preview

'Abortion In Neal Shusterman's Unwind'

Decent Essays

Abortion is a controversial issue with many agreements and disagreements. The novel, ¨Unwind¨ written by Neal Shusterman portrays an alternative and dark solution throughout the novel. In Unwind, a second civil war had taken place in the United States over the issue of abortion. As a result, a process called ¨unwinding¨ was reached as a compromise between the pro-life and pro-choice armies. Unwinding is when a parent chooses to abort their child between the ages of thirteen and eighteen with the condition that the child´s life doesn't technically end. Neal Shusterman, author of Unwind, uses third person omniscient point of view throughout the novel in order for the audience to connect with and understand the emotions of each character. An …show more content…

A supporting claim from the text states, “In a perfect world mothers would all want their babies, and strangers would open up their homes to the unloved...But this isn´t a perfect world. The problem is the people who think it is.¨ (page 75) The government and the world has become so corrupt that taking a life away is a simple daily routine. When the Heartland War took place each side wanted to crush the other so bad that they forgot about believing in anything. Life was no longer valued. Ultimately, people need to realize that every single life has a purpose even if it isn't clear in the beginning, so it should not be thrown away. A second theme revealed in the novel, ¨Unwind¨ is people will do anything in order to survive. An example from the text states, ¨The crazy kid now puts Lev into a choke hold, holding Lev between himself and the officers.¨ (page 35) When the survival instinct in our mind kicks in, we do irrational things. For example, Connor uses Lev as human shield in order to protect himself from being shot with a tranq bullet. As unwinds, teenagers have to hide from the authorities until the ¨Unwind¨ order is no longer in effect at the age of

Get Access