Previous
Cleaver
One of the Unwinds whom Connor and Risa meet at Sonia’s. He’s blond, lanky, and came from a wealthy family, but his parents chose to unwind him because they couldn’t come to a custody agreement after getting a divorce. Hayden becomes good friends with Connor, since Connor recognizes that, like him, Hayden likes to flirt with danger. His preferred form of risk-taking is dangerous thoughts: he often tries to engage others in conversation about what happens during unwinding, when consciousness starts, and the state of the human soul. When the Admiral has a heart attack during the riot at the Graveyard, Connor leaves Hayden in charge while he gets the Admiral to a hospital.
Hayden Quotes in Unwind
The Unwind quotes below are all either spoken by Hayden or refer to Hayden. 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:
).
Chapter 27 Quotes
“You might think I’m stupid, but I got a good reason for the way I feel,” Emby says. “When I was little, I was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. Both my lungs were shutting down. I was gonna die. So they took out both my dying lungs and gave me a single lung from an Unwind. The only reason I’m alive is because that kid got unwound.”
“So,” says Connor, “Your life is more important than his?”
“He was already unwound—it’s not like I did it to him. If I didn’t get that lung, someone else would have.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“The unborn have souls. They have their souls from the moment they get made—the law says.”
Connor doesn’t want to get into it again with Emby, but he can’t help himself. “Just because the law says it, that doesn’t make it true.”
“Yeah, well, just because the law says it, that doesn’t make it false, either. It’s only the law because a whole lot of people thought about it, and decided it made sense.”
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Unwind LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Hayden Character Timeline in Unwind
The timeline below shows where the character Hayden appears in Unwind. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 19
...girl, all terrified. Sonia shows Connor and Risa around and leaves. The lanky blond boy, Hayden, looks wealthy. Mai, an Asian girl wearing a spiked leather choker, insists they’ll die, but...
(full context)
...him a can of Spam and tells Connor to straighten out if he wants better. Hayden resolves the situation by grabbing the Spam and starting to eat it. Roland and Connor...
(full context)
Connor can’t sleep the first night. He doesn’t trust Roland. Mai and Hayden are also awake, and Hayden lights a candle and passes his hand over it. Hayden...
(full context)
Hayden says that Humphrey isn’t the kid’s real name, but his parents had him unwound. It...
(full context)
...Sonia calls the kids upstairs one by one. Roland goes first, followed by Mai and Hayden, and they all return oddly quiet. Connor goes next. Upstairs, Sonia pulls out blank paper...
(full context)
Chapter 27
...insists they’re going to die. Connor threatens to shove his sock in Emby’s mouth and Hayden offers his sock. The fourth boy introduces himself as Diego. Their crate begins to move....
(full context)
...everyone. When he recovers, he explains that his parents could only afford an asthmatic lung. Hayden asks why Emby’s parents are unwinding him if they went to the trouble of fixing...
(full context)
Hayden points out that nobody answered whether unwinding kills a person. Diego suggests that it depends...
(full context)
Hayden says he knew a girl who believed that God knows who’s going to be unwound...
(full context)
With prodding, Hayden admits he doesn’t know when people or babies get souls. Connor insists this is the...
(full context)
Chapter 34
...kids fear and respect Roland for this, but they all want Connor on their side. Hayden says it’s because Connor has integrity. Connor thinks that he is getting into fewer fights...
(full context)
...Connor never raises his hand, as he believes that the Admiral is using them, but Hayden points out that unwinding makes unpaid work look good. After the meeting, Roland stops by...
(full context)
...hang out with him. Roland points out that Connor is “the Admiral’s new golden boy.” Hayden interjects that lots of kids, including Emby, have been up in the Admiral’s jet. Emby...
(full context)
Chapter 39
Hayden gives Roland an envelope. Roland knows it’s from Connor, and it reads that Connor knows...
(full context)
Chapter 46
...a confession but he knows he can’t keep Roland in the crate forever. From outside, Hayden yells for Connor. Roland tries to scream for Hayden, but the sound doesn’t travel. Connor...
(full context)
...or Emby. Risa notes that the Admiral has to get to the hospital. Connor leaves Hayden in charge and takes three boys to Roland.
(full context)
Chapter 69
At the same time, a jet containing Unwinds arrives in the desert. Hayden introduces himself to a young Unwind and the group of kids steps off the airplane....
(full context)
