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
In the game room, eight card tables with two chairs at each are set up in the center of the room. Theo, who loves chess, is delighted as he spots a game of chess laid out. He makes a move on the board. Sydelle, who has been taking shorthand notes on the proceedings, flips to a new page in her notebook as Plum starts reading out a new section of the will outlining the rules of the game. The 16 players will be divided into eight pairs, and each pair will receive $10,000 and one set of clues. If any player drops out, their partner must also leave the game and both must return the money. Absent pairs forfeit their money and their clues will be held until the next “session.” Two days before each new “session,” pairs may give one answer each.
At last, Plum reveals the rules of the Westing game—the game the eccentric, sly Westing has laid out. The game is contradictory in nature as it seems to serve two purposes: one being to indict one of the heirs for Westing’s murder, and the other being to reward the heirs collectively no matter their innocence or guilt. The rules of the game are yet another topsy-turvy twist in Raskin’s novel of mystery and intrigue.
Themes
Plum reads out the pairs—“It will be up to the other players to discover who you really are,” the will states cryptically. Madame Sun Lin Hoo, Mr. Hoo’s wife and the cook at Shin Hoo’s, is paired with Jake Wexler—but both are absent. Turtle is paired with Flora. Chris is paired with Denton Deere. Theo suggests he should be paired with his brother, and Deere protests having to give medical advice to the invalid Chris. Chris, though, is excited. Sandy McSouthers is paired with Judge Ford. Grace is paired with Mr. Hoo. Berthe Erica Crow is paired with Otis Amber. Theo is paired with Doug. Sydelle is paired with Angela.
As Plum reads out the pairs, the unlikely matches suggest that Westing has deliberately paired people up based on certain criteria—yet what those criteria are remain to be seen. The odd matches reflect, again, the twisting nature of the novel as it relates to murder-mystery plots of old.
Themes
Plum reads the next section of the will—the section about the $10,000. Each check, the will states, must be signed by both partners in order to be cashed. “May God thy gold refine,” the will states. Plum passes out the checks. He then reads the next section of the will, which is related to the clues. Each pair in attendance will receive an envelope containing a unique set of clues—it is not what one has, the will warns, but what one doesn’t that counts. Plum passes out the clues—they are written on Westing paper towels.
The advice from Westing included in the will—including the phrase “may God thy gold refine” and the directive to consider that what one doesn’t have is the most important part of the game—suggest that Westing wants his players to work together to pursue the giant cash prize. The heirs, however, will not realize that solidarity is the answer until much later.
Themes
As the players puzzle over their clues, they struggle to understand what the words on the papers mean. Judge Ford is actually offended by the words on her clue sheet, insisting they remind her of a “minstrel show dialect.” Sandy, however, begs her not to quit—he needs the money. Ford reluctantly agrees to stay in the game and play the way Westing would—“mean.” Flora can’t begin to understand the clues, but Turtle, feeling she understands them intuitively, puts the paper in her mouth and swallows it. As the other players struggle to understand their clues, they demand to see the will—but Plum insists he is under strict order not to let them look at it. Everyone looks to Sydelle, who has been taking notes in shorthand—she is their only hope of glimpsing the will in full.
The players’ initial reactions to their clues display their disparate feelings about what is happening to all of them. Some are disdainful of the game while others are desperate to profit off of it. Some feel they understand what’s happening, while others are totally in the dark. As Sydelle becomes valuable because of her access to notes, Raskin foreshadows the ways in which individualism and greed will fuel the relationships that are made and unmade by the Westing game.
Themes
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Plum reads out the final passage of the will. The will states that while the players may find the game “senseless,” life itself is senseless unless one knows who one is, what one wants, and which way the wind blows. The game should be simple, Westing says, but he urges the heirs to “beware” and “be aware”—some among them are not who they say they are. He closes the will by urging everyone to go out and buy Westing Paper Products.
The eccentric will seems, at first, as if it will end on a profound note, entreating the players to discover their true selves and follow their hearts—but Westing then buttons things with a strangely self-serving, capitalistic directive which seems to undermine everything that came before.
Themes
