Content Warning: “Families of Blood Versus Families of Choice” contains references to abuse and addiction, while “Loyalty Threatening and Aiding Survival” references enslavement.

In Ship Breaker, Nailer wrestles with his feelings towards his father, Richard Lopez. He recognizes that his crew family—Sadna, Pima, and Nita—is far more supportive than his only remaining blood relative, yet he still believes that loyalty to his father takes precedence over even his own survival. While his fellow crewmembers repeatedly put themselves at risk to come to his aid, Richard neglects him, beats him, and at the end seeks to murder him for his own gain. Nailer must ultimately choose between blood ties or those who are far more worthy of his loyalty. Through the juxtaposition of family and crew, Bacigalupi shapes the narrative around the question of whether family is solely a relationship that we are born into or one that we can build.

From the start, Sadna is a mother figure for Nailer. Her home is the “safest place he [knows]” (38), and his fear and tension melt away “in the face of Sadna’s strength” (38).