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Chapter 10
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Westing Game, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Solidarity vs. Individualism
Capitalism, Greed, and Inheritance
Prejudice and Bigotry
Mystery and Intrigue
Summary
Analysis
On the third snowbound morning, Turtle prepares to go to the meeting at the coffee shop. She rushes to Flora’s apartment and asks the dressmaker to fix her hair for her. As Flora braids Turtle’s hair, she recollects braiding her own daughter’s hair. Turtle asks what happened to Flora’s daughter. Flora says only that her daughter is “gone.” Flora asks Turtle what her real name is, since Turtle is clearly a nickname. Turtle tells Flora her real name is Alice, though it is not.
Turtle and Flora, too, begin forming a deeper, more intimate connection. They genuinely like each other and want to discover more about each other—yet there are still roadblocks to their full expression of their deepest selves to one another. Flora is cagey when she talks about her daughter, and Turtle offers up a fake name when asked for her real one.
Themes
Theo pushes Chris into the elevator to head down to the coffee shop. They see that Judge Ford has posted a notice on the bulletin board: she has lost her father’s watch. In the coffee shop, Theo and Chris find many of the other heirs already gathered. Theo calls everyone to attention and announces that there will be a chess game after the meeting open to anyone who wants to play. Theo goes on to ask the other heirs to pool their clues, reminding them that their chances of winning the game are higher if they work together. That way, they can split the prize. Sydelle says she’s uninterested in an equal share when she did the work of taking notes on the contents of the will.
Theo gathers all the heirs together in good faith. He hopes that they can look beyond their individualistic pursuits and see the bigger picture: they could all take home a lot of money if they simply work together. Pride, greed, and distrust, however, still stand in the way of any kind of alliance between the many heirs.
Themes
Mr. Hoo, irritated, slaps Sydelle’s notebook down on the counter. She accuses him of being a thief, but Hoo insists he found the notebook on a table in his restaurant. He says he doesn’t care if she believes him—the notes she has been selfishly dangling in front of all of them are worthless, because they’re written in gibberish. Sydelle, furious, says she’d never trust any one of the other heirs—she wrote her shorthand in Polish.
As the other heirs realize that Sydelle wrote her notebook in her native tongue, Polish, it becomes clear that she did not ever intend to share her notes with anyone else—and wanted to bar thieves from spying on her hard work. Sydelle’s individualistic protection of her assets contrasts against her lonely desire for connection—yet in the end, she’s getting the attention she’s always wanted.
Themes
The meeting comes to order once again. Mr. Hoo suggests Sydelle get a slightly larger share of the winnings. Hoo suggests they share clues right away to more quickly get to the bottom of the mystery. Ford, however, suggests they take some time to ponder sharing their clues and instead ask anonymously whatever questions they all have. Everyone writes their questions out on papers, which Theo reads aloud. One question asks if anyone is a twin—no one answers. Another asks what Turtle’s real name is. Grace states that it is Tabitha-Ruth. The next question asks who has actually met Sam Westing in person. Mr. Hoo raises his hand—though Grace considers putting hers up to prove her legitimacy as an heir, she knows doing so would be a lie. Hoo is the only one with his hand raised. Ford, however, feels she doesn’t need to respond to her own question.
Even though Hoo is willing to make concessions so that they can all win, others are less certain about collaborating just yet. Even though Ford’s suggestion seems to be in the best interest of everyone, she remains cagey and isolated when it comes time to share her own truth with the rest of the group. Even though Theo’s optimistic suggestion that the heirs pool their resources makes sense, the heirs are, on the whole, simply not trusting enough of one another to make themselves vulnerable.
Themes
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The final question—which, Theo recognizes, was painstakingly written out by Chris—is never answered. Something terrible happens, and the meeting comes to a swift end due to the heirs' collective panic.
Raskin ends the chapter on a cliffhanger as she heightens the air of mystery and intrigue at a moment in which the heirs are becoming even more mysterious to one another by refusing to be fully honest or transparent.
Themes
