The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
by Barry Wright
Essay: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
Pages: 10
Rating: 3 stars
Download Links:
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.pdf
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.doc
The Westing Game starts out with the delivery of six letters signed by Barney Northrup, to six different households
on the Fourth of July. The letters offer a once in a lifetime chance to rent an apartment at the new and luxurious
Sunset Towers, located on the shores of Lake Michigan. However, in the movie, Sunset Towers was located in the
city. In the book, Sunset Towers was built mostly of glass and stood five stories high. Noticed in both the book
and movie, Sunset Towers oddly faces east instead of west where the sun actually sets. In both the movie and the
book, Barney Northrup manages to rent all the apartments out to the six hand selected households, which
includes the Wexler family, the Theodorakis family, the Hoo family, Judge Josie-Jo Ford, secretary Sydelle Pulaski,
and dressmaker Flora Baumbach. The building also accommodates the businesses of Jake Wexler, George
Theodorakis, and James Hoo and employs a cleaner, Berthe Erica Crow, a door attendant, Sandy McSouthers, and
a delivery boy, Otis Amber.
In the Westing Game, simultaneously on Halloween the characters share a defining moment when they see smoke
rising from the supposedly empty Westing house, which symbolically signals the beginning of the game that no
one is aware of just then. As a result, rumors spread that Sam Westing, the rich industrialist who owned Westing
Paper Products, went missing a long time ago and his dead rotting body could be in the house.
For both the Westing Game and Get a Clue, on a dare, Turtle Wexler goes into the Westing house where she
discovers what she thinks is the body of Sam Westing, dressed up like Uncle Sam. The next morning, the
newspaper reports the death of Sam Westing, but nothing about how.
Later on...