Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Bibliography

Bacigalupi, Paolo. Ship Breaker. New York: Little, Brown 2011.
ISBN 9780316056199

Plot Summary

          Set in the future after global warming has wreaked havoc in the world and man has genetically altered humanity to create half-men, Paolo Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker is a novel about family, friendship, and loyalty.

          A young teen named Nailer endures a grueling existence as a metal scavenger of oil tankers.  His crew members are his friends and family since his only parent is abusive and often high on drugs.  Nailer has a near-death experience which makes him question his state in life.  He dreams of becoming rich like a fellow worker and leaving for adventure aboard a clipper ship.

          One day after a tremendous “city killer” storm surge causes down days for his savage crew and company, he catches a glimpse of a shipwrecked clipper ship in the distance.  He and Pima, his best friend, run to see if there is food and any salvage.  They not only find a treasure trove of salvage which they try to protect from fellow scavengers, but also Nita, the daughter of a rich trading company owner, who provides the basis for the rest of the story.  Nailer, Pima, and Nita have non-stop, action-packed adventures in trying to avoid capture by Nailer’s dad and his men while they go search for Nita’s father’s other ships in a port far to the north.  All the while, they try to be “lucky and smart” (90).  Nailer knows Nita is the key to his future, and he is willing to trust the Salvage God, luck, and his smarts to return her to her father.  Circumstances become dire and Nailer’s courage and loyalty is put to the test.

Critical Analysis

          Paolo Bacigalupi’s novel ShipBreaker, presents its themes and characters in the context of a future but post-global warming setting.

Teenagers today are being confronted with a world of uncertainty with an undercurrent of continual change.  Writers who perceive that human nature does not alter as fast as technology can use this environment create a plot in which universal themes and characters inhabit a setting that is depressingly probable but not predestined and in which man inherently attributes his future to the gods/God, luck and his intelligence.  Paolo Bacigalupi has written his dystopian novel with such perception. 

Ship Breaker takes the reader on non-stop, exciting plot twists and turns as Nailer, the main character, moves through and out of his present world to a new future, a new horizon where he says “ ‘Maybe I think I’ll just get lucky’ ” (323).  Nailer lives a hopeless existence in the ducts of shipwrecks, scavenging to make a quota of metal where “No one was worth keeping if they didn’t make a profit” (18).  He has a wistful hope someday to “step through the pages [magazine pictures] and escape onto the prow of a clipper” (46).  Bacigalupi’s plot line provides him a way, but he must use his brain.  His best friend and co-worker tells him “‘Luck isn’t what you need out here,’” Pima said.  “Smarts is what you need’” (48).  With aid from Pima, her mother, a young “swank” girl who holds the key to his future, and an independent half-man named Tool, Nailer pursues his hope through many dangerous experiences. 

          The power of the Ship Breaker’s themes are evident in Nailer’s desire for family, his reluctance to do evil, his recognition of salvation on a religious and physical plane, and, most of all, loyalty.  Nailer’s father is portrayed as “a snake waiting to strike,” (55) a man who is brutal and calculating when not drunk or high on drugs.  Nailer vacillates between love and hate because his dad provides no family relationship.  Pima and her mother Salda are Nailer’s “real” family, there for him to help throughout the story.  A near-death by drowning in oil makes Nailer sensitive to others’ plights which give him advantage and disadvantage as he pursues his dream.  For example, he can’t bring himself to kill the “swank” girl he finds on a clipper wreck because her obvious wealth creates hope of ransoming her for the money to leave his scavenging life and her plight reminds him of his when he could have been saved from drowning in oil; however, trying to survive her pursuers endangers his and hers and Pima’s lives.  He is religious in the sense that he prays before tough decisions and considers his success as a mix of luck and salvation.  Loyalty is the most emphasized theme.  Breaking a blood oath is a death sentence.  It’s loyalty between Nailer and Nita that gets them through problems: “I got your back, you got mine” (116) is their motto.

          Characterization is one of Paolo Bacigalupi strong suits. The way in which he references characters creates relationships with the readers.  As Vardell maintains, “We [readers] should care about what happens to them” (258).  Using first names only with Nailer, Nita, and Pima puts the reader on their crew in the first few pages.  Nicknames like “Lucky Strike,” “Lucky Boy,” and “Lucky Girl” remind the readers what these charcters have experienced in the story.  The way the characters are described is masterful: Nailer was “half of something, a quarter of something else, brown skin and black hair like his dead mother but with weird pale blue eye like his father” (10).  The details of their physical and mental states are unremittingly grim but simply stated.  This is a teen book, and teens tell it like it is!  Bacigalupi employs an omniscient point of view with italicized introspective thoughts for Nailer.  Don’t panic.  Think (24).  This technique furthers the reader’s interest in Nailer’s fate because the reader can experience Nailer’s thoughts with him.

          The setting of Ship Breaker is after global warming affected the world and its economic activity.  Paolo Bacigalupi doesn’t state this directly; he drops hints in the narrative that today’s teens, with all the emphasis on climate change they experience in public education, will recognize.  For example, the name of the beach is Bright Sands (72), the Gulf is mentioned and the tropical sun (5).  One destination in the novel is Orleans and Orleans II.  Those readers who remember Hurricane Katrina which made landfall in 2005 followed by a devastating surge might think they know where Paolo Bacigalupi has chosen to set his narrative, but there are too many other fantastical details to be exactly sure.  The reader is willing to believe, though, just as he can believe that if the story is set in the future, genetically-modified half-men and the flying clipper ships could eventually exist.

          Stylistically, Paolo Bacigalupi has some interesting techniques.  He uses scattered short sentences that jerk the reader to attention.  “The deluge opened” (61).  “The movement stopped’ (33).  “The wheel turned” (34).  He ends chapters with cliff-hangers, motivating the reader to turn the page in a hurry to see what will happen.  His imagery is simple but striking.  Nailer might have died “sucking oil” (28).  The “Teeth” is an image of sunken city building spires which appear in the low tide to snare unsuspecting ships (74).

          Ship Breaker is an exciting read for a teen.  It has a strong, intelligent main character, roaring action, and a satisfying ending for a dystopian novel.

Review Excerpt(s)

Michael L. Printz Award 2011
Locus Award for Best Young Adult Book 2011
Publishers Weekly’s Best Children’s Books of the Year for Fiction 2010
YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults 2011
ALA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults 2011

"Stellar."—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, starred review

"Vivid, brutal, and thematically rich."—BOOKLIST, starred review

"This thriller will grab and keep readers' attentions as Nailer and Nita 'crew up' in their fight to survive."—HORN BOOK, starred review

Connections to Teens

·        Viewing available documentaries, such as PBS and National Geographic productions, about shipwrecks and their treasures.

·        Taking a fieldtrip to a recycling plant or a nature center to learn about importance of the recycling process.

·        Inviting a speaker about recycling.

·        As a project, giving students the opportunity, perhaps a competition, to recycle their choice of something for a different use.  For example, provide old silverware pieces or a pair of used blue jeans to have students use.

·        Reading the companion novel: The Drowned Cities

 

Works Cited

Vardell, Sylvia M. Children's Literature in Action: A Librarian's Guide. Second ed. Santa Barbara: Libraries Unlimited, 2014.