Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Westing Game, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Solidarity vs. Individualism
Capitalism, Greed, and Inheritance
Prejudice and Bigotry
Mystery and Intrigue
Summary
Analysis
Otis greets Crow excitedly. Crow happily states that the police have declared her innocent. Plum says that the coroner determined Sandy died of a heart attack, as did Mr. Westing—Theo states that the coroner, Sikes, was in on the plot as Westing’s old friend. Plum announces his resignation from all Westing matters. Ford asks if there is one more document. Plum says there is. Ford urges Plum to hand it over. He obliges her. Ford opens it and reads the final section of the will. The will states that Westing is going to rest in peace knowing he was loved as Sunset Towers’ “jolly” doorman. He divides Sunset Towers in equal shares bequeathed to each of them and awards Crow thirty thousand dollars. The will wishes Crow a happy birthday—and everyone else a happy Fourth of July.
The heirs know that there’s no possible way that Westing is truly dead—and yet he bequeaths unto them his assets and possessions anyway. Westing is more invested in giving back to the heirs who made him feel loved and appreciated at last during the time he lived as Sandy than he is in furthering the life of consumption, greed, and isolation he has been living for so long.
Themes
Everyone wants to know what happened to the two million dollars, but Ford points out that they lost the game. As everyone gripes about what a cheat and a miser Westing was, Turtle goes to the window which looks out over Westing manor. Suddenly, rockets light up the sky. All the other heirs join Turtle at the window to watch the fireworks extravaganza. By the time it is over, the Westing house has burned to the ground.
In this final “bombing,” Westing burns his estate to the ground by launching a dramatic and beautiful fireworks display. The Westing game is over—and so is Sam Westing. Even if he isn’t dead, Westing knows he must abandon the flawed person he once was and symbolically burn all he earned as a greedy, self-centered union buster to the ground.
Themes
The next morning, Turtle heads out on her bike to collect her prize. Now that she has figured out the final clue, she can’t believe how obvious the answer is. The first three of the “four winds” are Sam Westing, Barney Northrup, and Sandy McSouthers—now, as she pulls up to the mansion of the chairman of the board of the Westing Paper Products Corporation, she knows she is about to find the fourth. Turtle rings the bell and asks to see Mr. Eastman when Doctor Sikes answers the door. Sikes tells Turtle that Eastman is expecting her. Turtle walks through the large manor into the library, where Eastman is sitting at his desk. As Eastman limps toward her, Turtle feels terrible for kicking him. When Eastman gives her a crooked smile, she greets him enthusiastically, calling him Sandy and crowing, “I won!”
Turtle at last wins the Westing game by being the only person capable of seeing the tricky connection between Westing’s four aliases—a connection rooted in wordplay, since each name contains one of the four winds (north, east, south, and west). Turtle is proud of the good job she’s done—but she’s not excited about winning the money or earning bragging rights. She just wants to see her friend Sandy again and share with him the excitement of getting to the bottom of his puzzle. Though many of the other heirs have stronger “Westing connections” than Turtle, she has proved herself to be the one with the most profound intellectual connection to the man.
Themes
