Ship Breaker Characters

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Nailer is the main character in the book. Throughout Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. Nailer has shown that he is brave, loyal, and persistent. A person’s character traits defines who they are as a person and shows their strengths and weakness. Nailer is a brave person. Crawling in the smallest places of old oil tankers to strip the ships for parts just to survive. When he was crawling through tight spaces he experiences near death experiences, falling into an oil reservoir. “He dragged himself up against the wall, clinging by his fingertips. They trembled with pain. The oil didn’t give him any float at all. Already he was tiring.” (Bacigalupi 25). He knows it’s a dangerous lifestyle, but he no other choices. Also with his dad being an alcoholic, a drug addict that gets high all day and an abusive father, he doesn’t get love or care making him into an independent teenager.…show more content…
He cares about his friends and his dad even though he gets treated poorly. When Nailer first discovered about Nita Nailer and Pima didn’t know what to do with Nita. Nailer took care of her and later became someone whom he became close to. “Pleas spilled from her lips, a desperate trickle. She was broken, soon to die, but still the words slipped out in a steady whisper.” (Bacigalupi 95). Nailer took care of her and helped her get back to her father. Furthermore Nailer is loyal to his closest friend Pima. He tells Pima things that happen in his life. “‘I know you, Nailer. You'll tell Pima no matter what, and then I'm off crew and someone else buys in." Another pause and then she said, " It’s all Fates now. If you got a way out, I'll see you on the outside”. (bacigalupi 33) You get your revenge then." Sloth the person that was with Nailer during the incident decided whether she should save Nailer or not, she knows what would happen if she for her betrayal of both the spoken crew loyalties and the unspoken code for ship breakers. Nailer's loyalty to his crew and his

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