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Admiral Dunfee
An umber boy whom Lev meets after being separated from Connor and Risa. CyFi likes to hear himself talk and speaks in Old World Umber Patois as a way to honor his ancestors. Though he annoys Lev at first by constantly defining everything and invoking God, Lev recognizes that he needs CyFi, as CyFi is skilled at surviving and finding food. CyFi is on a mysterious solo journey to Joplin, Missouri. As he and Lev travel, CyFi shares more about himself and why he’s making this journey: he received an entire temporal lobe from an Unwind thanks to his dads’ ability to pay off a surgeon, but now, CyFi experiences thoughts and feelings that belong to the Unwind—and for some reason, the Unwind needs to go to Joplin, Missouri. CyFi hopes that after making the journey, the boy in his head will leave him alone. CyFi is a self-professed upstanding citizen, but he must question this because the Unwind in his head was a compulsive thief, and now CyFi has fits and steals too. In Joplin, CyFi discovers that the temporal lobe came from a boy named Tyler, gives in to Tyler’s thoughts, and begs Tyler’s parents not to unwind him. This seems to calm Tyler, and CyFi is able to go home with his dads. Lev later learns that this experience caused CyFi to speak out against unwinding, and that CyFi has since testified in Congress against the practice.
Cyrus Finch/CyFi Quotes in Unwind
The Unwind quotes below are all either spoken by Cyrus Finch/CyFi or refer to Cyrus Finch/CyFi. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 21 Quotes
Lev had agreed to go with him because he knew the two filled a need in each other. CyFi was like a preacher with no flock. He couldn’t exist without an audience, and Lev needed someone who could fill his head with ideas, to replace the lifetime of ideas that had been taken from him.
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The narrator explains why Lev agrees to travel with CyFi, a boy on a mysterious journey to Joplin, Missouri. This passage is important because it makes it clear that Lev is in a very vulnerable state at this point. After feeling betrayed by Pastor Dan and conflicted about how he treated Risa and Connor, Lev is struggling to figure out what he’s supposed to think—and CyFi is someone to listen to, someone who can guide Lev. However, it’s also important to note that it’s only by chance that Lev falls in with CyFi; he could’ve joined up with anyone willing Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus
“He’s not a bad kid. He’s just hurting. Hurting real bad.” The way Cy’s talking, it’s like the kid is still there, right in the room with them. “He’s got this urge about him to grab things—like an addiction, y’know? Shiny things mostly. It’s not like he really wants them, it’s just that he kind of needs to snap ‘em up. I figure he’s a kleptomaniac.”
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CyFi describes the Unwind, Tyler, whose temporal lobe CyFi now has. The way that CyFi talks about Tyler makes it clear that within CyFi’s head, Tyler is a very real presence, even if he’s unwound and now exists in pieces. He’s not entirely benign, either, since CyFi now has to deal with Tyler’s compulsions. The things that CyFi has to deal with as a consequence of receiving Tyler’s temporal lobe begin to show that even if it’s possible to argue for unwinding and organ or tissue donation in some cases—the novel offers several positive instances, from Josias Aldridge’s new arm Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Vel
Chapter 30 Quotes
And all at once Cy realizes that Tyler doesn’t know. The part of that boy which comprehends time and place isn’t here, and never will be. Tyler can’t understand that he’s already gone, and nothing Cy can do will ever make him understand. So he goes on wailing.
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As CyFi allows Tyler, the original owner of his temporal lobe, take over, he realizes that Tyler has no conception of the fact that he’s been unwound. This raises an important moral question about the ethics of unwinding: is it humane to unwind teens when parts of them, such as their temporal lobes, are incapable of understanding that they’re unwound—and because of this, experience emotional anguish and cause their new hosts to experience the same? In particular, Tyler’s role in CyFi’s head is an angry one, since he cannot make himself understood or regain the control he was used to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque err
Chapter 35 Quotes
He could join them just out of spite, but that’s not enough—not this time. There must be more. Yet, as he stands there, Lev realizes that there is more. It’s invisible, but it’s there, like the deadly charge lurking in a downed power line. Anger, but not just anger: a will to act on it as well.
“All right, I’m in.” Back at home Lev always felt part of something larger than himself. Until now, he hadn’t realized how much he missed that feeling.
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Lev thinks over his reasons for joining the clappers, a terrorist organization that engages in what’s essentially suicide bombing. Whereas Lev used to be a tithe and viewed himself as chosen by God to be unwound, it’s clear that escaping his strict religious upbringing has allowed him to come to his own conclusions. Following Lev’s whirlwind transformation from willing tithe to witness to CyFi’s pain in Joplin, Missouri, Lev finds himself angry and alone—and after leaving CyFi, whose influence on Lev was relatively benign, Lev is still vulnerable to other ideas. This is why he falls in with the clappers: Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipi
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Cyrus Finch/CyFi Character Timeline in Unwind
The timeline below shows where the character Cyrus Finch/CyFi appears in Unwind. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 21
Lev and an umber boy named Cyrus, who goes by the nickname CyFi, walk along some train tracks. CyFi likes to hear himself talk and occasionally mentions “the...
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CyFi defines “decapitated” for Lev, which annoys Lev even further. Lev snaps that CyFi can stop...
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...brain replaced to cure it, but Lev never considered where the brain bits came from. CyFi asks Lev how smart he is, and Lev says he doesn’t know; his parents believe...
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One night, CyFi asks why Lev’s parents tithed him. CyFi explains that he was storked and his dads...
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Two days later, they reach a town in Indiana and CyFi insists they need to head south. Lev notices that CyFi isn’t acting right. He shuffles,...
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Lev cautiously follows CyFi and finds him hiding under a playground slide. His face and one hand twitch, and...
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CyFi and Lev sleep in a motel that night. Lev asks what’s going on and dangles...
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Chapter 29
Lev and CyFi arrive in Joplin, Missouri. For a while now, Lev has been the one in charge...
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Chapter 30
CyFi fears that in Joplin, his mind is going to spill out of his ears. The...
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CyFi turns a corner and says that “they” are going to be mad that he’s late...
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CyFi/Tyler grabs the shovel and heads to the back corner of the yard. He starts to...
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Chapter 31
...and holds the shovel like a bat. Finally, Tyler’s parents promise they won’t unwind him. CyFi begins to sob with relief and Lev drops his shovel. CyFi’s dads help CyFi up...
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Chapter 35
After leaving CyFi, Lev’s mind is a dark place. On the night that Connor is with the Admiral,...
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Chapter 68
...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...
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