Desire to Learn

“It’s not what you have, it’s what you don’t have that counts.” This is the most memorable and repeated line from Mr. Westing’s will in The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. The Westing heirs are given their clues; and then with the fraction of information they have, are asked to solve a mystery. Only one heir finds herself capable of this act. Turtle is the one able to uncover the truth because of two main reasons. First, she collects all the information possible that is available to her. Second, she has the strongest most pure desire to know the answer. Driven by the “death” of her friend Sandy, she wants to solve the mystery for his sake, as well to ease her own ache over losing him. Turtle’s success is meant to inspire in others the desire for knowledge. Raskin hopes we won’t just be content with learning what we have to learn, but that we will pursue knowledge because we desire to do so.

There are many educated adults who are players in Mr. Westing’s game. There’s a judge, a doctor, business owners, and more. So why is it that a child, the youngest player, is the one who is able to discover the truth? Raskin’s message is that the desire to learn is most easily planted, and most readily received, in children. Children ask questions because they are curious, and therefore are open to receiving the most answers.

It’s easy, in our time, to think this means we should use the wide array of resources available. Nowadays, any question we have can be answered from a search bar—Google! However, Raskin wrote this book during the 70s, before Internet searching existed. She wrote The Westing Game with a little bit more intent than to just “google” what we don’t know. From the knowledge that we as learners garner, we must creatively ask questions that maybe haven’t been thought of before. “It’s what we don’t have that counts.” This is a predecessor to innovation. If any era was removed from our history, we would be that much further behind in the understanding of our world than we are today. The culture and people of the 70s were a product of everything that had come before them, and we are a product of everything that has come before us, including the 70s. Now in our day, we must ask ourselves what we don’t have, and what can we do to fill that gap.

Raskin loved learning and did everything she could to help further the education of students. Twice Raskin made offers of her manuscripts to the CCBC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center) and was refused. On her third attempt, she made it very clear that she wanted her manuscripts to be used to educate students. Rather than her manuscripts being preserved but never used, she wished for them to fall apart from use. The CCBC accepted this third time. Since her book was written in the 70s, it was an actual physical copy of her original draft. On it, students could clearly see the author’s revisions, and the roles of the literary and copy editor. It was Raskin’s goal for whoever viewed her manuscripts to walk away with a better understanding of how the writing process worked.

Raskin didn’t just stop there with her books. She went all the way, by designing her book as a finished product. She designed the cover and title page of her books, as well as all the other pages. The entire process from start to finish was overseen by Raskin herself. Doing more than the bare minimum, she’s an example of the lesson being taught—to always do as much as you can and learn as much as you can.

Some might say that this interpretation of the text leads people to never be satisfied with what they have. Instead of people being grateful for what they have currently, humans always pursue more and more. I personally think that’s okay for growth. Contentment doesn’t necessarily bring happiness, maybe just more comfort. The reason I’m attending BYU is that I wanted to be challenged in ways this particular school offers. Moving to Provo threw challenges at me because I was away from my family, friends, and everything I found comfort in. These experiences have made me who I am this year, and might even change who I am next year. Because I desired the opportunity to gain additional knowledge, I’m now blessed enough to be studying film. I don’t think that would have happened if I had stayed at home or gone to a different university. I’m grateful for what I’ve been given, and will make the absolute best of it I possibly can.

Turtle’s experience is an example to all of us of the good knowledge can do us. Because she dared to ask the question and get an answer, she benefited from a life-long friendship that otherwise she would have been without. A desire to attain more is healthy and should be pursued—it can help others as well as yourself. If we find the questions to ask, the generations after ours will take what we have and be able to find out what we don’t have.