Connor Lassiter

Connor Lassiter
Biographical Information
Age:	17 or 18
Status:	Alive
Alias:	Billy E. Robert Mullard Mr. Akron Cousin Carl Tommy Bees-Neb Hebííte
Gender:	Male
Eye color:	Brown
Affiliation
Unwind Standing:	Ex-AWOL; survived past 17 Received an unwound eye and arm
Allegiance:	Graveyard AWOLs
Residence:	3048 Rosenstock Rd., Columbus, Ohio 43017 (former) Arizona (briefly)
Family:	Claire Lassiter (mother); Kirk Lassiter (father); Lucas Lassiter (brother) Baby Lassiter † (stork)
Significant Other/s:	Risa Ward (girlfriend)
Character Information

“	Sure, one false step and he's roadkill. Yet for Connor, life on the edge is home.	”
–Connor, Unwind

Connor Lassiter, also known as the "Akron AWOL" , is an AWOL fugitive being hunted down by Proactive Citizenry and the National Juvenile Authority for his acts against unwinding. Set to be unwound when he was sixteen, he was able to run away. Upon the departure of the Admiral, Connor was left in charge of the Graveyard. After a raid on their haven, Connor is now on the run, in search of a way to put an end to unwinding.

Biography

History

When Connor was sixteen, while looking for a stapler in his dad's home office, he found airplane tickets to the Bahamas where they were going on a family vacation over Thanksgiving. But when he realized there were only three tickets, for his parents and brother, he, at first thinking that it was just misplaced but later taking it back, went looking a little deeper when his parents were out.

Connor soon found the unwind order, signed in old-fashioned triplicate—the yellow copy that would accompany Connor to his end, and the pink that would stay with his parents, the white copy already gone off with the authorities. The date on the order was the day before the Bahamas trip.

The unfairness of it had made Connor want to break something—but he didn't. He held his temper and kept his emotions hidden. He kept what he knew to himself, kept it even from his parents. He decided that he would 'kill his parents with kindness'. He had been in his best behavior: bringing home flowers for his mother, which she cried over for hours, bringing home a science test with a B-plus, the best grade he had ever gotten in science, which made his father confused and lost in thought. Connor's motivation was simple: Make them suffer. Let them know for the rest of their lives what a horrible mistake they made.

Kicking AWOL

Three weeks after finding his unwinding order, Connor finally told his girlfriend, Ariana, who offered to go AWOL with him. Overjoyed, Connor agreed and prepared. That evening, Connor packed his bags and left for Ariana's house. Upon arriving, Ariana suddenly rebuffed him, saying she can't go with him as she still has a life.

work in progress

Running the Graveyard

After the clappers' explosions in the Happy Jack Harvest Camp, Connor was presumed to be dead. In the hospital, he was given the identity of Officer E. Robert Mullard, a guard who worked at the harvest camp who did die in the incident, probably by some people sympathetic to Unwinds and may even be part of the ADR. Because this identity is already nineteen years-old, he is free from Unwinding.

Personality

“	Nice socks..	”
–Connor when annoying others.

He is an Unwind at something, it gets heard. He's pretty stubborn and has a firestorm temper at the beginning of the book. He admitted that he would act out at times and then be unable to explain why he did what he did or understand it himself.

Throughout Unwind, Connor changes situations, mostly through the help and advice of Risa.

By UnWholly, Connor seems to have matured greatly and trusts people more. Once the 'man of action' for doing things in guilt for it, saying she created a monster and that she prefers the old Connor. He has also learned to control his temper and be more rational about things.

Connor was never into his generation's trends, like getting tattoos or pigment injections. The only different color on his skin is the tan he gets during the summer.

Risa describes him as being "Impulsive,brooding,occasionally self-loathing. As well as clever, loyal, passionate,responsible, and a strong leader, but is too humble to admit all that to himself."

Physical description

Connor has brown eyes and hair usually tousled and messy.

Ever since the clapper incident at Happy Jack, Connor was left with scars on the right side of his face, an unwound eye, which matched his own, and right arm, particularly Roland's with the tiger shark tattoo.

When he got unwound then rewound in UnDivided he now has seams all over his body.

Relationships

Love Interests

Risa Ward

When they first met, Risa and Connor's relationship was more on holding onto each other for support as they were both on the run as AWOLs together. Eventually, though, as they spent more and more time together, attraction became inevitable and both finally gave into their emotions when they were both captured and brought to a harvest camp.

As of UnSouled they are officially a couple.

In UnDivided they engage in more intimacy such as cuddling,sleeping together (not in a sexual way), and Connor licking her ear.

Connor goes so far to say she is the only girl he ever truly loved

Ariana

“	Thoughts of Ariana bring a wave of sadness and longing, but it's not as powerful a feeling as Connor thought it would be.	”
–Connor thinking about Ariana, Unwind

During their relationship, Ariana is the first and only girl Connor has ever brought to his hiding place, the freeway overpass ledge. Although Ariana's parents do not approve of Connor, always referring to him as "that Lassiter boy" and have long predicted his unwinding, they continue to see each other.

Whe she finds out that Connor's parents have signed the Unwind order, Ariana also becomes quite upset and tries to comfort him, Ariana giving Connor the feeling of safety for a while. When she then suggests that they run away and kick-AWOL together, Connor is moved beyond words and feels like the luckiest guy in the world. The mere idea of kicking-AWOL by himself terrifies him, but the thought of being with Ariana gave him hope and confidence.

Later though, when Connor comes for her, it is shown that her words may only have been a spur of the moment because she regretfully turns him down, saying that she is still intent on school, that she is about to test out, and that she was to be her sister's maid of honor on her wedding. When Connor realizes that she's bailing on him, he still lets her say her piece even if she doesn't have to because he already knows because he sees how hard it is for her, and he wants it to be the hardest thing she's ever done in her life. When Connor points out that running away is the only way to save his life because he's about to be unwound, Ariana apologetically retorts that she, unlike him, isn't about to be unwound. He tells her that he knows someone as smart as him will get away and has a decent chance of surviving to eighteen and even asks him to call him once he's somewhere safe.

Later, at Sonia's store, he considers writing a letter to Ariana but realizes that it's pointless to write to her and stops.

In Undivided he returns to the freeway overpass remembering they're last meeting there as well as her backing out of kicking AWOL with him. Connor was angry at her that night, and he held on to that anger for a long time. Later on however he became more angry with himself for wanting her to join in his seedy fugitive life as pure selfishness. That if he truly cared for her, he would have protected her from it, rather then pull her into it.

Friends

Lev Calder

Was rescued by Connor from allowing himself to be tithed. Lev reunited with him in Unwholly saving his life from Nelson. They become best friend having a brotherly relationship.

In UnDivided before Connor and Risa part ways with him Lev thanks Connor for saving him 2 years ago. Having Connor see that while he might have grabbed Lev out of desperation, he held on to him out of compassion, although he really didn't know this at the time.

Hayden

Connor had met Hayden when he was hidden at Sonia's antique shop. He, along with Roland and Mai, were hidden in the shop's basement. Connor thinks the kid came from big money, which he did. He learned Hayden was in the middle of a big custody battle after his parents were divorced. He was then sent to be unwound when both of his parents agreed they'd rather see Hayden unwound than the other having custody.

Connor explains he doesn't like the snobby kids from rich families, but says there's something about Hayden that makes it impossible not to like him. Hayden was also one of the four kids that were in Connor's crate of four when they were shipped to the Graveyard.

Family

Connor generally had a complicated relationship with his family. Being the 'troubled' teen he was, he got into a lot of trouble at school and, when not in the mood, he brings those problems home. He gets into arguments with his parents, which probably resulted in their decision to have him unwound.

When Connor finds the Unwind order and his family's tickets to Bahamas, he realizes that his family will be on a vacation while he meets his doom. Instead of giving into his temper, like he usually did, he decided to silently "make them suffer" and let them regret their decision by showing them what they would lose. It works for a while but does not change the decision of his parents.

He apparently also has mixed emotions about his brother. He seems to care for him, even wanting to say good-bye before he ran away. When Connor is reunited with Lev, he hugs him like he did his brother when he won a district pentathlon. Later in the book, however, he seems to hold a sort of resentment towards his brother, since he was the child his parents chose to keep over him. He once thought that Emby reminded him of his brother because they were both whiners, and he had little patience for them.

Trivia

• The name of the street where the Lassiters lived in was derived from a fan of Neal Shusterman on his Facebook page. He was named after Ben Rosenstock.
• It is a possibility that Connor might have ADHD some of the classic symptoms being Irritability (his anger issue),hyperactivity (being over excitable),impulsiveness (acting out before thinking), and poor concentration (likely why he didn't do well in school or stick with a sports team). Which in the book just just being called Biosymetric Disunification Disorder as a way to justify unwinding and is more then likely a made up issue as Cam realized. Now while this hasn't been officially confirmed by the Author the question has been raised many times.