Novel Study - Unwind - Reading The Blurb

What do you already know about pro-life and pro-choice groups? What do these terms mean? Is it an issue you have thought about?

- Pro-lifers are people who protect human fetuses and believe that abortion is not ok. They believe that it isn’t their choice if they can get rid of a fetus as the fetus is also a living creature.

- Pro-choicers are people who believe it is okay to get rid of a fetus as it is still growing. They believe that it is their choice if they can get rid of a fetus as they have reasons why they wish to get rid of it.

- I have thought about this issue as light has been given towards this situation online as protests against abortion have been going on in the past year.

What do you know about organ donation?

- Organ donations are when you sign something or give consent to allow doctors to remove your organs while you are still alive or dead. You have to be up to the hospital’s standards before signing up as if you have a disease they can’t give your organs to someone who needs it

Teenagers to be unwound are sent to Harvest Camps. Can you make a connection between the language used to describe this place, and other places people have been sent historically?

- The way this has been written reminds me of the holocaust as people are being sent to a “camp” where they ultimately die due to the government. It is a little different as in the book adults and caregivers of the child must sign papers unlike in the holocaust where you would just be sent away if you were a Jew.

What religious connotation does the word 'harvest' evoke?

- I think the word “harvest” in a religious state can mean a human sacrifice. In the book, these children bodies are being sacrificed for different reasons just because the law permits that you are allowed to.

The term "living in a divided state" here is really a euphemism for what? Can you think of other, common euphemisms? Why do people use euphemisms?

- I think is it is a euphemism for people who are alive and people who are dead. In the story, these children are sent to their deaths and their body parts are used for other people who have problems with their bodies or have suffered different incidents.

Some common euphemisms are

 - Passed away

 - Kick the bucket
 - put to sleep

- People use euphemisms to soften a harsh word or term so that people understand it a little bit better instead of being shocked and not understanding the actual meaning of the word.
What is the definition of legal?

- Something that is permitted by the law.

What about ethical?

- What a person thinks what is right and what is wrong

Do you believe that because something is legal, it is also ethical, or morally right?

- No, some laws can be extremely messed up but legal like whereas something else that is illegal could be ethical right. It depends on the personal or state and what they believe, even though it can be wrong in some senses. 

Can things that are ethically sound ever be illegal? Provide examples.

- Yes, for example, a child could be starving but can't get any food due to now money, that child steals the food and gets caught thieving. Thieving is illegal but eating is ethically correct as all children and adults should be able to get food as it is a daily necessity. Another example is if someone is in the need to go to a  hospital and they have to run a red light just to get there, its illegal to run a red light but its ethically right to drive someone who is in need of a hospital to a hospital, as they could be in a life or death situation.

 
Can you think of examples in history to support your ideas? Provide examples.

- I can't really think of anything other than the holocaust and Hitler, as Hitler believed that he was right when he started sending Jews to concentration camps when in reality as a human right everyone should have a right to live, which Hitler breached.