The Roles of Women

The book, The Westing Game, is full of many themes. The specific theme that stood out in my mind after finishing the book was the role of women. To start with, the copyright date on this book is 1978, so it’s important to remember the time frame in which this book was written. The gender roles for women at that time in history are dramatically different than they are today. In this book, many of the women stay on the path of the “stereotypical female.” In some instances, however, a couple characters step off this path.

So, as far as gender roles in women, I focused on the Wexler women (Grace, Angela and Turtle).

First is Grace Wexler. She plays a very stereotypical role in this book by being a housewife and she is quite dramatic in her role. You can gain a sense of who she is by when she gives herself the title, “heiress.” She gloats and thinks highly of herself, but deep down she is lacking confidence in herself. It’s obvious that she strongly favors her daughter, Angela, over Turtle. Toward the end of the book, she grows on you as she sort of “finds herself” and eventually becomes the owner of the Hoo’s chain restaurants.

Next is Angela Wexler. She is deemed the “perfect child.” She follows her mother’s orders and does anything she asks. Her mother is basically living in her daughter’s footsteps. She isn’t able to stay in medical school because her mother thinks it would be easier to just marry a doctor. Her mother even has a doctor picked out for her to marry, Denton Deere. It’s not a surprise that Angela does not feel like she has control of her own life- because the truth is that she doesn’t. It’s nice to see how she breaks away from her mother’s hold by the end of the book and she finally takes control of her own life. She ends up with Denton, but she married him when she wanted to.

Finally is Turtle. She’s the one Wexler who does not follow the stereotypical role of the female. She was never favored by her mother (What kind of mother calls their child Turtle, anyway?)  and she always seemed to be getting into trouble kicking people. She is very independent for a teenager and she has quite the business mind. I found Turtle to be the most interesting character because she changed so much over the course of the book. In the end, she’s matured very much and ends up being a very successful businesswoman. I think that Grace was always somewhat threatened by her daughter, Turtle, and that is why she treated her the way she did. She seemed to be jealous of her independence. 

In the end of the book, I liked reading how Turtle (later T.R.) turned out…especially the very last sentence where she is beginning a chess game with Angela and Denton’s daughter, Alice.