Sydelle Pulaski Character Analysis

Sydelle Pulaski is a lonely, aging woman who has worked for decades as the secretary to the owner of a local sausage company while living with her mother and two older aunts. Sydelle is the “mistake” among Sam Westing’s 16 potential heirs—it is her sister Sybil, not Sydelle, who has a connection to Sam Westing. Despite having been summoned in error first to live in Sunset Towers with the other heirs and later to Westing manor to begin the Westing game, Sydelle is one of the players who needs the game most. Sydelle feels completely invisible in her day-to-day life. At the start of the novel, she turns to attention-seeking measures such as using a pair of gaudily hand-painted crutches—even though she has no need for them. Sydelle, a well-trained secretary, is the only player in the game with the foresight to take notes during the initial reading of Westing’s will, which doubles as the game rules (and contains subtle clues). Sydelle, however, takes her shorthand down in her native Polish, making her notes useless to the other players and giving Sydelle a leg up in the game. Sydelle is emboldened by the high status this grants her. Together with her partner Angela, whom Sydelle quickly realizes is the bomber behind the three sets of fireworks that go off in different locations throughout Sunset Towers, Sydelle realizes that the key to the Westing game lies in the lyrics to the song “America the Beautiful.” Gregarious, sly, canny, and self-aware enough to understand the consequences of her own loneliness, Sydelle is one of the heirs who benefits most from the Westing game. She ultimately finds a kindred spirit in Angela and a kind of family in the other players.