Download UNWIND - Discussion Topics and more Exercises Literature in PDF only on Docsity!
UNWIND
By Neal Shusterman
Reading and Study Guide Created by Eric Elfman
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 future United States as they travel together, split up, and meet again when their destinies cross in a “Harvest Camp” where they are slated to be unwound.
Pre-Reading Research/Activities
Research those who helped endangered people. 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 Nazi holocaust, 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 have they been fought over? (For example, religion, race, politics.) 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 and, if so, why do so few people do it?
Discussion Topics
- 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, but couldn’t run away like Connor and the others in the novel, what other options might you have?
- How would you feel if you were in an accident, or had a rare disease, and you could only be cured 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?
- 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!
- When do you think the story takes place? The book never reveals the year. How many years in the future do you think the story take place? 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?
- 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?
- 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?
- 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.
- While being transported to possible safety, some of the kids on the run, considering their fate, wonder, “Would it be better to die or be unwound?” If given the choice, which would you choose? Why?
- 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?
- 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,” but instead of your possessions, it’s your personality that you’re giving away. List your personality traits. What parts of your personality would you give, and to whom? (your sense of humor, your determination, etc.)
Prepare testimony to Congress as they begin hearings on the status of Bill of Life. Write your testimony from the point of view of either a teen slated to be unwound, or from someone whose life was saved by receiving body parts from an unwind. 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 make-shift 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 know 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 16 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 18 years old.
Risa Ward - 15 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
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 18 th^ birthday or 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 Black. (In contrast to sienna, the socially acceptable way to describe someone who is Caucasian.)
About the Author
Neal Shusterman has written about a gazillion novels for Young Adults, including Everlost, Full Tilt and Downsiders , which was nominated for twelve state reading awards and was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. He also writes screenplays for motion pictures and television shows, including Pixel Perfect for the Disney Channel. He lives in Southern California with his four children, none of whom will ever be unwound. Or so he says.
This Reading Group Guide has been provided by Simon & Schuster for classroom, library, and reading group use. It may be reproduced in its entirety or excerpted for these purposes.
Written by Eric Elfman, author of many books for children and young adults and several Study Guides for the Mark Taper Forum/P.L.A.Y.
