IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS - QUOTES AND ANALYSIS (continued)

Other pairs also face tensions of their own, most notably Angela Wexler when she finds she is paired with the gaudy Sydelle Pulaski:

Angela stepped tentatively behind the secretary, not knowing whether to ignore her disability or take her arm. At least her crippled partner could not be the murderer, but it was embarrassing being paired with such a... no, she couldn't feel that way. It was her mother who was upset (she could feel the indignant anger without having to look at Grace); her perfect daughter was paired with a freak. (35)

This is the first real stirring of rebellion on Angela's part, a desire to not listen to her mother and not be as judgmental about surface appearances. There are two threads of thought here: the voice that represents her mother's disapproval of Sydelle, and the resistance to that voice. Any actual opinion of Angela may have about Sydelle isn't expressed, further emphasizing the conflict between pleasing Grace Wexler and resisting Grace's influence. Angela spends so much time concerned whether she is pleasing or displeasing her mother that she doesn't really understand herself.

The importance of identity and self-awareness is emphasized in Sam Westing's will, as it instructs,

ELEVENTH Senseless, you say? Death is senseless yet makes ways for the living. Life, too, is senseless unless you know who you are, what you want, and which way the wind blows. (38-39)

The expected theme of a legacy - death making way for the living - is expressed, but within the flowery language of the last sentence we also have an important clue about the nature of the Westing game. The heirs must not only know who they are and what they want, but the way the wind blows - that is, the directions on the compass - will also expose who Sam Westing is. Also notice the tone of this passage: seeking to give advice, but arrogant and superior in doing so. It is very much what Sam Westing was like, for those who knew him.

Given their clues, the heirs begin to work with the words and engage in outrageous acts of wordplay to find a suitable answer. One such example is the following from Christos Theodorakis:

FORD PLAIN GRAIN SHED
Grain = oats = Otis Amber. For + d (from shed) = Ford. But neither the delivery boy nor the judge limped, and he still hadn't figured out she or plain. (42)

Words are chopped up and placed together, given meanings that require leaps of logic - parodied in the use of mathematical equations here - to try to determine an answer. However, that still leaves open unanswered questions, such as what has to be done with the words SHE and PLAIN once the answers FORD and OTIS AMBER are reached. Similarly, the team of Grace Wexler and James Hoo have their own troubles:

"Look! Grace pointed to the clues.
FRUITED PURPLE WAVES FOR SEA
"For sea! The murderer lives in apartment 4c!"
"I live in 4c," Hoo barked. "If Sam Westing wanted to say 4c he would have written number 4, letter C. S-e-a means sea, like what a turtle swims in." (44)

Grace is prone to make her own deductive leaps, showing a level of imagination that Hoo lacks. However, Hoo is correct in berating her about being too fanciful, though his own desire to keep the clues literal and factual bear no answers of their own. Ironically, all the heirs are too intent on looking at their clue that they too often ignore the advice that what they must look for are absences, what they don't have as opposed to what they have.

Such deception is obvious to Judge Ford, however, who has her suspicions about the nature of the Westing game:

The game: a tricky, divisive Westing game. No matter how much fear and suspicion he instilled in the players, Sam Westing knew that greed would keep them playing the game. Until the "murderer" was captured. And punished.

Sam Westing was not murdered, but one of his heirs was guilty - guilty of some offense against a relentless man. And that heir was in danger. From his grave Westing would stalk his enemy, and through his heirs he would wreak his revenge. (47-48)

Judge Ford's experience with Sam Westing convinces her that the game is an elaborate charade and that the heir that will be singled out isn't the one who took his life but the person upon whom Sam Westing wishes to exact revenge. The detailed description of Westing places him in a negative light, emphasizing a twisted sense of justice in the phrase that the heir is "guilty of some offense against a relentless man" - which isn't true guilt at all, but an act of vengeance on Sam Westing's part. This is an especially apt image, given Judge Ford's dedication to law. Further, the use of words such as "stalk" and "wreak" highlight the damage that Sam Westing is capable of committing on his victims.

There are others who are tormenting the tenants of Sunset Towers besides Sam Westing, most notably the bomber. After the first two bomb incidents, the events leading up to the third bomb begin with this description:

"Boom!" Grace Wexler slammed the door on the delivery boy's silly face and returned to her party with a pink-ribboned gift. The gossiping guests were sipping jasmine tea from Westing Paper Party Cups, nibbling on tidbits from Westing Paper Party Plates, and wiping their fingers on Westing Paper Party Napkins. Madame Hoo served in a tight-fitting silk gown slit high up her thigh, a costume as old-fashioned and impractical as bound feet. Women in China wore blouses and pants and jackets. That's what she would wear when she got home. (94)

The opening exclamation by Otis Amber makes fun of the paranoia that the tenants are suffering as well as reinforces Otis' disguise as an idiot delivery boy. However, it also foreshadows the bomb that will go off in a matter of minute. The ridiculous nature of the party is highlighted by the use of paper goods, emphasized by using the full name of each paper product and showing that Grace Wexler has bought literally into the admonition of the will to buy Westing Paper Products. Madame Hoo's costume is described in detail, showing how she is playing a role that does not come naturally to her, despite the assumptions of others that a cheongsam is something women in China wear on a regular basis. And of course, the party itself is devoted to another woman forced to behave in a way that she doesn't want to: Angela Wexler, the reluctant fiancée who is responsible for the real Boom that will soon occur.