The Westing Game By Ellen Raskin
Discover the theme of the novel of The Westing Game
The Theme
"People aren't who they appear to be. Lies are a way of hiding who you really are".
The Bomb
One symbol that relates to the theme is the bomb. In the novel, there are four bombs that go off and each time, someone gets hurt. The bomb shows how things are not always seem. All the contestants, or heirs, thought that the bomb pertained to the game. However, the bomb just misleads everyone and distracted them from the main point of the game. For example, “‘Angela. And how is your pretty sister, the bomber?’” (Raskin 180). This quote shows how even Samuel Westing, the begetter of the Westing Game, didn’t even include the bombs in his game yet everyone thought that it related to the game.
Did You Know?
The Disguise of Sandy McSouthers
One object that shows the theme is the disguise of Sandy. Sandy is not a real person so that shows how things are not how it always seems. Sandy is one of the disguises of Samuel Westing. It represents how many people can mislead you which brings us to the message that things are not how it seems. For example, “she had fallen for it again. Westing had sacrificed his queen (Crow), distracting the players from the real game” (Raskin 158). This quote shows how Sandy, or Samuel Westing, fooled everyone and disguised himself. Sandy was one of the contestants of the Westing Game. Now nothing is like it seems.