Thus, George's son Theo and Sam Westing's niece happily overcome the past tragedy of Violet Westing, though perhaps not completely as they decide not to have children.
The last important set of motifs are those which are used to help differentiate characters in the novel and help us understand their interests and motivations. These serve more as character traits or devices by which readers can gain a quick impression of the character and tell them apart more easily.
Sydelle Pulaski has her brightly painted crutches, initially not needed but used to gain attention from others; when she injures her ankle for real when the bomb goes off at Shin Hoo's Restaurant, the crutches symbolize a poetic justice in putting on such a facade. Chris Theodorakis is associated with birdwatching, indicating a heightened level of observation that is largely ignored by the people around him. Turtle Wexler has her braids and shin-kicking, respectively representing her childishness and a blunt desire to solve life's problems; tellingly, she loses her braids by the climax and the shin-kicking becomes a crucial clue in solving the Westing game. Angela Wexler has her embroidery and tapestry bag, busy work that stands in the place of what she can accomplish as a doctor - and thus, a Raskin-esque pun on the notion of "mending".
Berthe Erica Crow is associated with religious zeal, but this zeal also has a compassionate side seen in her soup kitchen work and her secret affection for Angela Wexler, who resembles her dead daughter Violet Westing. Sun Lin Hoo has her cooking and her tight Chinese dresses, representing the confinement she feels in her American life; both are abandoned when she becomes a business partner in selling husband James' paper innersoles. Douglas Hoo has his running and his medals, to remind readers of his athletic prowess. Otis Amber has his aviator's cap, which helps reinforce the idea that he's a simple-minded buffoon. When he reveals he is actually a private investigator in disguise, he removes his aviator's cap and idiotic demeanor at the same time.
IMPORTANT / KEY FACTS SUMMARYmportant / Key Facts Summary
Title: The Westing Game.
Author: Ellen Raskin.
Date Published: 1978.
Meaning of Title: The game that Sam Westing's heirs must play in order to win his inheritance.
Setting: The outskirts of fictional Westingtown, on Lake Michigan, in Milwaukee.
Genre: Mystery.
Protagonist: The sixteen Westing heirs, particularly Turtle Wexler and Judge Ford.
Antagonist: Sam "Windy" Windkloppel and his various guises of Sam Westing, Barney Northrup, Sandy McSouthers, and Julian Eastman.
Mood: Light, often humorous in its observation of character foibles.
Point of View: Third person.
Tense: Past tense.
Exposition: The majority of the future Westing heirs are invited to live in the newly built Sunset Towers, which is situated near the seemingly abandoned house of Sam Westing, owner of the Westing Paper company.
Rising Action: The sixteen heirs of Sam Westing's will are invited to play a game that will solve the mystery of which heir among them took Westing's life.
Climax: After all the heirs get their answer to the Westing game wrong, doorman Sandy McSouthers dies and Berthe Erica Crow hands herself in to the police for murdering Sam Westing. Through Turtle Wexler and Judge Ford, the other heirs find out Sandy was actually Sam Westing, Crow his long-estranged ex-wife, and that Westing died of a heart attack, thus freeing Crow of any blame.
Outcome: Turtle Wexler figures out the true game of Sam Westing's will and that he still is not dead but assumed the guise of Julian Eastman, Westing Paper's recently elected chairman.
Major Themes: Information and how it is interpreted, identity and how people define themselves, family.
Minor Themes: Games, work and education, the American dream, the unexpected directions in life.
STUDY QUESTIONS - MULTIPLE CHOICE QUIZ
1. Among the tenants of Sunset Towers, what is not true?
a. One of them was a thief.
b. One of them was a mistake.
c. One of them was married to Sam Westing.
d. One of them was a private investigator.
2. What pair goes up to the Westing house on Halloween night?
a. Turtle Wexler and Douglas Hoo.
b. Otis Amber and Berthe Erica Crow.
c. Sandy McSouthers and Theo Theodorakis.
d. Doctor Sikes and E.J. Plum.
3. Who is not named a Westing heir?
a. George Theodorakis.
b. Sun Lin Hoo.
c. Josie-Jo Ford.
d. Gracie Windkloppel.
4. Ultimately, what are the heirs supposed to find but didn't know about?
a. Who's on first.
b. The Fourth.
c. The three wise men.
d. None of the above.
5. Why can't Grace Windsor Wexler read Sydelle Pulaski's notes on the will?
a. It's in shorthand.
b. It's written backwards.
c. It's in Polish.
d. It's written in invisible ink.
6. For what reason does James Hoo protest renaming his restaurant Hoo's on First?
a. Grace is not his legal partner.
b. He's afraid people will mix it up with the coffee restaurant on the first floor.
c. He hates sports.
d. He hates Abbott & Costello.
7. Which older person develops a strong affinity for which younger person?
a. Flora Baumbach for Turtle Wexler.
b. Judge Ford for Chris Theodorakis.
c. Berthe Erica Crow for Angela Wexler.
d. All of the above.
8. How did Violet Westing die?
a. A debilitating disease.
b. She drowned herself.
c. She faked her death and is one of the Westing heirs.
d. She never really existed.
9. What is the fuse used for the various explosives in the novel?
a. Yarn from Angela Wexler's tapestry bag.
b. Striped candles from Turtle Wexler's time at summer camp.
c. Clocks stolen by Madame Hoo.
d. None of the above.
10. What is not an approach used by the Westing heirs to solve the game?
a. Trying out a chemical formula.
b. Investing in the stock market.
c. Hiring a private investigator.
d. Conducting a seance.
11. What song is the basis for the clues that the heirs receive?
a. "The Star Spangled Banner".
b. "America the Beautiful".
c. "Yankee Doodle Dandy".
d. "I Sing the Body Electric".
12. What does Judge Ford wear to the second reading of Sam Westing's will?
a. Her black judicial robes.
b. An Uncle Sam costume.
c. A flowing African style dress.
d. None of the above.
13. What move does Sandy McSouthers use to trick Theo Theodorakis during their chess game?
a. The queen's sacrifice.
b. The pawn's forfeit.
c. Sandy doesn't play chess.
d. None of the above.
14. What do Turtle Wexler and Sam Westing have in common?
a. They look like each other.
b. They are both related to Gracie Windkloppel.
c. They both keep the secret of Julian Eastman's real identity.
d. All of these are true.
15. When does Windy Windkloppel die?
a. Fifteen years before the events of the novel.
b. Halloween night.
c. At the second reading of Sam Westing's will.
d. Many years after the Westing game ends, on the Fourth of July.
BOOK REPORT TOPICS - ESSAY IDEAS
1.) Make an extended family tree illustrating the "family" of the Westing heirs and how they relate to each other. How does this tree change over the course of the novel? What relevant facts do we learn, how is that significant? What does this tell us about the nature of family?
2.) Examine how this novel works as a mystery. Begin with the idea that it's supposed to be a "whodunnit" but becomes something else entirely. Is it a satisfying mystery, does it fulfill the needs of mystery readers?
3.) Patriotism is important to Sam Westing, so what portrait of America emerges in miniature at Sunset Towers? What observations on class, race, religion work, and family emerge by looking at the story from the perspective of the Westing game as an American experience?
4.) Is there any way one can read this book in an unsympathetic light: that is, that it's about unlikable characters who "get what they deserve"? How does that change the way we understand the book and its themes?
5.) What does the "mistaken" element of the story - the wrong choice of tenant - change the nature of the game? Or does it change the game at all? Consider a possible scenario if this mistake wasn't made.
6.) The heirs hold different views on Sam Westing's intentions behind the Westing game. Examine those intentions and consider what it tells us about these characters, as well as the Westing game in general.
7.) How realistic is this novel? Or rather, what parts are necessarily unrealistic and which parts are more like the real world in contrast? What does this tell us about Raskin's intentions as a writer, about the kind of lessons we're to derive from the novel?
8.) How do perceptions affect the developments in the plot? Consider the interpretations of the clues by the heirs, as well as the way the characters are perceived by the people around them. How important is the act of interpreting information, as opposed to the interpretation itself? What does that tell us of the person doing the interpreting?
9.) Heirs have to fill in their "position" when they sign for their letters about the Westing estate. With that in mind, how does work function in the novel? What work histories do we know of which characters, and what does that tell us? What are the work aspirations of the younger characters? How does this all tie into the notion of America as a land of opportunity?
10.) Could anyone else besides Turtle Wexler have solved the Westing game? Why or why not? Was the Westing game a truly fair game, with anyone able to win?
11.) Examine closely the actual will of Sam Westing and how it relates to the events of the novel. In what way is it a guiding document not just for the Westing game, but for the behavior of the Westing heirs? What parts of the will go ignored, and why? What are the lessons ultimately learned from this document?
ANSWER KEY
1.) d 2.) a 3.) a 4.) b 5.) c 6.) b 7.) d 8.) a 9.) b 10.) d 11.) b 12.) c 13.) a 14.) d 15.) d
COMMENT ON THE STUDY OF LITERATURE
The study of literature is not like the study of math or science, or even history. While those disciplines are based largely upon fact, the study of literature is based upon interpretation and analysis. There are no clear-cut answers in literature, outside of the factual information about an author's life and the basic information about setting and characterization in a piece of literature. The rest is a highly subjective reading of what an author has written; each person brings a different set of values and a different background to the reading. As a result, no two people see the piece of literature in exactly the same light, and few critics agree on everything about a book or an author.
In this study guide, we have tried to give an objective literary analysis based upon the information actually found in the novel, book, or play. In the end, however, it is an individual interpretation, but one that we feel can be readily supported by the information that is presented in the guide. In your course of literature study, you or your professor/teacher may come up with a different interpretation of the mood or the theme or the conflict. Your interpretation, if it can be logically supported with information contained within the piece of literature, is just as correct as ours. So is the interpretation of your teacher or professor.
Literature is simply not a black or white situation; instead, there are many gray areas that are open to varying analyses. Your task is to come up with your own analysis that you can logically defend. Hopefully, this study guide will help you to accomplish that goal.
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