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Chapter 11
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
Suddenly, loud bangs reverberate through the coffee shop. People begin screaming and running in confusion. Catherine Theodorakis comes running out of the kitchen, splattered in something red. Sydelle believes it is blood, but it soon becomes apparent that Catherine is covered in tomato sauce. Everyone hurries into the kitchen. Mr. Hoo states that the tomato sauce cans must have exploded from the heat of the stove over which they were kept. George and Catherine, however, insist that a bomb went off—the kitchen filled with red and purple sparks. As the Hoos and the Theodorakises smolder with suspicion, Grace discusses how the kitchen might be redecorated.
At a moment of tension, a literal bomb goes off in the kitchen. In introducing the symbol of the bomb, Raskin externalizes and metaphorizes how the heirs’ collective suspicions, distrusts, and dislikes threaten to implode the community they are tentatively building.
Themes
Back in her apartment, Sydelle sits down to her typewriter to begin translating her shorthand into Polish and her Polish into English. A knock at the door startles her. Angela, who is with her in the apartment, answers it—it is Turtle, furious with Angela for stealing her newspaper earlier. Turtle is in a foul mood because the stock market has fallen today. Turtle says that Grace believes Angela stole the notebook. Sydelle is hurt by the idea that her own partner would turn against her. Defensive, Sydelle calls the idea absurd and accuses Turtle of being jealous of Angela. Turtle says that at least she doesn’t need crutches to get attention. Sydelle retorts that Turtle’s “crutch” is her “big mouth.” Angela hurries Turtle out of the apartment.
Even though the bomb has already gone off, metaphorically suggesting that tensions between the heirs have reached their peak for now, this scene represents yet another more minor interhuman implosion. As the seeds of discord begin to flower amongst the heirs, no one knows who to trust, and many begin lashing out in cruelty or in anger.
Themes
Ford takes another call from the researcher at the paper, who has found some old pictures showing Violet Westing and George Theodorakis together at a party. The judge now knows of four heirs with Westing connections—Hoo, Theodorakis, Sandy (who was fired from the Westing paper mill for trying to unionize), and herself. She decides to hire a private detective. She flips through the Yellow Pages and finds herself shocked when she gets to a certain name. Nevertheless, she decides to chance it and dials the number. When the investigator answers the phone, she realizes their voice is identical to the voice of someone else she knows.
Raskin ends yet another chapter on a major cliffhanger in order to heighten the sense of mystery, suspicion, and distrust. Raskin mechanically engineers the readers’ suspicions to mirror the old—and new—suspicions that are flying between the many heirs as they inch closer to solving the Westing game.
Themes
