Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Unwind, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Inequality, Injustice, and the Law
Anger, Violence, and Radicalization
Activism, Compassion, and Atonement
Morality and Perspective
Summary
Analysis
The fire alarm goes off during the teacher’s prep period. She considers staying put, but reasons it’d set a bad example. She sees policemen at the door and thinks that something is wrong. She passes an open science lab and starts to pull the door closed, but she hears a baby’s muffled cry. The teacher calls for the mother and baby to come out, but the mother continues to muffle the baby’s cries. Annoyed, the teacher enters and finds Connor, Risa, and Didi. She doesn’t recognize them, but she knows that teens only look this afraid when they’re Unwinds. Connor says “please,” and the teacher knows he’s asking her to be a compassionate human being. The teacher brushes off a colleague, holds out a hand to the teens, and asks them to tell her nothing. She thinks she’ll get them to safety—it’s the best example she can set.
The teacher insists that it’s her duty to treat Connor and Risa like people with the right to their lives and their bodies, even when nobody else does—and that it’s important to take this stand, even if nobody else sees that the teacher engaging in this kind of activism. This starts to show that a person doesn’t need a vested interest in a cause to support it—in the teacher’s case, as was the case with Marcus, she has nothing to lose or gain by helping Unwinds. Instead, she just believes that it’s the morally right, kind, and compassionate thing to do.
Themes
