Student Question
What key detail about Mr. Westing did the newspaper article omit and why?
Quick answer:
The newspaper article omitted who found Mr. Westing's body and how it was discovered, and it also ignored mysterious objects in his room. These omissions likely serve to maintain the mystery, as Sam Westing faked his own death to orchestrate a game involving his heirs. His disguise as Sandy McSouthers, who was involved with Turtle's entry into the mansion, suggests a deliberate omission to keep the game and its players unsuspecting.
In The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, junior high student Turtle Wexler enters the mysterious Westing Mansion on Halloween night. Turtle has an agreement with teens Theo and Doug: they will pay her two dollars for every minute she stays in the mansion that is rumored to be haunted. After eleven minutes, Turtle runs out of the mansion screaming. She says she found the body of Samuel Westing in a four-poster bed, after what sounded like a "throbbing whisper, ‘pur-ple...pur-ple,’” led her to the second floor.
The next morning's newspaper headline reads "Sam Westing Found Dead." Turtle reads the article that is accompanied by a picture of the man whose corpse she found. The article reviews Sam Westing's life. He loved fireworks and kept them in his mansion to set off annually on his lawn. He staged Fourth of July pageants in which he would dress up as Uncle...
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Sam. His estate is worth over two-hundred-million dollars. He lived alone, as he was divorced and his only daughter had drowned. In business he had been sued by another inventor. After a car accident left him injured and disfigured, he seemed to disappear.
The article does not say who found the body, or how it was discovered. The article also leaves out information regarding the mysterious objects in his room, such as the envelope reading "If I am found dead..."
There is also no mention of any evidence that teenagers had been in and around the mansion that night, although at the reading of the will, Westing's dead hands clutch a silver cross—Turtle's mother's cross that she had carried and dropped during her time in the mansion.
Why would the newspaper omit this information? Well, for one thing, Sam Westing is not really dead. Westing fakes his own death and creates a game, appearing to his family members in disguise. One of his disguises is Sandy McSouthers, who was part of the bet with Turtle, getting her to enter the house. Perhaps that is why there is no mention of their footprint tracks outside the house. In considering why the article would leave out info on how the body was discovered, we should also ask why Westing would fake his death and create this game at all. Do you think the missing information added to the mystery of it all? What questions was Turtle left with after reading the article?