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Angela Wexler
Jake Wexler is a podiatrist, Angela and Turtle’s father, and Grace’s husband. He’s one of Sam Westing’s 16 potential heirs. Jake is also secretly a bookie—dissatisfied with his own profession yet so offended by his wife’s belief that he is not a “real” doctor that he refuses to change his situation, Jake turns to gambling and betting to feel alive. Though Jake, who misses the initial reading of Westing’s will, is mostly a tangential player in the Westing game, he is a sardonic and humorous presence throughout the novel. The put-upon Jake sees himself as an underdog, and, as such, allies himself with the other underdogs around him. He strikes up a friendship with Madame Hoo—his partner in the Westing game, even though neither of them is as involved as the other heirs after missing the initial reading of the will. Jake is the only person who takes Madame Hoo seriously as an individual, and he is successful in helping to teach her some English by simply talking to her as if she’s anyone else. Jake is cool, level-headed, and slightly self-deprecating—he uses humor as a way of disguising the discrimination he himself has faced as a Jewish man, and the ways in which his Jewishness has created a chasm in Grace’s family. By the end of the novel, he has used his skills as a bookie to parlay his way into a seat on the state gambling commission.
Jake Wexler Quotes in The Westing Game
The The Westing Game quotes below are all either spoken by Jake Wexler or refer to Jake Wexler. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
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.
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Chapter 2 Quotes
Jake turned to Madame Hoo. "Hi there, partner."
"She doesn't speak English, Dad," Angela said flatly.
'And she never will, Angela, if no one talks to her."
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Jake Wexler Character Timeline in The Westing Game
The timeline below shows where the character Jake Wexler appears in The Westing Game. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...clients. He highlights the luxurious chandeliers as he leads Grace Windsor Wexler and her husband, Jake, around a unit, which he tells them is the last available (although they are his...
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...just one day, Barney Northrup manages to rent all of the apartments in Sunset Towers. Jake Wexler, a podiatrist, takes the medical office, the Theodorakis family takes the coffee shop, and...
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Chapter 3
Downstairs, in Jake Wexler’s office, a pale and strict-looking woman named Crow, dressed all in black, looks out...
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Chapter 5
...Wexler and her daughters arrive at the Westing house the next day at the appointed time—Jake has refused to come. Grace always heard family gossip growing up about a rich uncle...
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Chapter 7
...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....
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Chapter 8
...goes door-to-door selling homemade striped candles which help to tell time at five dollars each. Jake, disappointed at having forfeited his $10,000, retreats to his office; Madame Hoo, who has no...
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Chapter 10
...miss a second of Ford’s fete—she arrives right on time. As Grace introduces her husband Jake to the judge and beseechingly compliments Ford’s apartment, Jake quietly smirks at his “social-climbing wife.”...
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Jake moseys over to Angela and asks how she’s faring without her fiancé. Angela is frustrated...
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Chapter 13
Grace seats Jake at a table with the sour-faced Turtle, who is listening to the stock market report...
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...kitchen, however, he asks for someone to call an ambulance. Angela runs into the kitchen. Jake calls 911. As everyone fusses over Sydelle, she insists she’s all right. Privately, she thinks...
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...policeman to address the burglaries, but he insists he’s with the bomb squad, not robberies. Jake points out how odd it is for two explosions to happen so close together, but...
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Chapter 15
Jake comes home to find his apartment empty. He decides to go to Shin Hoo’s and...
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Chapter 16
...thief amongst them, every heir is suspicious of the other. Mr. Hoo suspects Flora and Jake suspects Sandy. Chris wonders if Ford is “one of those Black Panthers in disguise.” The...
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Chapter 17
On Tuesday, the market continues bouncing up and down. Jake visits Hoo’s to eat lunch and to converse with Madame Hoo, who is learning English...
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Chapter 19
As Jake Wexler enjoys lunch, Crow shows up to Hoo’s restaurant. Grace seats her; Madame Hoo is...
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...compiling their dossiers, gathering information on the Wexlers. Sandy adds to the investigator’s file that Jake is a bookie, but Ford says such a fact has no bearing on their assessment...
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Chapter 22
Jake and Grace, in the elevator on the way to Doug’s track meet, argue over Turtle....
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...elevator doors open on the lobby, Grace begins crying. She apologizes for being so cruel. Jake presses the button to go back up and takes Grace in his arms, telling her...
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Jake leads the sobbing Grace into their apartment. Angela and Sydelle, newly home from the hospital,...
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Chapter 23
Plum goes around to each pair and collects their answers. Jake and Madame Hoo offer “boom” as their answer. Turtle and Flora, having won over a...
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Chapter 24
...instead. Sydelle speaks up—she says she still believes the answer lies in “America the Beautiful.” Jake suggests that perhaps some words in the song are missing from the clues—one of his...
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...face turns red and he falls to the floor, gagging and unable to breathe. Though Jake and Denton hurry to help him and though Theo pounds on the door, prompting Plum...
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Chapter 28
...is a wedding held at Shin Hoo’s. The bride walks down the aisle, escorted by Jake, toward the nervous groom and the best man: Mr. Hoo. Angela is a bridesmaid at...
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Jake, having given up his private practice, becomes consultant to the governor’s inquiry panel for a...
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Chapter 29
...a new record for the 1500-meter run. Sunny—as Madame Hoo now likes to be called—welcomes Jake, the chairman of the State Gambling Commission, to her home. Angela and Denton Deere reunite...
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Chapter 30
Eastman asks about his niece, Gracie Windkloppel. T.R. reveals that Grace now has ten restaurants. Jake, meanwhile, is the state crime commissioner. Eastman asks how T.R.’s husband is—and how his writing...
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