History Literature / TheWestingGame

* NonindicativeName: The windows of Sunset Towers face east, the direction in which the sun ''rises''. Lampshaded in the very first sentence.

** Turtle starts clinging to Flora Bambauch as her mother figure, feeling ignored by Grace.

* ItsTheJourneyThatCounts: Although no one wins the game or inherits the fortune [[spoiler:(except Turtle)]], everyone's lives become better for having been part of it and the CharacterDevelopment they gained from it. As Chris said of the OddCouple pairings, "Everyone was paired with the perfect partner, given exactly who they needed", though they didn't know it at the start.

* HiddenDepths: Applies to nearly every character. Turtle is not merely the BrattyHalfPint she seems while Angela is far more than just the dutiful and pretty good daughter; their mother, meanwhile, has good reason for being so pretentious and grasping while their father [[spoiler:is secretly a bookie]]. [[ObfuscatingInsanity Seemingly insane]] and [[CloudCuckoolander ridiculous]] Otis Amber is actually [[spoiler:a private detective]] and also aids Crow (another [[TheOphelia apparently mentally-unbalanced]] character) in working at a soup kitchen for the homeless. The quiet Madame Hoo who cannot speak English [[spoiler:is a thief because she is attempting to gain enough money to travel back to China]]. Her husband, struggling restauranteur James Hoo, invented the disposable paper diaper. Flora Baumbach, who otherwise appears to be a somewhat-vapid dressmaker, lost a daughter with Down syndrome and is clearly still dealing with her pain. Sydelle Pulaski, who tries to draw attention with fake illnesses and flamboyant clothes, is much smarter (and more unhappy) than she seems. And of course Sandy [=McSouthers=] is [[spoiler:actually Sam Westing, as well as Barney Northrup, and in the process of exploring Westing's past it's made clear how many layers there were to the man and how he has grown and changed due to his own tragedies]]. Even minor characters often have more to them than it first appears.

* SecondVerseCurse: InUniverse, no one recognizes when the will quotes the line "May God thy gold refine" is from one of the lesser-known verses of "America the Beautiful", requiring a bit of spot research. This, [[ConservationOfDetail like so much else]], is plot-significant.

** Mr. and Mrs. Theodorakis, who barely appear and, outside one {{Backstory}} conversation, have hardly any lines.

* StepfordSmiler: Angela Wexler and Flora Baumbach

* WhatAnIdiot: Invoked in-story, and self-inflicted, when Ford realizes that she (and everyone but Turtle) had fallen for Westing's "Queen's Sacrifice" again, this time in a non-chess setting.

** Sandy's dentist. When Sandy sends Turtle to him to deal with her cavity, she notices varieties of false teeth with deliberate faults. Turtle later [[spoiler:deduces that it was using these deliberately imperfect false teeth that allowed Sam Westing to become Sandy, as well as Barney Northrup]].

** It's outright stated that [[spoiler:Westing's wife Crow]] did the same thing with her daughter and a politician, which led to [[spoiler:the daughter's suicide]].

** Sydelle realizing [[spoiler:the clue words formed "America the Beautiful"]].

* HiddenDepths: Applies to nearly every character. Turtle is not merely the BrattyHalfPint she seems while Angela is far more than just the dutiful and pretty good daughter; their mother, meanwhile, has good reason for being so pretentious and grasping while their father [[spoiler:is secretly a bookie]]. [[ObfuscatingInsanity Seemingly insane]] and [[CloudCuckoolander ridiculous]] Otis Amber is actually [[spoiler:a private detective]] and also aids Crow (another [[TheOphelia apparently mentally-unbalanced]] character) in working at a soup kitchen for the homeless. The quiet Madame Hoo who cannot speak English [[spoiler:is a thief because she is attempting to gain enough money to travel back to China]]. Her husband, James Hoo, invented the disposable paper diaper. Flora Baumbach, who otherwise appears to be a somewhat-vapid dressmaker, lost a daughter with Down syndrome and is clearly still dealing with her pain. Sydelle Pulaski, who tries to draw attention with fake illnesses and flamboyant clothes, is much smarter (and more unhappy) than she seems. And of course Sandy [=McSouthers=] is [[spoiler:actually Sam Westing, as well as Barney Northrup, and in the process of exploring Westing's past it's made clear how many layers there were to the man and how he has grown and changed due to his own tragedies]]. Even minor characters often have more to them than it first appears.

* HiddenDepths: Applies to nearly every character. Turtle is not merely the BrattyHalfPint she seems while Angela is far more than just the dutiful and pretty good daughter; their mother, meanwhile, has good reason for being so pretentious and grasping while their father [[spoiler:is secretly a bookie]]. [[ObfuscatingInsanity Seemingly insane]] and [[CloudCuckoolander ridiculous]] Otis Amber is actually [[spoiler:a private detective]] and also aids Crow (another [[TheOphelia apparently mentally-unbalanced]] character) in working at a soup kitchen for the homeless. The quiet Madame Hoo who cannot speak English [[spoiler:is a thief because she is attempting to gain enough money to travel back to China]]. Flora Baumbach, who otherwise appears to be a somewhat-vapid dressmaker, lost a daughter with Down syndrome and is clearly still dealing with her pain. Sydelle Pulaski, who tries to draw attention with fake illnesses and flamboyant clothes, is much smarter (and more unhappy) than she seems. And of course Sandy [=McSouthers=] is [[spoiler:actually Sam Westing, as well as Barney Northrup, and in the process of exploring Westing's past it's made clear how many layers there were to the man and how he has grown and changed due to his own tragedies]]. Even minor characters often have more to them than it first appears.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: ''Every'' character has a role to play.

A murder-mystery epic Newbery Award winning novel by Ellen Raskin about [[GameBetweenHeirs sixteen heirs who compete to win a $200 million inheritance]] from the late Samuel W. Westing. Westing, for his own reasons, has set up a game of his own, set in a very large, cushy building where the heirs and their families are basically trapped into staying; the only clues he gives the players are seemingly nonsensical words printed on paper towel squares. Figure out the clues and the answer ''should'' be obvious... but [[PlotTwist maybe not]].

* HiddenDepths: Applies to nearly every character. Turtle is not merely the BrattyHalfPint she seems while Angela is far more than just the dutiful and pretty good daughter; their mother, meanwhile, has good reason for being so pretentious and grasping while their father [[spoiler:is secretly a bookie]]. [[ObfuscatinglyInsanity Seemingly insane]] and [[CloudCuckoolander ridiculous]] Otis Amber is actually [[spoiler:a private detective]] and also aids Crow (another [[TheOphelia apparently mentally-unbalanced]] character) in working at a soup kitchen for the homeless. The quiet Madame Hoo who cannot speak English [[spoiler:is a thief because she is attempting to gain enough money to travel back to China]]. Flora Baumbach, who otherwise appears to be a somewhat-vapid dressmaker, lost a daughter with Down syndrome and is clearly still dealing with her pain. Sydelle Pulaski, who tries to draw attention with fake illnesses and flamboyant clothes, is much smarter (and more unhappy) than she seems. And of course Sandy [=McSouthers=] is [[spoiler:actually Sam Westing, as well as Barney Northrup, and in the process of exploring Westing's past it's made clear how many layers there were to the man and how he has grown and changed due to his own tragedies]]. Even minor characters often have more to them than it first appears.

* TheChessmaster: Sam Westing. Never mind the fact that he ends up creating [[spoiler:three other very different identities, none of which are picked up on by any of the heirs except Turtle]]--the game itself requires an extreme amount of manipulation, guile, and intelligence in every one of its layers, from planning out the clues and what the missing ones spell out, to the writing of the will (including sections which he slipped into a locked desk drawer only after listening to the heirs debate, seconds before they will be read), to employing bribes of money to get certain people to even be willing to play (and in pairs where both must agree and sign the checks to receive it), to [[spoiler: FakingTheDead ''twice'']], to whom he sets up as the various pairs, and more. He also possesses and makes use of great insight into each of the characters' personalities and motivations, particularly Ford's, Grace's, Crow's, and Turtle's.

%%* BewareTheNiceOnes:
%%** [[spoiler:Angela]] is the bomber.
%%** [[spoiler:Madame Hoo]] is the thief.
%%** [[spoiler: Jake Wexler]] is the bookie.
%%** [[spoiler: Sandy]] is TheChessmaster behind the entire situation.

** Flora Baumbach's car's hood also comes open in traffic, a few pages after another heir follows a (false) lead to check under the hoods of the vehicles in Sunset Towers' parking lot. Guess they didn't secure Flora's properly afterwards.

%%* TheChessmaster: Sam Westing.

%%* ConservationOfDetail: To an extreme degree.

%%* HiddenDepths: Applies to nearly every character.

* JerkJock: Downplayed, as Doug Hoo is nice to his mom and seems friendly with Theo, but he's often a smartass towards his dad and treats Turtle quite poorly, even going as far as to intentionally provoke her by yanking on her braid before running away.

* BewareTheNiceOnes:
** [[spoiler:Angela]] is the bomber.
** [[spoiler:Madame Hoo]] is the thief.
** [[spoiler: Jake Wexler]] is the bookie.
** [[spoiler: Sandy]] is TheChessmaster behind the entire situation.

* AdaptationalDumbass: Downplayed, but while Turtle is still the one to put together all the clues and figure out both that the clues [[spoiler: were implicating Crow]], but that [[spoiler: the real mystery was who the "Fourth" was]], she no longer is involved in trading on the stock market and it takes a discussion with Sydelle to realize that [[spoiler: her sister is the bomber.]]

* SwitchedAtBirth: Discussed, after [[spoiler:Turtle makes herself look like the bomber to protect her sister]], Grace tells her husband that she believes the hospital must have mixed up the children to have ended up with Turtle. Jake actually calls her out on this by suggesting [[spoiler: [[MistreatmentInducedBetrayal this exact reasoning could've been why she supposedly made the bombs]] ]].