One of the biggest problems that Connor must face is maintaining courage in the face of oppression. By standing up to a repressive regime, the kids of the anti-government resistance are showing considerable bravery, risking their lives for what they believe in. For most people, this would be hard enough, but it's especially hard for young adults, without much experience of life.
Somehow, though, Connor must dig deep and find the courage to stand up against injustice. Not only that, but in his capacity as one of the leading figures of the resistance, he has to keep his emotions in check and think rationally about every move that he makes. For it's not just Connor's life that's on the line here; the other members of the Whollies of the Graveyard are at risk, too. And they depend on Connor to show leadership and courage in the fight against the National Juvenile Authority and all it represents.
Connor, Risa and Lev are all scheduled to be "unwound," a process by which unwanted children are claimed by the government so their body parts can be harvested. Connor's main problem is definitely that his parents want the government to unwind him. This affects him by forcing him to run away from home, leaving his girlfriend behind. It also gets him and Risa ratted out to a school principal, and eventually to the police, forcing them to flee. Connor and Risa are then brought to hide in a basement with other kids who are supposed to be unwound. After a while they leave for somewhere else, hiding in the back of an ice cream truck, and then are shuffled between different vehicles on a two-week long trip to some mysterious place called "the graveyard." This journey involves a lot of running and hiding, and a lot of stress for a teenager to endure.
The main problem in this novel by Neil Shusterman is a social problem. American society has become a dystopia, torn apart by war and tenuously stitched back together with an unwieldy compromise on the very nature of life. Adults must make difficult decisions, but it is their children's lives that are at stake. The teenagers who are assigned to be unwound are glorified for their contributions, both to the specific individuals to whom their parts are distributed and to society overall.
Connor is directly affected because he lacks what is considered the proper attitude toward his fate. When his parents decide to unwind him, he actively flouts the rules and runs away. He cannot reconcile his personal beliefs—the holistic integrity of the person he feels himself to be—with the larger requirements of his society. Ultimately, he is forced to accept unwinding—as a recipient. His example shows the difficulty of staying true to one's beliefs, especially in a life-or-death situation.
I would say that the main conflict that is affecting Connor, Risa, Roland, and other Unwinds is their struggle for survival.
The book opens by telling readers that the "Bill of Life" allows parents to retroactively abort their child during the teenage years. The child is "unwound." This means that every single body part, organ, tissue, etc. is harvested and used for spare parts. This allows the child to "live" forever in a divided state.
Connor secretly discovers that his parents are having him unwound. This is the story's inciting incident. Connor doesn't want to be unwound, so that is the central conflict surrounding Connor. He wants to avoid going to a harvest camp because he doesn't want to be unwound. His desire to live causes him to take all kinds of drastic actions. The first action is his running away from home and going AWOL. Along the way he becomes friends with various other Unwinds that are also looking to avoid being unwound. Connor eventually makes his way to the Graveyard, which is a safe haven of sorts for runaway Unwinds. As the novel comes to a close, Connor has been given a new identity, which shows him as being too old to be unwound. He then uses his newfound freedom to become the new head of the Graveyard and help other Unwinds find safety.
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