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
Connor wakes up, confused as to why he can only see out of one eye. He begins to remember that he was going to be unwound, and that Lev was there. A nurse comes in and brightly explains that Connor has been in a medically induced coma for two weeks. Connor begins to ask about Risa, but the nurse won’t say. She calls Connor “Mr. Mullard” and says he needs to heal. For a moment, Connor thinks that he’s been unwound and is in someone else’s body, but his body feels right. He tells the nurse his name is Connor, but the nurse gives him an uncomfortable stare and says that they found an ID with the photo charred off for a guard named Elvis Mullard, and they’re not going to waste that ID. Connor asks if he has a middle name.
The guard who let Mai and Blaine into the Chop Shop presumably died, leaving behind this ID. While it’s unclear exactly who came up with the idea to let Connor assume Elvis Mullard’s identity, it nevertheless makes the point that there are even more individuals in the world who are willing to look out for vulnerable teens like Connor and other Unwinds. This suggests that going forward, in later novels, Connor should be on the lookout for these other helpers.
Themes
Connor reaches his right hand out to shake the nurse’s hand, but his shoulder aches. The nurse explains that his arm will hurt until the graft heals. With a sigh, the nurse says they couldn’t save Connor’s eye or right arm, but fortunately, as Elvis Mullard, Connor qualified for emergency transplants. Connor looks down at his new arm and inspects it. He stops short when he sees the tattoo of a shark on his wrist.
That Connor qualified for emergency transplants as Elvis Mullard suggests that whoever orchestrated this elevated Connor well above the original Elvis Mullard, given that the guard occupied a relatively low position in society. In a way, this also gives the real Elvis Mullard another chance to redeem himself, if only in spirit.
Themes
