Literary Devices in Ship Breaker
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
Like any good action story, the setting is the backdrop for adventure and can move the plot forward. But movement from one setting to another also implies a more metaphoric movement in the characte...
Narrator Point of View
Even though Bacigalupi writes the story in third person, we only get to see into Nailer's perspective. We know what he's thinking and feeling, but we don't have the same view into any other charact...
Genre
Young Adult LiteratureShip Breaker is clearly a young adult novel. Not only are the main characters young adults on the brink of full-fledged adulthood, they also grapple with questions that young...
Tone
Even though the genre is sci-fi, the tone is pretty realistic. Nailer knows that his pipe dreams of working a clipper ship are just that—dreams that most likely won't be realized. And the languag...
Writing Style
Nothing says action like realizing you're sitting on the edge of your seat, right? To make sure we're right where he wants us—with our butts barely in our chairs—during fights, escapes, near-dr...
What's Up With the Title?
The title may seem like a duh title—hello, Nailer and his crew are actual ship breakers—but at second glance, it's more complex. In the most literal sense, Nailer and his crew break apart oil t...
What's Up With the Ending?
"What makes you think that some lower-deck grease monkey has a chance with a girl like that?""Beats me." Nailer glanced at Pima sidelong, then grinned. "Maybe I'll just get lucky.""Oh yeah?" Pima g...
Tough-o-Meter
Ship Breaker may seem like a sea level or base camp book at first—hey, some action books are—but upon closer inspection, we realize it's actually a bit of a hike. The language of the novel isn'...
Plot Analysis
Not Exactly Rosie the RiveterNailer, who seems a lot older than his teenage years, is a ship breaker working with a crew to break apart oil tankers for scrap near the Gulf Coast. His boss isn't all...
Trivia
Bacigalupi didn't originally intend for ship breaking to take such a front and center place in the novel.(Source)Bacigalupi thinks that having raw talent is meaningless as a writer; what matters is...
Steaminess Rating
Ship Breaker is a book about adventure and friendship, not sex. Sure, there's a teeny bit of romance toward the end (we have to wonder if Nailer's decision to look for Nita is based on ethics or ro...
Allusions
Nada. Zip. Zilch. This book is one giant shout-out to Bacigalupi's imagination.