The Westing Game

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. From the soup kitchen to Turtle’s care for Alice, the heirs pay their successes forward through generosity toward others. Is there a charitable cause that’s important to you that you’ve tried to support? In what other ways have you been able to give back to your community or someone who helped you? 

2. Ruskin’s characters try to use reason to impose order on a world that frequently lacks sense, but they follow their intuitions over evidence when it comes to identifying the supposed killer. Do you think it’s possible for people to be completely objective in their decision-making? Why or why not? Do you consider yourself more intuitive or more rational? 

3. At first, Turtle sees making money as a goal in itself, but she later learns to place greater value on her relationships. What do you think makes for a truly rich life? Consider times when you had a sense of joy and abundance. What characterized them?

4. During his time posing as Sandy and Eastman, Westing becomes a mentor figure to Turtle. Who is an important mentor in your life, and what have they taught you about yourself and life?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Both Angela and Westing’s daughter harm themselves to avoid marriage. What point is the author making about societal expectations about marriage and their impact on women? Do these expectations still ring true decades after the work’s initial publication?

2. Chris Theodorakis has a physical disability. How do his relationships with the other characters and the conclusion of his character arc challenge society’s ableist attitudes?

3. Although some Westing heirs are originally motivated to participate in the game by greed, they come to understand the importance of generosity. What message is Ruskin sharing about societal attitudes toward money? Where do you see this message applying when considering society at large?

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. How do Westing’s various aliases contribute to the novel’s structure, mystery, and theme of appearances? What common traits can you identify among his alter egos? 

2. Trace the theme of rationality by analyzing moments when characters’ intuitions are closer to the truth than the available evidence is. What message is the author communicating about the use of rationality in an irrational world?

3. How does Turtle’s attitude toward money evolve over the course of the novel? How do these shifts advance the theme of greed and charity and inform her development as a protagonist?

4. How does Ruskin use the motif of chess to develop the novel’s characters and the theme of rationality? In what ways is the Westing Game like a game of chess?