Character Clues

Character Analysis

Actions

Words are important in the novel, but actions are more so when it comes to figuring out what makes characters tick in Ship Breaker. Richard Lopez can chatter Nailer's ear off about how they're family, but it's his actions—drunken beatings and unpredictable violence—that reveal his true nature to the people around him.

And Nailer's actions reveal to us what he values: For instance, he chooses to save Nita instead of killing her, so he values compassion and life above class divisions. We have to pair a character's actions with his or her words to get the full picture of who that character is.

Social Status

You've probably noticed some stark social divisions in Ship Breaker. Because social status is one of the first things characters advertise about themselves and notice about others, it's a good place to start defining characters. There are two major classes of society—swanks (Nita, Captain Candless) and everyone else—and then there are the divisions within these categories.

Swanks have a lot more power than the rest of society. They're wealthier, they're more technologically advanced, and they're more educated. Nita and Captain Candless's behavior suggests that swanks think they're better than those beneath them, though, to her credit, Nita loses her holier-than-thou attitude by the end of the book.

There's even a hierarchy within everyone who's not a swank. Take Bright Sands Beach. Lucky Strike has power because he has money and has made his story into legend; Richard Lopez has power because of his violent behavior; and the rust rats like Nailer and Pima are at the very bottom, as they lack any power. Thus, the people at the bottom of the food chain—the ship breakers—need to figure out ways to gain power.

Speech and Dialogue

Because Bacigalupi only allows us access to Nailer's thoughts and feelings, we rely on speech and dialogue to figure out what other characters are like. Nita, for one, offers us plenty of insight when she opens her mouth:

Nita laughed again. "If you went to school, you'd know about it, too. Orleans city killers are famous. Every dummy knows about them." She stopped short. "I mean…"

Nailer wanted to hit her smug face. (16.62-63)

We aren't told that Nita is classist, or that she's educated, or that she thinks less of people who haven't gone to school—but all of these ideas are communicated pretty clearly in what she says here. So we need to keep our eyes open when characters are talking, because what they say reveals a lot more than what is actually said by the narrator.