The Westing Game Family Quotes

Here Grace thinks of Turtle in terms of what she lacks when compared to Angela. It's really unfair to compare one of your children to an angel and the other to an animal; what's more, if the one person who might be expected to love both of those individuals equally (a mother) is making that kind of cruel comparison, what chance do they have of escaping it in the outside world? The word choice of "surprised" says volumes about how Grace treats Turtle, too – imagine if every time you saw your mother she seemed shocked to find out that you were part of the family. It's brutal.

It seems significant that Chris wants to articulate his name and position for himself, and not rely on his brother to do it for him. Although it's very difficult for him to do, in writing out his name and position for himself he's able to claim who he is and the kind of person he wants to be – and we're left wondering what position Theo might have filled in for him, if he'd been left to do the form instead. Remember, Theo fills out his form as a "brother."

Here, Westing is clearly making fun of the assembled heirs. He doesn't really mean that they're all related to him; in fact, only a few of them really are. He knew part of his audience well enough, at least some of them, to include information in the will that directly responds to how they will act when it is read. (It's almost like magic.) More importantly, what he's doing here is showing everyone his chosen family, to the despair of people like Grace, who rely on literal family bonds, especially in inheritance-type scenarios.

Theo and Grace may both be "protest[ing]" about how their family members are being treated, but there's at least one key difference between them. Theo wants to take care of Chris himself, while Grace thinks Angela's fiancé should take care of her. While in their desire to protect their relatives they're both verging on a kind of smothering, or keeping them from growing, they're also limiting themselves, and others, as proposed caretakers.

Is Flora right to say that we should all do what our mothers say? She seems to mean that we should obey first, consider later. But should a child obey a parent when the parent's asking them to do something that's unfair or wrong? Turtle shouldn't have to share her clues; that's not on the same level as brushing your teeth twice a day or not getting into strangers' cars. Where are we supposed to draw the line?

In a little thing we like to call dramatic irony, the judge thinks she's right, but she's actually wrong. She's absolutely correct that if Grace is related to Westing on her father's side, they should share the same last name. What she doesn't know is that Grace and Sam are related – they both used to have the same last name, and they just each changed it to something different. Based on where this information hits us in the mystery, though, we side with the judge and think Grace is probably lying.

If you had to guess who says this, who would it be? It could be Grace, the troubled mother; Jake, the absent father; Flora or Crow, the grieving mothers; Sandy, the seemingly overextended father. And so forth. Weirdly, it's actually Mr. Hoo. Mr. Hoo is such an uninvolved parent that sometimes we forget about his relationship to Doug. It seems like the only things he ever tells his son are to study more or get back to work. He's right that being a parent is pretty hard, but we think he has a funny way of showing it.

While Turtle would certainly say her sister's lucky to get such consistent praise and attention from their mother, Angela thinks Turtle's "lucky" to be left alone. There can be an equally damaging harm in the kind of attention Angela receives and, in some respects, Turtle's fortunate that she's been forced to become self-sufficient and savvy without this kind of parental (over)protection.

In some ways, sibling relationships are the strongest familial bonds in this book. Theo watches for Chris and Turtle cares for Angela. Turtle's willing to jeopardize her future, to burn off her hair, and to take the fall, all to protect her beautiful big sister. The judge recognizes this bond between them and it makes her long for a family of her own – the one time in the text we see her be sentimental about having a family or regret the lack of one.

This is a moving description of what love is and what family can mean. Even though Turtle and Theo would like to have kids, they've decided not to just in case their kid gets the same disease Chris has. That's just a "possibility," not a guarantee, but for Turtle and Theo it's enough. They'll make a family without children in it. (On a side note, their decision raises interesting questions about whether Turtle might be relieved to not have to be a mother, considering the role model she had to work with.)

Even though they've decided this, though, Turtle lies about it to give Sandy comfort when he's actually dying. Sometimes lying can be love, too.