Unwind is a fictional book by Neil Shusterman. It is a futuristic novel, written after Americas second civil war; where pro-life and pro-choice abortion views fought. In the conclusion of the war many things were changed. The country now accepts a concept of "unwinding" a teenager as a form of compromise. Unwinding is like harvesting, or donating yourself to science. But there's one twist; you are alive. In most cases unwinding was forced on people. From teen years up to eighteen parents can choose to unwind their children. Some unwind their children if they are troublesome, or they just can't take care of them. Other, less common cases, exist in which some kids, along with their parents, choose to donate themselves. These people are called tithes. In their eyes this is like like giving 10% of your income to a church. It's a way of …show more content…
The book tries to give a serious perspective, but it is hard to believe that the nation would be full-out divided over something like abortion. It's not easy to divide a nation to the point of a stand-still. After the horrors and tragedies of the American Civil War, it would require a matter of high importance to deem war necessary within the nation once again. I just can't picture abortion justifying a war. Anyway, it happened, and resulted in the compromise of unwinding. Unwinding is also an interesting thought, and an arguably more cruel alternative to abortion. With abortion, the child hasn't lived. The child doesn't know what it's missing out on, or even what's happening to it. With unwinding, the child has lived up to 18 years. They've tasted life and are aware of the fate they face. They feel the fear and dread of being killed. They have to live counting down their days until they are harvested, making their last days assumably unbearable. That's a defining argument for me because its something no aborted child will never endure; something so