Book: Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker, Chapters 1-7
This week I'll respond to some of the RR questions from our class handouts, selected using a random number generator.
If you could be any character in this work, who would you be? Explain.
I did not connect to many of the characters in this book, at least up to this point, but I would probably act the most like Sloth in this setting. Sloth attempts to take advantage of a bad situation, stabbing Nailer in the back and potentially getting him killed for her own benefit. In a post-apocalyptic situation, I'm not sure I'd find much time for sympathy when I have to chance to get lots of resources. I liked that she still threw Nailer a water bottle so he could try and save himself, so she isn't entirely a monster, but she made the logical choice not to actively help him get out of the oil pit. Of course, once she got found out, she was in real trouble, but that's the risk you take.
What character did you dislike? Why?
Initially, I was not fond of Moon Girl, who seemed like a very token Indian character, all concerned with spiritualism and obsessed with telling people about Hindu stories. She becomes a background character very quickly, though, and my feelings shifted to disliking Nailer's father, Richard Lopez. He is a deadbeat to a near comical degree, and I feel like his role in the story is either going to be very limited or a constant annoyance. We still don't know much about him at this point, but his violent tendencies toward Nailer paint him as very unsympathetic, while Nailer remains attached to him out of their familial bond.
Johnathon Hall
ReplyDeleteI love how you focused on what the character actually was gaining resource wise from his actions. If I was to ask you to go more in depth as to what resources he would gain I think it would be an interesting thought experiment. When is it ok to kill someone for resources? Only post apocalyptic scenarios? How about for current monetary resources such as oil? Is death justifiable for gain?