THEMES - THEME ANALYSIS

As a cozy mystery which is dependent on strong characterization and a constantly shifting plot, the themes of the novel develop in conjunction with the revelations of the Westing game. That is, the solving of the mystery ties into and defines the themes: the more we know about the secret of Sam Westing and his heirs, the deeper our appreciation for the larger ideas at work in the novel.

The theme of information and how it is interpreted is at the heart of any mystery novel, and that is no different here. However, as a game where the different mystery solvers make illogical and sometimes wacky leaps in deduction, the emphasis of the Westing game itself is as much on the interpretations as in the information it tries to unearth. Each of the pairs of Westing heirs treat their clues in a different manner and come to radically different conclusions, many depending on wordplay of various kinds. However, none of the pairs come up with the right answer: all their interpretations, all the contortions of information to try to come up with the name of the heir who took Sam Westing's life, add up to nothing. It is only when the heirs pool all their clues and look for the absence of information - that is, the missing words - do they come up with the answer expected of them... however, even that answer, Berthe Erica Crow, isn't the real solution to the Westing game, as only Turtle Wexler discovers.

Because people are complex and its the quirks of people that are the heart of this novel, there is always more information that can be mined, as well as new ways of looking at information and understanding it. Turtle Wexler is the only one to see this after everyone else has abandoned the game: even after the Westing game ends for everyone else, she continues to look for an answer to a question she isn't sure about. When she discovers the true challenge - finding the fourth - she is able to solve the mystery and become the inheritor of the Westing fortune.

The theme of identity is of course tied intimately to the actual character development of the large cast (see above) but also manifests thematically in the use of masquerades and the way people present themselves - both to other people and to themselves.

Masquerades are not only a way that individuals present themselves to other people, it's a way that individuals better learn to understand themselves. It is a means to try out new roles, to allow new expressions of one's identity, and a way to help others as well. The obvious masquerader is Sam Westing himself, who was born Sam Windkloppel and assumes four identities: Sam Westing, Barney Northrup, Sandy McSouthers, and Julian R. Eastman. Each seems to involve different personalities: Westing is the entrepreneur immigrant, Northrup the dealmaker who makes sure Westing's plans are enacted, McSouthers the well-loved doorman, and Eastman the polished corporate head. In a sense, they are all aspects of who Sam Windkloppel has become, though readers of the novel will see him as "really" being Sam Westing or Sandy McSouthers. Each is, in a sense, an expression of who Sam Windkloppel truly is, or of what he wants to be to others.

Others also have significant double lives they lead: Angela Wexler the bomber, Jake Wexler the bookie, and Sun Lin Hoo the thief. Each have their own reasons for being these things, and it's worth noting that each resolves those reasons to leave behind that identity. Legally, all three are criminals - but since their actions take place within the family (at least for Angela and Madame Hoo) - these transgressions are forgiven and the identities dropped with little consequence.

The theme of masquerade persists until the end of the novel with two characters: Turtle Wexler and Julian Eastman, Sam Windkloppel's last disguise. Turtle pretends to be something she is not: a loser of the Westing game, like all the other heirs. She never reveals Julian Eastman's identity, not even to those closest to her. Equally significant, Turtle seems to keep the secret that Angela Wexler is the Sunset Towers bomber. She does this to spare her mother Grace grief, and in a way this helps bond family in a healthier manner.

The theme of family plays out initially with the major families of Sunset Towers: the Wexlers, the Hoos, the Theodorakis. Each of them suffer from a different problem, perhaps reflecting Tolstoy's aphorism that "All happy families are the same, but every unhappy families is unhappy in its own way." The other major way family is understood thematically in the novel is the extended family of the Westing heirs. It's easiest to understand the theme as the larger family - the collection of heirs Sam Westing has gathered for himself - as not only helping create a new bond between these people, but also to help the three nuclear families to become better families in their own right.

The Wexler families are the most clearly dysfunctional: mother Grace is a social climber, father Jake is a bookie, older daughter Angela wishes to please her mother so much that she's willing to marry unhappily, and younger daughter Turtle is so angry that her shin-kicking is legendary at Sunset Towers. The Westing game allows the Wexler family to bond with people outside their family as partners: Grace with James Hoo, Jake with Sun Lin Hoo, Angela with Sydelle Pulaski, Turtle with Flora Baumbach. Each provides the means by which the Wexlers find themselves individually, and in doing so become a stronger family (and for the daughters to start their own families by the end of the novel). The Hoos are more subtle in their problems: James Hoo is filled with anger at being cheated by Sam Westing years ago, his second wife Sun Lin Hoo wishes to return to China, and Douglas, James' son from his first marriage, is intent on his athletics. The Theodorakis family is troubled by the debilitating neurological disease of younger son Christos, which not only damages him physically but keeps the family from affording a college education for older son Theo. Through the Westing game they receive help from Denton Deere, who helps Chris medically (and in doing so makes Theo's college education possible again), and Judge Ford, who befriends Chris and provides financial assistance for his education.

There are also characters who are without a family at the start of the novel. Of these characters, there are those who lost the families they created --Berthe Erica Crow and Flora Baumbach - and those who never started a family - Sydelle Pulaski, Judge Josie-Jo Ford, Denton Deere, and Otis Amber. At the end of the novel, they have all established familial bonds of some sort: Crow marries Otis and "adopts" Angela Wexler, Denton marries Angela, Sydelle marries her boss, Flora becomes a surrogate mother for Turtle, and Judge Ford develops close ties to Christos Theodorakis.

It is significant that the one person who has a family of his own but which we never see is Sandy McSouthers, who speaks of his wife and children to Judge Ford and Turtle Wexler. Since he is actually Sam Westing, we find that everyone in Sunset Towers is his family, and being the doorman of this residence symbolically reflects how he decides who is an heir as well as guiding how they live their lives.

During the second reading of the will, Chris Theodorakis observes that all the heirs were paired with the perfect partner, and that indeed seems to be the case. By the end of the novel, the larger extended family of the Westing heirs have bonded and become close in an unexpected fashion. This strong familial bond is reinforced by the various marriages among the heirs: Otis and Crow, Denton and Angela, Theo and Turtle. Along that line, we also read of two events where the Westing heirs behave as a family, both celebrations: the wedding of Otis and Crow, and the triumphant homecoming of Olympic medalist Douglas Hoo.

Thus, this notion of family is the most dynamic theme in the novel: at the first reading of Sam Westing's will, it seems that his reference to the heirs as his "nieces and nephews" was metaphorical and not literal. By the climax of the novel, the metaphor of the Westing heirs as an extended family is revealed as more of a reality than anyone suspected: Sandy McSouthers is actually Sam Westing, Berthe Erica Crow is his ex-wife, and Grace Windkloppel Wexler is his actual niece. Along with the other Wexlers, that means six of the sixteen heirs are actual members of the Westing family. Further, the marriages of Otis Amber to Crow, Denton Deere to Angela Wexler, and Theo Theodorakis to Turtle Wexler further extends the family tree among the sixteen heirs, as does the "adoption" of Flora Baumbach by Turtle as a maternal figure in her life as well as a similar role Judge Ford plays for Christos Theodorakis, Turtle's brother-in-law.

The minor theme of games develops more as a motif for the major themes but develops as the nature of the Westing game changes for the heirs. If anything, the message that is gained from the theme of games is that one must be aware of all the rules before one can win at a game. Nobody knew all the rules to the Westing game, especially not the crucial entreaty that the heirs must "find the Fourth" - precisely because Sam Westing as Sandy McSouthers made it difficult for the heirs to realize this rule, yelling a joke at the proper moment. In a very real sense, this is the game that moves as you play, and Turtle Wexler is the only one mentally nimble and observant enough to realize that. Further, the game of chess becomes a kind of legacy that is passed on from generation to generation: Sam Westing passes it on to two generations, first Josie-Jo Ford and then Turtle Wexler; then Turtle as an adult passes it on to her niece Alice. It is not only the passing along of the game itself but also the intelligence and mental acuity that made these characters central figures in the novel.

The theme of work and education is described in detail for each character in Character Analysis, so it will suffice to say that the novel begins with many characters who are unhappy with their work situation and wish to change it. The Westing game and its aftermath result in changes that help steer most of these characters into new jobs and happier lives. For the younger characters, education is opened to them in various ways: the difficulties of paying for a college education are solved by the Westing game and its aftermath, so that Theo Theodorakis and Angela Wexler both go to college to pursue their respective ambitions of writer and doctor. Further, the other young characters - Douglas Hoo, Chris Theodorakis, and Turtle Wexler - all attend colleges and prosper from their experiences. In a sense, these young heirs are the next generation, an expansion of the educational boon that Sam Westing gave to Josie-Jo Ford many years earlier (and which Judge Ford continues in her payment of Chris Theodorakis' college education).

The theme of patriotism and the American dream is clearest in the success of Sam Westing, but his game also allows his various heirs to succeed as well. Patriotism is often played with in a light manner - the Uncle Sam costume and the use of "America, the Beautiful" being the prime examples. Underlying these obvious gestures is the notion of America as a land of opportunity. Ironically, the one other immigrant in the novel besides Sam Westing is Madame Sun Lin Hoo: she initially feels confined by her role in America, but as a result of the Westing game achieves happiness and becomes a prosperous American success story in her own right. America as a land of opportunity of course applies equally to those born in this country, and the closing chapters shows how many of the characters prospered through their work.

Last, the minor theme of the unexpected directions of life is seen in the constant shifting of the mystery plot, as one revelation after another makes readers re-assess what happened to Sam Westing in the past and what his intentions are in the present day. The last three chapters, which cover the twenty years after the Westing game, shows how some of the expectations created by the book aren't what happens after all. Most significant are the marriages of the Wexler girls. Both marriages shows how people often change and make decisions based on those changes, and that sometimes only time can reveal what those changes have wrought.