Unwind by Neal Shusterman takes place in a post Civil War II America years after the Bill of Life was passed, making unwinding a legal and socially acceptable practice. This integration of Unwinding manipulates the people into separating any child that was deemed unwanted by their homes into an oppressive environment that views them as less than human. Society’s own ignorance allows them to live guilt free from the emotionally damaging deaths that children as young as thirteen are forced to endure. Abortion is constantly brought into question throughout the novel via characters’ perspectives and overarching themes that connect the Unwinds to the world around them. Putting a new perspective on abortion by imagining a world that has to make do …show more content…
The novel is filled with metaphors, similes, ironies, and paradoxes that contrast with the way we view the world and explores how a corrupt society accepts its own wickedness. What is normal inside of Unwind’s universe is unfathomable in our own, such as unwinding and tithing. Before Lev’s unwinding date he confesses to his pastor that he is scared, “Lev nods. ‘I thought I was ready. I thought I was prepared.’ ‘It’s natural. Don’t worry about it,’ But it doesn’t ease the disappointment Lev feels in himself,”(31). The fear that Lev faces in the face of his own death is natural, yet his death will in no way be a natural occurrence. This feels like a small paradox within the minds of the tithes, why continue onwards towards an avoidable death when you are fearful of it? Human nature fears one's own death, but Lev and other tithes continue on towards a medical death, claiming to themselves it is natural. “This is for Vincent. This is for her parents, who signed the Unwind order. This is for the whole world. She claps once. Nothing. She claps twice. Nothing. She claps a third time. The third time is the charm,”(309). In most instances “the third times the charm” is used when someone continuously tries for something good or beneficial to oneself, not during a suicide attempt. Irony plays into the Clappers by showing how they see themselves as good doers, even when they are destroying and killing people. Murder is justified simply because wrong has been done upon them so they must do worse upon others so they can understand suffering as they felt