Award-winning author Neal Shusterman grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where he began writing at an early age. He went on to UC Irvine. Within a year of graduating, he had his first book deal. As a screen and TV writer, Neal has written for the "Goosebumps" and "Animorphs" TV series, and wrote the Disney Channel Original Movie "Pixel Perfect." Currently Neal is adapting his novel Everlost as a feature film for Universal Studios. Neal Shusterman lives in Southern California with his children Brendan, Jarrod, Joelle, and Erin.
About the Book
In the not-too-distant future, teens Connor, Risa, and Lev are
on the run for their lives. Following the Second Civil War, between
pro-choice and pro-life forces, the United States now allows
parents to unwind their unwanted and difficult kids between the
ages of thirteen and eighteen: Their bodies are surgically taken
apart and all the organs and tissue are used in other people.
According to the law, the kids aren''t considered dead, they''re
"living in a divided state." But Connor, Risa, and Lev, and
thousands of other teens slated for "unwinding", don''t see it that
way. They choose instead to "kick AWOL," or run away.
Unwind follows these three across the country as they
travel together, split up, and meet again when their destinies
cross in a Harvest Camp where they are slated to be unwound.
Prereading Research/Activities
Have students research those who helped endangered people in the
past. They can study the pre-Civil War Underground Railroad, a vast
network of individuals who helped runaway slaves make their way to
freedom. They can also research the stories of those who helped
Jews escape the Nazis, including Oskar Schindler, Raoul Wallenberg,
and Chiune Sugihara.
The novel takes places after the "Second Civil War." The real
Civil War was fought primarily over the issue of slavery. Learn
about recent civil wars in other countries. What issues--such as
religion, race, or politics--have they been fought over? In small
groups, discuss the idea of a second civil war in this country, and
what it might be fought over. Do you think it could happen
here?
Find out how many people today elect to donate their organs
after their death. What is the process to do so? How are the organs
handled and delivered? How many lives do they save? Ask other
students how many of them intend to donate their organs. Stage a
debate: Discuss whether it is a good idea to donate organs. If so,
why do so few people do it?
Discussion Topics
1. How would you feel if you discovered you were going to be
unwound? What would you do? If you didn''t want to go along with it
but couldn''t run away like Connor and the others in the novel,
what other options might you have?
2. How would you feel if you were in an accident, or had a rare
disease, and you could be cured only if your damaged organs were
replaced by parts taken from unwound teens? What would you choose
to do? What if you were certain to die if you refused the parts?
What if it wasn''t you, but someone you loved (a parent, a sibling)
who was in an accident? Would your answer be different?
3. You just found out the person sitting next to you is going to
be unwound. Come up with ten good reasons why they should NOT be.
Remember, their life may depend on it!
4. When do you think the story takes place? The book never
reveals the year. How many years in the future might it be? What
clues hint at how much time has passed? What companies or products
are named? What societal norms can you point to that have changed
or remained the same? What are the similarities between the world
of Unwind and our own world? What are the differences?
5. Which of the three main characters, Connor, Risa, or Lev, do
you most identify with? Why? What traits do you have in common?
Which of their traits work for them, and which make their lives
harder? Which of your own traits would you like to give up? Which
would you want to keep?
6. In the course of the book, Connor and Risa get separated from
Lev, who travels for a time with another character. Why do you
think the author chose to split the narrative into two distinct
threads? What do you think this achieves? How does this affect the
evolution of the characters?
7. Compare the similarities and differences of Lev''s journey
with Cyrus to Joplin, Missouri, in Unwind to Huck''s
travel with Jim down the Mississippi River in the novel
Huckleberry Finn.
8. While being transported to possible safety, some of the kids
on the run wonder, "Would it be better to die or be unwound?" If
given the choice, which would you choose? Why?
9. Another question the kids in the book discuss is, "If every
part of you is still alive but inside someone else, are you alive
or are you dead?" They also wonder if consciousness can exist even
if it''s spread out, and if the soul remains intact. What do you
think?
10. Which adults in the story are depicted sympathetically?
Which do you feel are not sympathetic? Do any shift from one to the
other? How did the author describe these characters to make you
feel one way or the other about them?
11. Risa is assigned to play in a band at a Harvest Camp,
performing upbeat tunes while teens are marched to their unwinding.
Risa is conflicted: She knows playing in the band will keep her
alive longer, but it''s at the expense of others, and her joy at
having her fingers on a piano is matched by the horror of knowing
what''s going on around her. How would you feel in this situation?
Would you accept the position? Are there any situations in history
similar to this?
12. What positive consequences do you imagine would be realized
by a society where unwinding exists? What are the negatives? Do you
think the negatives outweigh the positives, or the other way
around?
13. A euphemism is a mild word or phrase that''s used to refer
to something unpleasant or embarrassing. "Living in a divided
state" is a euphemism officials in the novel use in place of "being
unwound." Another euphemism in the novel is "harvest camps" in
place of "unwinding facilities." Can you think of any commonly used
euphemisms in real life? Why do you think people use
euphemisms?
14. In the novel, unwinding becomes big business, as there''s a
lot of money to be made from ill people and accident victims
requiring fresh organs, and the population looks the other way, not
considering the source. Are there any present-day situations you
can think of where ethics have been compromised because of money,
or because it''s simply easier not to think about it? Predict a
situation in the future where greed or denial could defeat
morals.
15. Imagine that you are approached to join the Clappers, the
novel''s futuristic terrorists. How would you respond? What would
you tell them?
16. Connor''s anger and lack of impulse control is often a
problem for him, until he learns to control and channel his
emotions. Do you ever feel like your impulses are stronger than
your will? What strategies do you use to control your feelings? Do
they work?
17. The bully, Roland, makes life hard for Connor and Risa from
the time they meet him. What do you think of his ultimate payback?
Did you think it was fair? Was it satisfying, or did it make you
squirm or both? Why?
Activities
In the novel, Sonia, the owner of the antique shop, has each of
the teens she helps write a letter to someone they love. Write your
own letter to someone you love and, like the kids in the novel, put
everything you want to say to that person, good and bad, in the
letter. Would you be willing to show this letter to the person you
wrote it to? Why or why not? What about in three or four years?
Draw up a will; instead of possessions, it''s your personality
that you''re giving away. List your personality traits. What parts
of your personality (your sense of humor, your determination, etc.)
would you give away, and to whom?
Prepare testimony to Congress as they begin hearings on the
status of the Bill of Life. Write your testimony from the point of
view of a teen slated to be unwound or from someone whose life was
saved by receiving body parts from an unwound teen. Hold hearings,
where several students share their testimony with the class. Then
debate whether the law should be changed or not.
Risa''s band plays "Don''t Fear the Reaper," among other songs,
for the teens who are going to be unwound. Put together a set list
of songs your band would play if you were performing at a Harvest
Camp. Explain your choices.
In the novel, the characters arrive at "the graveyard," a safe
refuge for teens facing unwinding. In a group, invent another
location where teens have gathered. Describe how your own makeshift
community functions, and what each of your jobs is. Create a list
of ten rules for getting along, in the spirit of the Admiral''s
"Ten Demandments."
At the novel''s end, when different people who obtained parts
from a single individual are brought together, they begin to act as
a unit. In a group, try performing the acting exercise known as
"the Machine." One person does a single repetitive motion over and
over again. Then a second person joins the first, repeating a
different but complementary motion. Then the others join, one at a
time. In the end, you will have a "machine" with a number of
different parts, all doing separate but related motions, acting as
a single entity.
Try telling a story in which every person, one after another,
gets to donate only one sentence. The goal is not to throw the
story off track, or to be funny, but to make the story coherent.
Can it be done? Did the story make sense?
Write a newspaper article dated one year after the end of the
novel. What news event has just happened (for example, a new
election, a riot, a new terrorist attack)? Has it changed anything
fundamental about the society or the Bill of Life? Has the law been
repealed?
Characters
Connor Lassiter: a sixteen-year-old troubled
kid. When he learns his parents have signed an unwind order, he
runs away in search of a place to hide until he''s eighteen years
old.
Risa Ward: fifteen years old, an orphan at a
state home. She runs away when the administrators sign the order to
have her unwound, and out of necessity joins Connor in seeking
safety.
Lev Calder: the tenth and youngest child of his
religious family, a "tithe" who was born to be unwound when he
reached his thirteenth birthday. He is "kidnapped" by Connor, who
means to save him from his fate.
Pastor Dan: Lev''s minister and his spiritual
advisor. Pastor Dan gives Lev support as he approaches his
unwinding, but at the moment Connor frees Lev, he urges him to
run.
Hannah Steinberg: the high school teacher who
hides Connor and Risa in a classroom.
Sonia: an antique-store owner who hides AWOL
teens in her basement, the first step on their roundabout journey
to safety.
Mai: an AWOL Asian girl whom Connor and Risa
meet while in hiding.
Roland: a manipulative, ruthless AWOL bully who
has continuing confrontations with Connor.
Hayden: a snarky but thoughtful AWOL with
attitude.
Cyrus Finch (CyFi): a runaway teen encountered
by Lev. Cyrus, who received a piece of brain from an unwind, is
searching for something the unwound kid in his head is trying to
tell him.
The Admiral: the adult, former U.S. Navy man
who runs "the graveyard" where many AWOL teens stay for safety. The
Admiral was one of the drafters of the Bill of Life.
Unwind Slang
AWOL: a runaway teen, scheduled to be unwound,
hoping to survive to age 18; said to be "kicking AWOL."
Bill of Life: the law instituting
unwinding.
Boeuf: a soldier, male or female (from the
French word for beef)
Chop Shop: the operating room where teens''
bodies are surgically taken apart.
Clappers: suicide-terrorists who have replaced
their blood with a nitroglycerin blend. They blow themselves up by
clapping their hands.
Harvest Camp(formerly called "unwinding
facilities"): where teenagers awaiting unwinding are housed, as
well as where the procedure is performed.
Humphrey Dunfee: urban legend about an unwind
whose parents go crazy from grief and kill all the recipients of
their son''s body parts, in an attempt to reassemble their son.
Juvey-cops: Police officer specializing in
taking down AWOLs.
"Living in a divided state": a euphemism for
being unwound.
StaHo: State Homes, orphanages where wards of
the state stay until their eighteenth birthday or until they are
sent to be unwound.
Storked: babies who are left on doorsteps. The
homeowner is obligated to keep and raise the child.
Tithe: a child of a religious family who is
born and raised to be unwound, as an act of charity.
Umber: the socially acceptable way to describe
someone who is African American. (In contrast to sienna, the
socially acceptable way to describe someone who is Caucasian.)
