How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
"Don't be stupid. This is only scavenge if she's not standing on it saying it's hers. All that silver we found? All this gold on her fingers?... She's no servant, that's for sure. She's a damn swank. We let her out, we lose everything." (9.28)
Pima is letting greed cloud her moral judgment, and she wouldn't be talking about killing a defenseless person if so much money weren't at stake. Pima has to weigh her future against her moral code. Not an easy decision to make.
Quote #5
He knew about gold, though. Gold bought security, salvation from the ships and the breaking and light crew. Lucky Strike had gone down that road. Nailer would have been smarter to simply let Pima pigstick the girl and be done with it. (10.19)
Are there only these two options for him—either kill the girl or save her?
Quote #6
"I never really thought about how bad it is here. Not until yesterday. Not until her." He paused. "But you got to think, if she's that rich, there's other swanks out there. There's money out there. And it ain't here. Even Lucky Strike's a joke, in comparison to what she's got." (11.45)
Nailer doesn't really think about the potential for riches until he sees Nita and her wealth. It's this comparison between the haves and the have nots that make him realize just how big the gap is between swanks and rust rats. And this realization makes him even more determined to leave ship breaking for good.