IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS - QUOTES AND ANALYSIS (continued)

The role of detective in the novel shifts from Judge Ford to Turtle Wexler after the Westing game seems to end for everyone else. We see this happen when Turtle begins to accumulate the discrepancies about her friend Sandy McSouthers after his death:

Turtle almost smiled. That Theo thinks he's so smart; well, Sandy showed him, Sandy beat him at chess. But Sandy didn't play chess. And she never kicked him either. Bucktoothed Barney Northrup was the one she kicked, not Sandy. But Sandy had the sore shin. Bucktoothed, chip-toothed, the crooked false teeth in the dentist's office (Sandy's dentist). "Cheer up, my friend, the game's not over. You still can win. I hope you do." Those were the last words Sandy said to her. He winked when he said that. Winked! One eye winked! Dead Sandy had winked at her!

Sandy had winked! (156)

The list of clues are linked together for the reader's ease, but also to show the chain of reasoning as it slowly dawns on Turtle. Finally she puts together the wink when Sandy encourages her to the last twitch of his eye as he "died" - this convinces her that the game is not yet over and has her search for the rest of the clues and hold a mock trial with the remaining heirs. As the mock trial in Judge Ford's apartment begins, readers are given this perspective:

Judge Ford rapped for silence with the walnut gavel presented to her by associates on her appointment to a higher court. Higher court? This was the lowest court she had ever presided at: a thirteen-year-old lawyer, a court stenographer who records in Polish, and the judge in African robes. Oh well, she had played Sam Westing's game, now she would play Turtle's game. The similarity was astounding; Turtle not only looked like her Uncle Sam, she acted like him. (159)

While Judge Ford thinks the court looks ridiculous, it is actually an affirmation of America as a land of opportunity: the ethnicities of the judge and Sydelle Pulaski are asserted in unexpected ways and young Turtle stands as proof of how a person can achieve anything if she sets her mind to it. Finally, the resemblance between Turtle Wexler and Sam Westing is noted by Judge Ford, paving the way for readers to not only accept the actual familial relationship - Sam Westing is the grand-uncle of Turtle Wexler - but also Turtle's right to the inheritance as both his physical and mental heir, the one who most embodies the man. As the trial comes to a head, Turtle proves her worth as Sam Westing's heir when she finally discovers the most important clue in the will.

Turtle was searching the will.

The estate is at the crossroads. The heir who wins the windfall will be the one who finds the FOURTH.

That's it, that has to be it: The heir who wins the windfall will be the one who finds the fourth! Windy Windkloppel took four names, and she knew who the fourth one was! (169)

Readers now realize that they were misdirected, as were the heirs, at the reading of the will at the first meeting at the Westing house. Along with Wexler, they now know the truth and are able to piece together who the fourth could be.

In the aftermath of the Westing game, we find this poignant description of Angela Wexler:

A narrow scar remained, and would always remain, on Angela's cheek. It was slightly raised, and she had developed a habit of running her fingers along it as she pored over her books. Enrolled in college again, she lived at home to save money for the years of medical school ahead. (176)

Notice how the second sentence provides a fluid transition from the cheek to the change in her life, including a broken engagement with Denton Deere and a return to college. In this way, the symbolic nature of the scar is not only a reminder of the questionable acts she performed as the bomber, but also the price she willingly pays to gain her independence and follow the path she wishes to follow, instead of the dictates of her mother and fiancé. She has let go of her beauty - which is superficial, as it is marred only by a "narrow scar" - for something far more important.

The actual death of Sam Windkloppel as Julian Eastman, twenty years after the Westing game, includes the following exchange:

"Turtle?"
"I'm right here, Sandy." She took his hand.
"Turtle, tell Crow to pray for me."
His hands turned cold, not smooth, not waxy, just very, very cold.
Turtle turned to the window. The sun was rising out of Lake Michigan. It was tomorrow. It was the Fourth of July. (182)

This date and the request to Crow are both significant. Sandy McSouthers / Sam Westing was thought to have died on November fifteenth, his wife's birthday. However, he called it the Fourth of July because of the fireworks he prepared that destroyed the Westing house. Further, the reference to the sun rising is a reminder of where the game first started, at Sunset Towers. In an odd inversion of meaning, a sunset symbolizes a beginning, while this sunrise represents an end. The novel closes with this passage:

Veiled in black, she hurried from the funeral services. It was Saturday and she had an important engagement. Angela brought her daughter, Alice, to the Wexler-Theodorakis mansion to spend Saturday afternoons with her aunt.

There she was, waiting for her in the library. Baba had tied red ribbons in the one long ponytail down her back.

"Hi there, Alice," T.R. Wexler said. "Ready for a game of chess?" (182)

The cycle of life continues with another invitation to a game, in the same way that the story's opening gambit --the invitation to move into Sunset Towers - initiated the events that would lead to the Westing game of the will. The name Alice, which Turtle once assumed, is now the real name of her niece; like Turtle as a child, Flora "Baba" Baumbach takes care of Alice's hair; and as with Julian Eastman and T.R. Wexler, the game takes place in the library, a place that values learning and knowledge. Thus, the next Westing heir seems to have already been chosen.