Theme

The central message or theme in Ship Breaker in to never give up. Through the first few chapters this is the theme because Nailer has met his first conflict. If he had given up he would have drowned in oil. A quote from the book to prove this theme is "He hooked his elbow through the wheel. He was running out of air, but he didn't want to give up"(Bacigalupi 34). This theme has been shaped into the book because never giving up was the answer to his first conflict. A short summary of Ship Breaker is a boy named Nailer has grown up working on old ships scavenging for metals like copper. This job is very dangerous and has terrible work conditions, but Nailer must face these challenges in order to live to see another day.