OVERALL ANALYSIS

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

The character development in the novel can be broken down into two parts: during the timeframe of the Westing game, and the sudden leaps forward in the final chapters.

During the timeframe of the Westing game, the defining development of the characters comes not from changes in personality or perspective so much as the revelation of depth. Characters are often initially presented in terms of a single trait of some sort: not only do readers see them in this way, which makes it easier to tell who's who in this large cast, but other characters perceive each other in a similarly simplistic way. This ties into the theme of masquerade in the broadest sense: while some characters do indeed pose as somebody they're not, many of them hide secrets about themselves and present a false mask to those around them. The last three chapters briefly cover the next twenty years in the lives of these characters. Many continue on the path of success set down for them soon after........

Josie-Jo Ford

Josie-Jo Ford's character is defined by her sense of the past, as the child of Sam Westing's servants and as an African American. She feels trapped by her debt to Sam Westing, who paid for her education, and wishes to free herself from this obligation. She believes she has earned her position as a justice of the court and takes pride in........

Turtle Wexler

Turtle Wexler is first encountered as a child who kicks the shins of people she doesn't like and wants to make a fortune on the stock market. Already, this indicates that she is very much like her Uncle Sam, who has alienated himself from people around him and built a fortune through his paper products. We are also told that they closely resemble........

Jake Wexler

Jake Wexler is a compromised authority figure, a podiatrist dissatisfied with........

Grace Wexler

Grace Wexler is seen as a superficial social climber who favors her pretty daughter Angela over.........

Angela Wexler

Angela Wexler is the beautiful and pliant older daughter of Jake and Grace, defined by her impending marriage to Doctor Denton Deere. At first Angela seems concerned only with pleasing her mother, though readers very quickly get a sense that her values are quite different from Grace's. Angela's inability to express her anger at Grace's smothering attention comes out in her becoming the bomber of Sunset Towers, which is an expression of rage but not a desire to inflict real harm on anyone. Thus, she saves Turtle from one of her bombs and.........

Theo Theodorakis

Theo Theodorakis is mainly active in trying to solve the Westing game, coming up with one of the most esoteric interpretation of the heirs. There are other aspects of his life, but he treats them passively: he wishes to be a writer but we do not see him write; he wants to go to college but can't do so because his family must pay for ........

Christos Theodorakis

Christos Theodorakis is surprisingly comfortable with his affliction: in the same way that others see Angela as.......

James Hoo

James Hoo is the disgruntled former employee of Sam Westing who believes his invention was stolen by.......

Madame Sun Lin Hoo

Madame Sun Lin Hoo starts out as a complete mystery, the cook for her husband's restaurant and unable to speak English. We learn that this situation has alienated her and makes her want to return to her native China, which in turn spurs her into becoming a thief who intends to sell stolen items to finance her return. However, she is.........

Berthe Erica Crow

Berthe Erica Crow is seen as the slightly crazed, over-religious cleaning woman of Sunset Towers. However, her strong religious beliefs has as much compassion as judgment: she runs a soup kitchen with Otis Amber and feels a strong attachment to Angela Wexler, who resembles her dead daughter Violet Westing. Further, we find that........

Otis Amber

Otis Amber is something of a mystery, as he spends almost the entirety of the novel posing as an idiot delivery boy when in fact he is a seasoned private investigator. As a delivery boy he is a fun-loving, playful, even annoying person; this seems to be a reflection of who he really is (or what he has become from playing his role), as he........ shop proprietor; even less is known about George's wife Catherine.

 

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