The Westing Game

1
The Westing Game

• By Ellen Raskin

2
About the Author

• Ellen Raskin was born in 1928, in
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• As a student at the University of Wisconsin, she
  studied journalism and fine art.
• She later moved to New York where she was a
  freelance illustrator of magazine book
  publishers. She primarily designed book covers.
  
• In 1966, she wrote and illustrated a childrens
  picture book, Nothing Ever Happens on My Block.
• In all, she wrote four young adult novels The
  Westing Game, a Newberry winner and published in
  1978, was her last.
• She suffered from a rare and painful connective
  tissue disease and died in 1984, at the age of
  fifty-six.

3
Genre

• The Westing Game is a mystery.
• What do you know about mysteries?
• K W L
• (What I know (What I want to know (What I
  learned
• About a mystery...) about a mystery) about a
  mystery)
• H
• (How will you find out?)

4
The Westing Game is a written in the tradition of
a cozy mystery. In this type of mystery,
characters work together as amateur detectives to
solve an elaborate puzzle (or play a game).
While characters may feel they are placed in
jeopardy, they are actually relatively safe as
the mystery unfolds. Most characters are
likeable but often quirky.
5
Elements of a Mystery
setting
victims
Characters suspects and detectives
suspense
plot
Problem/crime
clues
predictions
motive
solution
evidence
6
Predict-O-Gram Activity for The Westing Game

• Work individually to place the 24 terms from the
  novel in one of the six categories.
• Then work with a partner to share your
  information and to explain why you placed each
  term where you did.
• You may change an answer but do so in a different
  color of ink.

7
Themes inThe Westing Game

• People are not always who they appear to be.
  (Appearances/Identity)
• Money makes people act oddly. Money doesnt
  always buy happiness. (money)
• America is a land of opportunity. (Patriotism)
• There are two types of family the one we are
  born into and the one we choose. (family)

• Theme is the most important message in a story.
  It will say something about life or human nature.
  Because the theme is a message, it must be
  expressed in a complete sentence. Sometimes the
  theme must be inferred through careful reading
  and analysis.

8
Setting of The Westing Game

• Sunset Towers (a modern apartment building) is
  important to how the characters interact and
  perceive each other.
• The Westing House (this house neighbors Sunset
  Towers) is isolated, dark, and mysterious.
• Lake Michigan, Wisconsin (cold climate/lake snow
  effects) helps set the stage for being snowed
  in, an important part of the plot.

• Remember, setting is the time, place, and
  situation of the story.
• It is an important plot element in this novel.

9
Characters in The Westing House

• Authors use direct and indirect methods to reveal
  character traits.
• What do direct characterization mean?
• Indirect?

• Ellen Raskin matched the characters for the
  game. Think about her motivation for matching
  the characters the way that she did.
• Protagonist Turtle Wexler
• Antagonist(s) Sam Westing (and others)you
  decide ?

10
Point of View in The Westing Game

• As yourselfwho is the narrator? Can he or she
  reads minds, and more importantly, can we trust
  him or her?
• First Person (the narrator is a character in the
  storycan be quite limitinguses first person
  I.)
• Third Person (uses third person pronouns)
• Omniscient (the narrator is outside the story but
  is all-knowing which allows the reader to
  understand the thoughts of all characters.)
• Limited (the narrator is outside the story and
  only shares the thoughts and ideas of a limited
  number of characters, usually only one)

• The Westing Game is told in Third Person
  Omniscient Point of View.
• This is the perfect point of view for a mystery
  because it allows Ellen Raskin to represent the
  thoughts of each character at any time.