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Ship Breaker Questions

Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.

  1. In Ship Breaker, how does Nailer's definition of family change throughout the novel? What events cause these changes?
  2. How would the story change if Nailer were a girl and Nita were a boy?
  3. Rank these characters—Nailer, Pima, Nita, Tool, Sadna, Richard Lopez, Captain Candless—from most moral to least moral based on what they say and do in the novel. Explain.
  4. To what extent is the world Bacigalupi imagines and creates fiction?
  5. How might Sadna decide a human's worth? Tool? Nita? Richard Lopez? What makes you say this?