LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Westing Game, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. As the son of immigrants turned reclusive, multimillionaire owner of the fruitful Westing Paper Products Corporation, Sam Westing knows that money is a corruptive force.
How does the beginning of the Westing Game affect the characters?
At the beginning of The Westing Game, the characters seem to fit into easy social categories as they move into their apartments. Even the physical spaces they receive from Westing in Sunset Towers influences this perception.
Who was the winner of the Westing Game?
Moreover, at the end of the game, Bertha Erica Crow is revealed to be the “winner” of the Westing Game, as she is the one who truly killed Samuel Westing with her decision to force Violet into marriage.
Who is Barney Northup in the Westing Game?
From the opening chapter of the novel, Ellen Raskin, the author, utilizes deception to mislead and trick the readers as she introduces a character named Barney Northup, who according to Raskin is not a real person. However, this is only the beginning of the lies that frequent the novel.
What is the tone of the Westing Game?
In the tradition of cozy mysteries, the style of The Westing Game is light in tone, jaunty, with a sharp authorial eye on the quirks of its characters. It creates a sense of suspense and thrill, but it does not make readers too anxious or threaten to upset them.
What is the purpose of the Westing Game?
The real purpose of the Westing game is not the inheritance, but the relationships that the game creates and strengthens. Westing seemed to match up the pairs that would bring out the best in each other. In the end, most of the heirs do not receive millions from Westing, but they do build life-long friendships.
What is the story of the Westing Game?
THE WESTING GAME, originally published in 1978, is a Newberry-winning mystery by accomplished YA novelist Ellen Raskin . The story follows a wild competition for the enormous inheritance of paper-products magnate Sam Westing, who has set up his 16 “heirs” in an apartment complex near the old man’s mansion on a hill on Lake Michigan.
