112 pages • 3 hours read
Neal ShustermanUnwind
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2007A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Character Analysis
Connor
Connor serves a specific role in the novel—he is anger pacified. At the beginning of the novel, it is revealed that Connor got into a lot of fights at school. As the novel progresses, his anger sometimes gets the best of him. He eggs Roland on and he picks fights. Risa is disappointed with him and tries to get him to have a cool head. And eventually, he gets one. The turning point is when Roland accosts Risa in the bathroom. Connor walks in, nonchalantly, and tells Roland he can do whatever he wants because Connor and Risa have broken up; he watches Roland deflate and leave.
His cool head gives him power. People respect him, which allows him to stop the mob at the Graveyard and inspire the mob at the harvest camp. Ultimately, Connor even pacifies two other angry characters: Roland and Lev. Connor receives Roland’s arm after Roland is unwound. He promises Risa he won’t touch her with that hand, but she understands it is no longer Roland’s, it is no longer violent. Instead, it is Connor’s. Lev is ready to blow up the harvest camp. That is, until he sees Connor. Connor’s appearance pacifies Lev, and Lev ends up helping Connor out of the explosion and into safety.
Risa
In many ways, Risa represents a mother, the mother none of them had. When Connor picks up the storked baby, Risa falls into the role naturally. At first, it seems like it is because she had been in a state home, but her maternal instinct goes deeper. She’s protective, and with protectiveness comes attentiveness. She notices Roland’s subtle manipulation of other Unwinds and warns Connor to watch himself. Later, when they arrive at the Graveyard, she falls naturally into the role of medic. And, even at the harvest camp, she has a motherly role—soothing those walking to their death with music. After the blast, she keeps a boy calm until he passes away. Risa manages to stay calm for the sake of others.
Lev
If Connor is anger pacified, Lev is anger ignited. Offered as a tithe by his parents, Lev doesn’t have any control over his fate. In many ways, he is the same as any other Unwind and he eventually shares their horror and anger at the whole process of Unwinding. Meeting CyFi leads Lev down a frightening road. Here is a boy with an Unwind’s frontal lobe who is eventually compelled to confront his Unwind’s parents. As CyFi is overtaken by Tyler, the Unwind, he begs Tyler’s parents not to unwind him. Lev breaks down at this point and yells at them to make that promise to CyFi. He is profoundly changed by this experience. He runs, he steals, and he makes it to the Graveyard where he joins a group of Clappers—a group filled with anger. In the end, though, his anger dissipates. He hangs in the cell and asks Pastor Dan if he can love God, too.
CyFi
CyFi is the best example of how devastating unwinding’s consequences can be. The boy who was unwound for his brain parts is no longer whole, and neither is CyFi. CyFi has not been unwound, but he has to deal with the consequences of a hurt soul. He becomes the novel’s best spokesperson against unwinding—he was never unwound. He was loved by his parents, but he sees the problems with the system. It makes sense, then, that he stands before Congress at the end of the novel.
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By Neal Shusterman
