Identity

Through the book, the characters in The Westing Game  were establish their identities they should have been the whole time. Majority of them were thinking they were only playing a game to win $200 million dollars but that all changed when Mr. Westing himself stated in the will the other players are to discover who you really are. Little did the characters know that by the end of the game they would have redefined themselves. The main goal of the whole game is not who killed Sam Westing but who they really are.
From the very beginning of the game in the library, the characters are to write their name and position as signed on the receipt. We learned from Mr. Westing that a person's name has no connection to their real identity. From the first time they signed their name in the library to the final time they met in the library their positions with their names has changed. Mr. Westing states in the eleventh point in the will that some of them are not who they say they are nor who they make out to be.
One of the main problems with identity throughout the book is who killed Sam Westing; however, we come to a conclusion to whether if Mr. Westing is even dead. Sam Westing has multiple identities. Sam Westing is not even this real name. He kept killing off his previous identity. First it was Windy Windkloppel, the immigrant, then it was Sam Westing, himself. He next killed Sandy McSouthers, then finally Julian R. Eastman. We as readers are stuck trying to figure out who Sam Westing actually is and who he really may be.
Turtle has a confusion with who she identifies with. Turtle and her mother do not have a health relationship. Turtle then turns to Flora Baumbach because she is her partner in the game and a mother figure to her. Flora asked what her real name is and Turtle answers with "Alice". We soon find out her real name is Tabitha-Ruth. She is confused with her identity because she does not even go by her real name and then tells people her real name is a false real name. When signing her position on her receipt she writes "witch" because of the outfit she wore on Halloween, but the final meeting she writes "financier" because she learned from the money she got from the game how to work the stock market.
Angela Wexler, Turtle's sister, even has a problem in identifying herself. Everyone knows she is pretty and that she should marry Denton Deere. No one looks deeper behind her pretty face. She has to work hard to create her true identity. Deep down she does not want to marry Mr. Deere, but stays with it because of what everyone wants. The shocking identity Angela creates for herself is being the bomber; however, no one knows she is the bomber except for her sister Turtle who takes the blame for being the bomber. After a incident during a bombing leaves her with a scared face. She soon realizes the others look past her beauty because of the damage and treats her like a real person. During the first meeting she wrote "none". She did not claim a identity, but at the final meeting she writes "person". At the end, Angela developed in a grown women and pursues her dream of being a doctor, which her mother never thought she should do because of her beauty. She let go of the person belonging to the beauty and regains her control of her life and returns to her relationship with Denton Deere.
Grace, the mother of both Turtle and Angela, could not come to a conclusion on what her position truly was. She first wrote "housewife" then "decorator" and finally "heiress".  Grace is an actual housewife but pretends to be decorator. When she writes heiress, it is because she dreams or wants to believe she is that and wants everyone to believe she is a heiress. By the final meeting, she comes to a conclusion that she is a "restaurateur". She comes into her own when she starts to help James Shin Hoo in his restaurant.She has troubles being a mother to both her daughters because she thinks highly of one and whats nothing to do with the other. My question is was Grace really a housewife? In my eyes, a housewife has to have a health relationship with her family members and care for them; she didn't.
Sydelle Pulaski is a troubled person. She is the mistake of the heirs; she hides behind her false injuries to try and gain acceptable with the others because of her injuries. Turtle even states that Sydelle hides behind her crutch. Sydelle even states she has a disease that is incurable called "wasting disease". At the beginning she writes she is a "secretary to the president" but in reality it is the president of a sausage company. The final meeting she is the "victim" due to the fact she got injured during the bombing at Angela's shower. All Sydelle wants is the attention of the other characters.
James Shin Hoo does not even go by his real full name. He added Shin to his name because he did not think James Hoo was not Chinese enough for owning a restaurant. Along with Mr. Hoo, his wife, Madame Hoo is the theft of the group. She does not talk English and decides to steal thing for money. At the beginning she is quiet and rather look at the window. However, at the end of the book, she can speak English, runs the restaurant by herself, and made it back to China by herself. She developed into the culture and made a whole new identity for herself. Did Madame Hoo hid during the beginning of the game because she was unhappy with her marriage? Once Jake and her got paired up, Mrs. Hoo started to speak English and even socialize and become a person on her own. We can question if Jake's partnership and friendship with Mrs. Hoo helped her realize you can think on your own and leave something that causes unhappiness.
By the end of the book, the characters have developed into a new identity and even lifestyle. Majority of them create a new position or just a shorter one. Many of them mended old relationship or even created new relationships. Family grew closer together due to finding out who they really are or even actually listening to them.