In the book Unwind by Neal Shusterman, the world has been put on fast forward until we arrive in a time about three generations from where we are today. iPods and plasma screen TVs are a thing of the past and are mere antique shop items. The book is mainly about the action of unwinding, which is to kill teenagers between the ages of thirteen and eighteen to reserve their organs for those in need of them. Who decides this action are their very own parents. The book focuses on a specific three main characters: Connor, Risa, and Levi and all three are on the run for their lives from getting unwound.
All three of these main characters have come from different backgrounds. Connor was a bad kid always getting into trouble and disobeying his parents. Risa was a talented pianist and always doing the right thing. Lev was a kid who knew what his outcome was going to be once he turned thirteen and felt destined to be unwound. All of these characters eventually meet up in a crazy way and work with one another to keep themselves alive and avoid getting unwound.
In our discussion in class, one of my group members brought up an important question relating to the book: Why was it so easy of a decision for parents to have their kids unwound? That’s when I began to think, maybe we are headed such a society that Connor and Risa live in, where humankind is not seen as important as it once was.
Currently, there are people getting killing almost every single day but surprisingly, this isn’t a big deal. There are numerous wars being fought where thousands are killed but this has become a normal activity. As our population in the world increases, human life is not seen as importantly as it once was. Maybe this book is a foreshadowing of a world we are headed to. It might be the exact scenario as in Unwind where our own children’s lives can be chosen to be taken away by their own parents. But something similar and as heartless where human life has gone rock bottom.
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