Through The Looking Glass- Inside Nailer’s Brain

By Shannon J.

An analysis of the third person limited omniscient narrative in Paolo Bacigalupi's Ship Breaker

A third person narrative takes an outsider point of view, without any "I's" and usually without any insight into the characters thoughts and feelings. I generally do not like reading third person novels, because I like knowing what the narrator is thinking. However, Ship Breaker was an exception.


Somehow Bacigalupi kept a third person narrative, yet still answered all of our questions about the main protagonists feelings. Many authors have difficulty switching from a third person narrative to a character's innermost thoughts. However, Ship Breaker is a whole different story. Bacigalupi used names for all of the characters, so that the reader did not get confused about who was speaking or carrying out actions. He also is able to give us insight towards what Nailer, the main protagonist, is thinking and feeling. I like how the novel did not switch to more than just the one character's point of view, because it helps the reader to create a bond with Nailer. By the end of the first chapter, I was already anticipating what was going to happen and hoping it would benefit Nailer.

Even though I like having insight to character's thoughts, I find it confusing and boring if the narrator simply tells you what every character is thinking all the time. Sometimes a character's thoughts are obvious and do not need to be stated, and other times the reader can simply take a guess towards what they are thinking. In Ship Breaker, there are hints to each character's thoughts, but Nailer's thoughts are the only ones that are said straightforward. "When he stood at the edge of hull's cracked hollow, Pima was standing alone in the water, foam up to her thighs. For a moment, he thought she'd drowned the girl…" (Bacigalupi 102) The writer directly states Nailer's thoughts, but doesn't say anything about Pima. However, by the way Bacigalupi phrased the sentences, the reader can grasp that Pima did not like the girl very much and would have been happy to drown her.

There is however one thing that Bacigalupi leaves the reader pondering; Does Nita end up having feelings for Nailer, or was she just using him the whole time to get herself into a better and more safe environment? The author gives us many hints to Nailer's thoughts about Nita, but none suggesting that Nita felt the same way. For example, "She smiled then, a smile as bright as the blue ocean. Nailer felt his chest contract. Damn, he was crazy. He was actually starting to like this girl." (Bacigalupi 218) tells the reader that Nailer is starting to develop feelings for Nita, but all Bacigalupi tells us about her is that she smiled. Once again though, he is using a third person narrative, "Nailer", but delving into the protagonists brain.

Another frustrating thing about only being able to see inside Nailer's head is that I could never tell what Tool was thinking. Was he actually sincere when he was helping them or was he just like all the other half-men? Tool was constantly saying that he did not have a master, and that he was not created extremely loyal to anyone. Both Nita and Nailer talk about how they do not believe this, because all half-men are created to a master and they die when their master dies. I never found out whether Tool was telling the truth or not, because we were only allowed in Nailer's brain, and he did not have all the answers. I think my frustration with these left out parts made the novel more interesting. I say I don't like having to guess at things, but in reality a novel would be very boring and simplistic if everything was straightforward and handed right to you. The novel ended in a slight cliffhanger, "Beyond it, the blue sea stretched into the horizon, beckoning." (Bacigalupi 323) and although I would love to know what happens after, it is something compelling to keep me guessing at.

Third person limited is a very tough style of writing, but many authors use it. Another author that writes similarly to Bacigalupi is J.K. Rowling. In all of her Harry Potter novels, Harry is referred to as just that, making it third person. She also constantly states how Potter is feeling and what his thoughts are towards people. This was definitely necessary in order to allow the reader to connect with Potter and wish the best on him. If Rowling had written in third person limited from Voldemort's point of view, the reader most likely would have sympathized with Voldemort. However, due to the lack of insight on Voldemort's thoughts and feelings, the reader grows to hate him because we do not know his motives for things. Who knows, maybe Voldemort could have been able to see the future and saw that all the people he killed would turn into terrorists, so he killed them first. Likewise, in Ship Breaker, Nailer's father, among others is portrayed as the bad guy. They are only portrayed that way because that is how Nailer feels about them, and Nailer's thoughts are the only ones that we can see.

Although many authors make use of third person limited, Ship Breaker was quite unlike anything else I've read. The way that Bacigalupi effortlessly and smoothly switches from third person to the depths of Nailer's brain is like no other. "Nailer felt a thrill of dread at the half-man's words. There was a challenge there, and these other half-men, Knot and Vine, sensed it" (Bacigalupi 243). The author easily switches from explaining Nailer's feelings to explaining the challenging tone to the half-man's words. Bacigalupi also tells us that Knot and Vine sensed the challenge, without having to switch his narrative mode to third person multiple, or omniscient. His sentences were stated so simply, yet they had deeper meaning with many clues embedded.

If I must admit it, I was dreading reading this book at first, because the first paragraph was in third person without any insight. I have to say though, that despite the many "failure" novels I have read and disliked, this was not one of them.