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
Lev is in a high-security federal detention center. His cell is padded with a steel blast door, is kept cold, and Lev is both wrapped in fire-resistant insulation and suspended in midair. He can’t detonate—if he does, the cell will contain the blast. He’s had four blood transfusions, but nobody will tell him anything. Lev insists to his lawyer that he wasn’t insane, but he’s not sure anymore. The door opens and it takes Lev a minute to recognize Pastor Dan, since Pastor Dan isn’t dressed like a pastor. After a few awkward greetings, Lev wonders why Pastor Dan is here. He wonders if they’re going to execute him and if Pastor Dan is here to give him last rites.
When Lev suggests that he’s not sure if he was insane or not when he joined the clappers, it speaks to the fact that Lev has no idea who he is at this point. His life has been entirely upended, first by missing his tithing and then by failing to clap. Further, seeing that Pastor Dan isn’t dressed like a pastor only adds to the sense of wrongness, as even this figure from Lev’s childhood isn’t the person he thought he was. In short, Lev is unmoored—but he may have the opportunity to reinvent himself.
Themes
Lev tells Pastor Dan to do whatever he’s going to do. Pastor Dan asks Lev how much he knows of what’s going on outside and asks if Lev knows Cyrus Finch. Lev starts to panic—clappers’ friends and families usually become suspects. Lev insists that CyFi is innocent, but Pastor Dan explains that CyFi and others have been speaking out about what happened at Happy Jack and about unwinding in general. CyFi testified before Congress. Lev smiles as Pastor Dan says they might lower legal age to 17.
CyFi sets another example of how to effectively be an activist: working with the government to come up with laws that, unlike the Bill of Life, are actually well thought out and take more into account than just stopping a deadly and hateful war. That Lev can smile about this suggests that he sees the value in fighting back this way.
Themes
Then, Pastor Dan pulls out a magazine. On the cover is Lev’s baseball picture and the headline reads, “Why, Lev, Why?” Lev hadn’t realized that the outside world had also been wondering why he did what he did. Lev uncomfortably points out that all clappers make the news, but Pastor Dan says their actions do, not the clappers themselves. Lev is different because he didn’t clap and instead, saved three people from the wreckage. He says that the other tithes held back, but Lev led the rescue effort. Lev remembers running back in and realizing that one false move would’ve blown up the rest of the Chop Shop. After ambulances took Risa and Connor away, Lev found a police officer willing to arrest him.
What Pastor Dan says about Lev humanizing both clappers and Unwinds suggests that what’s been missing from the debate is the stories of those who, until this point, haven’t had the power or the wherewithal to tell their stories. CyFi is a good start, as he’s also a victim of unwinding in one way, but Lev represents victimhood in a way that impresses upon others just how emotionally traumatizing it can be for a child to be unwound.
Themes
Pastor Dan says that Lev’s actions confused people; they don’t know whether he’s a “hero” or a “monster.” He says that he believes things happen for a reason, and he has to believe that Lev’s kidnapping and becoming a clapper happened to “put a face on unwinding.” Lev asks what happens now. Pastor Dan says they’ll clear the explosives from Lev’s blood, but that he’s safe from unwinding now. Lev’s lawyer believes that the government will cut him a deal since he led them toward the recruiting group, but Pastor Dan says that they’ll probably see Lev as a victim. Lev insists that he knew what he was doing, but he can’t tell Pastor Dan why. Pastor Dan insists that it’s not Lev’s fault he wasn’t prepared for life—it’s his and Lev’s parents’ fault. Pastor Dan suggests that he and Lev’s parents are as guilty as the clapper recruiters.
When Pastor Dan suggests that he’s just as guilty as the clapper recruiters for setting Lev along this path, he acknowledges that their religion does a poor job of giving kids like Lev a choice in the matter—and it also doesn’t account for the fact that some tithes, like Lev, certainly lose their conviction when it comes down to it and in a society that respects everyone’s bodily autonomy, those tithes would be able to back out. With this, Pastor Dan suggests that their world at large requires structural change to the way they talk about and legislate unwinding.
Themes
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Pastor Dan says that Lev will probably spend a few years in jail and then be under house arrest. Lev wants to know what house he’ll be in. With a sigh, Pastor Dan says that Lev’s parents wouldn’t take custody of Lev, so he’s technically a ward of the state, but Marcus is petitioning for guardianship. Lev realizes that his parents disowned Marcus too. He asks Pastor Dan why he’s dressed in street clothes. Pastor Dan says he left the church because he doesn’t believe in a God who condones human tithing. Lev chokes up and says he didn’t know that was a choice. For the first time, Lev feels like his soul is free and asks if he can also believe in Pastor Dan’s God.
Admitting that he left the church because he doesn’t believe in tithing, while specifying that he still believes in God, opens up a whole new world for Lev. Because of the insular community he grew up in, Lev has never known that this is a possibility, but seeing Pastor Dan make this choice shows Lev that he can have a relationship with God on his terms, and not supporting tithing doesn’t mean he’s going to hell or is a bad person.
Themes
