The Westing Game
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| Author | Ellen Raskin |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Children's mystery |
| Publisher | E. P. Dutton |
| Released | 1978 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-525-47137-5 ISBN 0-14-240120-X ISBN 0-14-038664-5 |
The Westing Game is a book by Ellen Raskin that was awarded the Newbery Medal in 1979. It has been adapted into a TV movie, released under both the names "The Westing Game" and "Get a Clue." The sixteen heirs of magnate Sam Westing are called upon at the reading of his will to unravel the secret behind his untimely demise.
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[edit] Plot summary
The story unfolds as a whodunit, and is told in third-person omniscence. There is no single main character in the story, but it focuses in some aspects on Tabitha-Ruth "Turtle" Wexler. The life of the eccentric millionaire and self-proclaimed patriot Samuel Westing has ended, and 16 heirs (all tenants or associates of Sunset Towers, an apartment building adjacent to Westing's property), are called together for the reading of his will. There, it is implied that Westing was actually murdered, and the will warns the players that their fellow heirs may not be who they appear to be. They are paired up to search for the murderer, and each pair receives clues to find the person. The first pair to unmask the killer's identity will receive Westing's 200-million-dollar fortune. As the different pairs of people enter the "Westing Game," they find clues that tell them about each others' secrets. Turtle uses not only the obvious clues but the hidden ones as well to discover the true mystery behind the mystery, which she solves in an unexpected but satisfying fashion.
The novel is typical of Raskin's style of mystery novels: she plants clues for the reader throughout, peppered with red herrings; her characters confront puzzles involving clever wordplay within the story; and her characters reveal hidden depths which belie their carefully constructed public personas. In this story, names turn out to be especially important, as well as the personal connections, both long-buried and newly forged during the course of the game, between the various inhabitants of Sunset Towers. It is possible for the reader to guess the truth by paying close attention to the details given in the book.
[edit] Themes
The characters come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and confront the difficulties of cross-boundary interaction. For example;
- Class:
- Sam Westing is upper class
- Grace Wexler is from the idle upper-middle class
- Judge Ford and Doctor Deere are working professionals
- Crow works with the poor, running a soup kitchen
- James Hoo and Mr. Theodorakis are entrepreneurs, and both of very different levels of success
- Otis Amber and Sandy McSouthers are working class
- Sydelle Pulaski has a pink collar job as a secretary
- Race:
- Other:
- Chris Theodorakis has a disability and is wheelchair-bound
- Turtle Wexler is a child, Doug Hoo and Chris and Theo Theodorakis are teenagers, and Angela Wexler is a young woman, and they are all partnered with adults in the game.
As the game progresses, the characters interact and frequently befriend one another despite the superficial differences imposed by race, class, background, and disability. In so doing, several heirs overcome significant personal isolation, another pervasive theme of the book.
The status of some of the characters as immigrants plays an important role, contributing to the pervasive theme of patriotism established by Sam Westing, who styles himself in his will as the "Uncle Sam" of his heirs, and emphasizes his rise from the son of poor immigrants to a manufacturing mogul.
The themes of manipulation and reconciliation also pervade the book. Long-buried conflicts are slowly revealed, and poignantly resolved. Many of the characters start out trapped within social roles to which they are ill-suited, but re-invent themselves as a result of their interaction with the other characters. Every character shows hidden depths beneath the surface, and the story turns as much on each character's confronting their own true selves as it does on discovering their fellow heirs' secrets.
[edit] Characters
| Hoo family | Doug Hoo | Mr. James Shin Hoo | Madame Sun Lin ("Sunny") Hoo | |
| Theodorakis family | Christos Theodorakis | Theo Theodorakis | Mr. George Theodorakis | Mrs. Catherine Theodorakis |
| Wexler family | Tabitha-Ruth ("Alice", "Turtle") Wexler | Angela Wexler | Grace Windsor Wexler | Dr. Jake Wexler |
Also:
- Otis Amber
- Flora Baumbach
- Berthe Erica Crow
- Dr. D. Denton Deere
- Julian R. Eastman
- Josie-Jo Ford
- Sandy McSouthers
- Barney Northrup
- Edgar "E.J." Plum
- Sydelle Pulaski
- Dr. Sidney Sikes
- Samuel Westing
[edit] Character analysis
- James Hoo
James is a frustrated man. Having failed at his career as in inventor, he now owns an unsuccessful Chinese restaurant. He doesn't understand his wife or his "dumb jock" of a son. Despite his surly demeanor, though, he does have a caring side, expressed through his practical and ingenious solutions to others' problems. He blames Westing for stealing his inventions (namely the disposable paper diaper) and gaining wealth and fame while he languishes in obscurity.
- Sun Lin ("Sunny") Hoo
Sun Lin comes from China, and speaks practically no English, which isolates her from most of the other residents of Sunset Towers. She is, however, intelligent, practical, and resourceful, able to capitalize on opportunities when they present themselves to her.
- Doug Hoo
Doug is a high-school jock with aspirations for a career in athletics. He spends much of his spare time training; his father criticizes his son's lack of interest in the family business as laziness.
- George and Catherine Theodorakis
George and Catherine run the successful coffee shop in Sunset Towers. Catherine is not a significant character in the story, important mostly as a sign of George Theodorakis having moved on from an ill-fated romance in his past that ties him to the Westing family. They are not heirs in the Westing will.
- Theo Theodorakis
Theo is George and Catherine's high-school-aged son. He's a nice enough kid, but not probing in his analysis. He often fails to see the real truth behind the obvious façade, as when he misjudges his partner Doug Hoo as nothing but a dumb jock, when he develops a crush on the pretty Angela Wexler without learning anything about who she is as a person, and when he falls for a gambit and takes his opponent's queen in a game of chess. Marries Turtle Wexler later on.
- Christos Theodorakis
Chris has inherited a rare genetic condition that slurs his speech, inhibits motor control, causes muscular spasms, and keeps him wheelchair-bound. People often jump to conclusions about Chris, such as assuming that he is mentally slow. Like several other tenants of Sunset Towers, he is often lonely. He is an avid birdwatcher and has learned a surprising amount of ornithology. He is also very observant and is able to notice things about people that others don't.
- Dr. Jake Wexler
Jake Wexler is a podiatrist and is a bookie. He is a caring father and loving husband, and the only tenant in Sunset Towers to make any attempt to communicate with Madame Hoo other than her own family.
- Grace Windsor Wexler
Grace is conscious of social class to a fault; she is extremely concerned with presenting herself as culturally sophisticated and high-born, fancying herself an heiress and a decorator rather than a housewife, stressing her regal "Windsor" name, and identifying her podiatrist husband as a "doctor." She is not as shallow as she comes across, having married for love and not for money, but is determined that her daughter Angela will fare better in life than she did.
- Angela Wexler
Most of the tenants of Sunset Towers dismiss Angela as just another pretty face. She is engaged to up-and-coming plastic surgeon D. Denton Deere with the strong support of her mother, although Angela still harbors reservations. Although her little sister Turtle would scarcely believe it, Angela is jealous of Turtle's ability to defy authority.
- Tabitha-Ruth ("Alice", "Turtle") Wexler
If Angela inherited her mother's good looks, Turtle inherited her mother's scheming. Largely neglected and brushed aside by her mother in favor of her older sister Angela, Turtle acts out to get attention, often kicking shins, especially when someone touches her braids. She finds a mother figure in her soft-spoken partner, Flora Baumbach. Turtle approaches the Westing game like a market capitalist, and ultimately sees through Westing's misdirection to understand the real mystery behind Sam Westing's game.
- Otis Amber
Otis comes across as an uncouth delivery boy, apparently a minor figure in Sunset Towers, but turns out to have hidden depths, such as his working in the local soup kitchen, run by fellow Sunset Towers employee Crow.
- Berthe Erica Crow
Known to most tenants only as "Crow," this slight, pinched woman serves as cleaning woman for Sunset Towers. A deeply religious woman, Crow provides food to the indigent at the Good Salvation Soup Kitchen. She is haunted by a tragedy in her past, which leads her to become a curious ally of Angela's.
- Flora Baumbach
Flora Baumbach is an overly cheery, perky dressmaker who becomes something of a mother figure to her partner Turtle, who takes to calling her "Baba." Although a naturally optimistic person, she has developed her exaggeratedly cheerful disposition in order to cope with tragedy in her own past, including the loss of her daughter Rosalie.
- Dr. D. Denton Deere
Denton Deere is interning to become a plastic surgeon, and is engaged to Angela Wexler. He is at first discomfited by being paired with Chris Theodorakis, but grows to appreciate the boy's intellect and interest in science.
- Julian R. Eastman
Mr. Eastman is chairman of the board of Westing Paper Products, and takes a keen interest in all of the heirs to Westing's fortune.
- Josie-Jo Ford
Judge J.J. Ford is a highly competent judge, intimidating on the bench, choosing to smile only on rare occasions. As the gangly daughter of the Westing's maid, she remembers playing chess with Sam Westing, and losing every time. She is determined to win this final game with Sam Westing. Westing paid for her education, which she suspects was a politically calculated move on his part.
- Sandy McSouthers
Sunset Towers' sprightly doorman is always ready with a smile, a colorful anecdote, or a cheerful tune whistled through his chipped tooth, a memento from brawling in his younger days. He also keeps an eye and an ear out for any bits of information his fellow tenants might drop, not paying attention to the nearby doorman. Partnered with the intelligent Judge Ford, he works diligently to record the results of their investigations.
- Barney Northrup
Barney Northrup is a minor figure in the book, primarily using his considerable skills as a salesman to convince the heirs to move into Sunset Towers at the beginning of the story.
- Edgar "E.J." Plum
Mr. Plum is a somewhat bumbling, disorganized, ineloquent lawyer who has been assigned the daunting task of executing the will of Sam Westing, and carrying out its many eccentric and unconventional instructions.
- Sydelle Pulaski
Sydelle is a habitually overlooked person, so much so that Westing's people made her an heir by mistake, not realizing that she wasn't the true heir, Sybil Pulaski. Sydelle decided to fight against the anonymity brought on by her working-class upbringing as the child of immigrants by capitalizing on whatever chance events might bring her attention: her having the only transcript of the will, by dint of her secretarial training; her young, attractive partner; her injury, which she exaggerates by painting her crutches; and her accidental status as a Westing heir itself.
- Dr. Sidney Sikes
Dr. Sikes served as Sam Westing's personal physician and close friend. He is instrumental in the plot, but the story reveals little about his character.
- Samuel Westing
Sam Westing is the mastermind behind the Westing game, carefully manipulating his heirs into coming to Sunset Towers, strategically pairing them, and posthumously announcing, through his will, that one of the heirs took his life. He shows great business acumen, exploiting James Hoo's inventions far better than James could, and rising from a poor child of immigrants to a manufacturing giant. His understanding of people seems spookily prescient, as when the will contains phrases that accurately predict the heirs' impromptu comments. However, it's also painfully clear that Sam Westing made grave mistakes in his life, which cost those he loved dearly. More than anything, the Westing game is designed to make amends for those wrongs and to nudge his heirs into making better choices than he made.
[edit] Setting
The principal setting of the story is Sunset Towers, an apartment building on the Lake Michigan shore in Wisconsin.
[edit] Sources
- The setting was sourced from The Westing Game summary.
The book takes place in Westingtown, Wisconsin. the Building Faces East not west!
[edit] See also
| Preceded by Bridge to Terabithia |
Newbery Medal recipient 1979 |
Succeeded by A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal |
