Who did Turtle kick in the Westing game

Turtle Wexler

The Turtle And The Heir

We're just going to say it: we're 100% #TeamTurtle. This is the girl we all wish we had as a best friend back in elementary school—smart, feisty, and weirdly precocious when it comes to playing the stock market. Hmm. Actually, we'd love to have her as a BFF at any age.

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Turtle Wexler
The Turtle And The Heir
A Turtle With A Heart Of Gold
Westing's Wake
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What did turtle do in The Westing Game?
How did turtle know Angela was the bomber?
What has Angela stolen from Turtle?
Is Turtle a boy or a girl in The Westing Game?

Turtle is the youngest of the Westing heirs and one of the most misunderstood. She's also one of the most intelligent characters and one of the most committed to playing the Westing game. What's more, she's pretty much the heroine: she's the main-est main character and, at thirteen, she's pretty close in age to the expected audience of Westing Game readers.

But just in case you're not the same age as Turtle, don't let that stop you from identifying with her: her qualities of determination, cleverness, and loyalty, combined with her habit of kicking people hard in the shins when they do something she sees as wrong, make her sympathetic for and interesting to readers in all age groups.

A Turtle With A Heart Of Gold

Even though her sister Angela is favored by just about everybody because of how dang pretty she is, Turtle still loves Angela and sticks up for her. She even takes credit for the bombings so Angela won't have to, losing her important braid in the process. See, Turtle is a good sister, and she tries to be a good daughter. Her mother may treat her like the lesser child, but that's made Turtle strong where Angela's weak, and assertive in ways the other women in her family are not:

These were her mother's friends and the newly married daughters of her mother's friends—and Turtle, who was leaning against the wall, arms folded, smirking. Lucky Turtle, the neglected child. (16.4)

One sore point for Turtle is that she isn't conventionally pretty, not in the ways that her mother and sister are. But instead of letting this lack of beauty make her weak, Turtle strengthens her ambition and her desire for a career. By the time she's eighteen, Theo's describing her as "attractive" (29.22). And although at the end of the book Turtle self-deprecatingly describes herself as not pretty, she's laughing when she says it.

But there are other reasons for hearting Turtle besides her good heart and her modesty. It seems that Turtle deserves to end up as the heir Westing's fortune for several reasons:

She's technically related to Westing (always a good thing for an heir to be) and, as the judge points out, Turtle both looks and acts like Westing... especially in the trial scene.
When the players are working in teams to each solve what they think is the central mystery of the will, her plan of action doesn't place blame on anyone; she shows initiative and makes money. While that's not the right answer, it's not like the other characters do any better with their original clues.
She's the only heir to really treat Sandy (Mr. Westing in disguise) as a friend and equal, and she's the only person he encourages to keep playing the game.
And while both the judge and Turtle realize that Sam Westing has more than one identity, it is Turtle who does the best "close reading" of the will at the end and fills in the missing blanks.

Once Turtle has won, we get other glimpses of why she really is the rightful heir. Five years after the game is over, she wins a game of chess against Sam Westing. It's her second win against him. Remember, other characters like Theo and Judge Ford also played chess with Sam Westing... but neither of them ever won. While a game of chess might not have as big a prize as the Westing game did, in a way, for Turtle, the stakes are just as high: it's a test of strategy against "the master" (29.24) and one that only she, it seems, can pass.

At the end of the book, we see her become the kind of mentor to others that Sam Westing was to her, as we see her go to play chess with another intelligent little girl—her niece.

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Chapter 25

Westing's Wake

The players confer in Judge Ford's apartment.
They say Crow has confessed, but only to being herself, not to any murders. Everyone feels sorry for Crow, and for Sandy.
Turtle says Sandy was her friend, and Dr. Deere says she shouldn't have kicked him. Turtle says she never did—she only kicked Barney Northrup. She thinks about how Sandy looked dying, twitching, with one eye blinking, kind of like how he'd wink at her sometimes.
Theo says he didn't realize it, but he was playing chess with Sandy in the game room the whole time. Turtle thinks this is a lie because Sandy didn't know how to play chess.
Theo says Doug saw him playing, and mentions he won their last game. The judge asks him how he knows, and Theo says he took the queen.
The judge realizes it's a total Westing move, and says that Theo would have lost. Theo realizes she's right.
Turtle thinks about how Sandy beat Theo, except he didn't know how to play chess, and how she didn't kick him, except he had a sore shin. She thinks about the dentist he sent her to, and how he told her the game wasn't over, and had winked at her.
Turtle jumps up and asks Angela to look at her copy of the will.
Turtle reads the will aloud to everyone. In part one she repeats that Westing came to seek his heir and said his body will be scattered to the winds.
Grace really was related to Westing.
Judge Ford explains the Westing family tree, and says the game might've been for getting revenge on Crow.
Turtle rereads the second and third parts. Otis says that Crow won't win any money, and that she's been sacrificed.
This makes the judge think of chess, and she figures out that Crow is the queen's sacrifice, which means Westing won. She calls herself stupid.
Dr. Deere says Westing's the stupid one, saying happy Fourth of July in the will, when it's November.
Otis says that it's Crow's birthday, which makes Turtle remember that Sandy had asked for that candle for his wife's birthday. She realizes the game isn't over, and that Sandy was rooting for her. She thinks, again, "It is not what you have, it's what you don't have that counts" (25.62). She has to figure out what happened before anyone else does. She decides to hold a trial.

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What did turtle do in The Westing Game?

Turtle Wexler, having solved the game by discovering Sam Westing's secret life, is dedicated to becoming his successor – and, ultimately, the president of Westing Paper Products. She takes on the nickname of T.R. (real name: Tabitha-Ruth Wexler), attends college early, and makes over $5 million in the stock market.

How did turtle know Angela was the bomber?

When she meets with the judge about it, Turtle accidentally reveals Angela's the bomber, because she's so focused on keeping that a secret. During their discussion, Turtle and the judge both realize that Sam Westing might not be dead after all. Turtle sells Sandy her last timed candle, and admits to all the bombings.

What has Angela stolen from Turtle?

"Mom thinks Angela was the one to steal the shorthand notebook." Turtle announced. "It was because Mom asked to see it, and of course Angela does anything she says."

Is Turtle a boy or a girl in The Westing Game?

Turtle is one of the main characters in The Westing Game. She is an independent-minded young girl who is not afraid to kick the shins of anyone who touches her braid. Her mother Grace Wexler usually ignores her in favor of her elder sister, Angela.