UNWIND Triplicate

T R I P L I C A T E

How much brainwashing do you think has happened for teenagers to make this sort of claim as they’re being led to their "death"?  Considering the fact that they not only believe that they haven't done anything good with their lives and that they aren't worth the effort of being kept alive, but some of them also truly believe being unwound doesn't mean death, I'd say a lot. People like tithes (People like Lev) for example march off to their death completely willingly.

Why, do you think, has Shusterman chosen to have three characters tell their
story?   Three different characters with three very different backgrounds, being unwound for three very different reasons. Connor's parents wanted to unwind him because of his behavioural issues, Risa's head master agreed to unwind her due to budget cuts, and Lev's parents are doing it because of their religious beliefs. Having Lev, Connor, and Risa tell their stories offers three completely different perspectives.

Lev comes from a religious family, he wants to be unwound, and he gets in the car that will take him straight to a harvest camp completely willingly.

Connor comes from a pretty average family. He doesn't want to be unwound, he hates his parents for signing the form, and he runs away as any sane person would if their parents planned on sending them off to their death.

Rita doesn't live with her parents, she lives in a state home. She doesn't want to be unwound, however she makes no effort to escape until the bus she's on which is supposed to take her to a harvest camp unexpectedly crashes.

Lev is a tithe. This means that he is the 10% that his family will give back to the church as an offering. What are your thoughts on this? I don't think you should ever offer up or sacrifice a human life, especially not your own kids, no matter what your religious views are. I think his parents are a bit crazy.

Rita is a state home kid - she was unwanted at birth, and now the state have decided she is no longer useful. Do you think that the state should ever be able to determine if one life is more useful than another? No. No one should have the right to choose whether someone else gets to live or not, or whether one persons life is more valuable then another.

Connor's parents have chosen to unwind him due to his difficult behaviour. They have then booked a ticket to the Bahamas. In your opinion, how do parents view their children? Why do you think this? By the sounds of it, his parents see him as a burden. Instead of doing everything they can to help him, they decide it's better to kill him instead. Seems pretty twisted to me.

Pastor Dan presents as being conflicted. What reasons might he have to encourage Lev in his journey as a tithe? Why does he encourage him to run? Pastor Dan is a Pastor. He has very strong religious views, and sees it as his duty to live by those views. However, he's not stupid. He knows that being unwound means death, and he isn't going to stand by and watch as Lev gets killed.

What is the story based on a nursery rhyme that circulates among the youth? Humphrey Dunfee. A myth based on the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty. Humphrey was a boy who's parents decided to unwind him. They later regretted, and went around the country hunting down every one who got a piece of Humphrey and killing them in an attempt to collect every part of their son and put him back together. It's based off of Humpty Dumpty not only because of the name, but because the Dunfee's couldn't put Humphrey back together again.

Unwind Slang

AWOL: a runaway teen, scheduled to be unwound, hoping to survive to age 18; said to be "kicking AWOL." From the military term, Missing in Action Without Leave.

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.