The Cold Equation By Tom Godwin Summary

The short story,“The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin explains the theme of think before you act. To begin with, Tom Godwin portrays the theme of think before you act when Marilyn stowaways in the stardust and unknowingly something has to be done with her so the spaceship to save fuel,”Is that it? she asked at last. Just that the ship doesn't have enough fuel?” on page 5 This quote helps me prove my theme because it shows that she obviously didn’t think before she went into the ship. Second, another reason why the theme of think before you act is shown in the story,” the cold equations” is on page when Barton says ,”These little ships are always given barely enough fuel to reach their destination and if you stay aboard your added weight will cause

In all honesty, as Marilyn interprets, “ how did it happen to me so terribly quickly?” (18). Marilyn interprets that she is going to die early in her life. The outcome of Marilyn’s choice is not fair, in her eyes. The choice she made changed her life negatively and unfairly. When Marilyn states that life is unfair, it is life or death for her. The resolution of Marilyn being on the spaceship was awful and unbearable. In like manner,  the unfairness in this story isn’t like a child saying it’s not fair over a piece of candy; it is life or death. It is true, as Marilyn expresses, “ I didn’t do anything to die for… I didn’t do anything…” (27). Marilyn is stating that it wasn’t fair she had to die for something she didn’t do. She is so baffled to why she has to leave her lovely life for something she didn’t deserve to die for. All in all, hard choices can change a life dramatically and can result in an awful, unfair

When Marilyn figures out that there is no way she can escape her death, she is still persistent about wanting to get in contact with her brother. She says, "I wish Gerry would get back before it's too late. Do you really think he will, and you didn't just say so to make me feel better?”(Godwin, 14). Even moments before her death, she is worried about her brother, which displays the love she has for him and how much she means to him. In fact, she didn’t call her mom or dad, she called her brother, and that really reveals how much of a loving sister she is to him in the

Barb blames Janice for Anne's death to hurt her and make her feel guilty, not knowing that Janice already feels guilty but does not express it. However, Barb does not think about the challenges Janice might have endured but is angry because she is not the ‘ideal Janice’ that she had been expecting. Barb is too busy and eager wanting to express her anger towards Janice that she cannot relate to Janice’s problems and the struggles that she goes through. Barb’s lack of sympathy towards the unexpected changes in Janice’s life only results in a bigger gap in their relationship. Once Barb and Janice start talking, Barb is again angered by Janice’s quietness and her unwillingness to strengthen their relationship. However, she does not make an effort herself to understand why. Barb says to Janice: “You told us the facts. I don’t know one damn thing about you, the person” (36). Barb is annoyed and frustrated by Janice keeping to herself, she cannot understand her. Barb wants a strong relationship with her as sisters. For Janice, the sister relationship is too difficult and would rather prefer being friends. However, Barb does not acknowledge or accept Janice’s different views but expects Janice to want the same. Barb misunderstands the quietness of Janice and takes it personally, thinking that she wants to keep a distance from her and does not want to open up. Barb does not think of the opposite. What if Janice can’t

The main theme of “The Cold Equations” is based on sacrifice. It is shown when Marilyn had to die to save other lives. “ You’re going to make me die and I didn’t do a nothing to die for – I didn’t do anything – “ He signed deep and wearily. “I know you didn’t child. I know you didn’t” (Godwin 5). Marilyn is only one human life herself and if the pilot did strictly follow through the plan, than six other lives would have been gone within seconds. With that being shown sacrifice is the main theme in this short story in whether it was Marilyn’s life or six other lives had to be saved.

There are countless stories that one can read and forget about the next day, however this is not one. The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin is such a moving story with so many incorporated themes that leave an impacting message in the reader's life. I really enjoyed the writing style of Tom Godwin. He starts with a phrase that gets the reader's attention immediately and gets us wondering why him not being alone is such a big deal. After this he gives us the answer and some background information about the frontier and jumps right into the story again. There’s a lot of intensity to start with, but when we are introduced to Marilyn the author gives us some relief and the way he does this is by using literary language such as similes and metaphors and sarcasm. I love this contrast because it doesn't stay at one level if not it changes in a way that is entertaining for the reader and it allows us to want to read more. Not only this, but Tom Godwin uses a lot of situational and dramatic irony to add to the intensity and story. Another reason this story stands out is because of all the theme that is incorporated and not only the fact that there are many things but the technique used to incorporate the theme. Many stories use the characters difficult situations or a symbol to introduce theme. On the other hand, Tom Godwin uses situations that the reader can relate to and not only creates emotion within the characters, but within the reader. Some themes I came across were: your actions

The story "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin, displays the theme, There are consequences for every action. The story begins by taking us inside an Emergency Dispatch Ship (EDS) in mid-flight, when the ship’s gauges alert the pilot that a stowaway is hiding aboard in the small closet. The pilot immediately infers it is a grown male stowaway, whom the pilot orders out of the closet as he lay his hand on his blaster gun. To his utter surprise, the stowaway who emerges is a young female, causing him to immediately realize the inevitable end to the situation at hand, as the protocol for stowaways was very harsh; upon discovery of such person, the stowaway would be dispersed immediately into space leading to imminent death. The EDS was only permitted

In the story “The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin, Marilyn makes one single decision that can affect her future forever. There is no telling what the future will hold. In the beginning, Marilyn desperately wishes to see her brother, so she sneaks onto a EDS to take her to him: “'Why did you stow away on this EDS?'...'I wanted to see my brother'"(Godwin 4). Marilyn’s future changed for the worst because of the consequences she will experience by being a stow away. Next, by deciding to sneak onto the EDS Marilyn will have to die because of the law. “'They’re waiting for you to kill me, aren’t they? They want me dead, don’t they?'"(Godwin 9). When she hears that her consequence will be death she came to the realization of how her decision truly affected

The story “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin, shows the central thematic tension of one's guilt being the lesser to one’s responsibility, and this is resolved by the responsibility of the main characters overcoming his guilt and ending the life of a girl. The story starts off in an EDS spacecraft, and the main character is all alone doing his job, flying the ship. Soon the main character realizes there was someone in the supplies closet, but sadly the narrator would have to send that person out into space since he didn’t have enough fuel to make it to his destination if they were onboard. The main character found out that the other person was a girl and she was only 18, trying to get to her brother who worked on Woden, but the girl didn’t realize that she was on the path to death.

The short (not very short) story, “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin evinced the thematic tension between selfishness and the law, with the law taking the victory over any act upon it. To summarize the story, “The Cold Equation” by Tom Godwin, you would start off in a closet inside the huge ship, Stardust, that is moving through space. A teenage young girl is caught hiding off inside that closet and doesn’t know the price she has to pay for sneaking onto that ship to see her brother just one year earlier (this action can be labeled as selfishness). Most of the story rambles on with the teenage girl and the man who finds her there with the job of eliminating the intruder according to the law of that spaceship. The tension and suspense

Nearing the last few minutes of her life Garry (her brother) calls back,BArton keeps waring Marilyn that they will be

Which of the following characters served as the antagonist in "The Cold Equations"? Use evidence from the text in the form of examples and explanations to support your reasoning. Barton Marilyn Commander Delhart Records Gerry I think that the antagonist is Marilyn because she causes the main problem in the story because she get into the stoways and there's when she causes the main problem , even that she wasnt a bad person and she dint knew that she was causing a big problem even that she said:" I didnt know this would happen, I just want to see my brother".

Life is a product of a choice. Every aspect of a person’s life rely on their decisions, thus it is essential to contemplate all factors. It is commonly argued that factual evidence should be the sole determinate when making a decision, however emotions should also play a significant role in the process. Although, scientific facts are crucial to consider in many situations, such as the circumstances presented in the short story, “The Cold Equations,” by Tom Godwin, both human emotion and fact must be considered when making a decision.

The story, “The Cold Equations”, by Tom Godwin asserts the theme that even if you mean well, things could end badly. In the story, the stowaway hid from the pilots aboard their ship. The ship called out the pilots about an extra body being on board in the supplies closet. The stowaway came out of the hiding spot to reveal a girl in her teens. He asked her what are you doing and she said, “I’m here to see my brother.

“The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin is about how humans care for one another even when the world is uncaring. The theme is established at the beginning of the short story when Barton, the EDS pilot, does not jettison Marilyn, the young stowaway, immediately after she is discovered. Barton tries to stall as much time as possible by reading all of the information on her identification card, including the information that is not needed at a slow rate to give Marilyn time to adjust and take in what is happening. “He [Barton] began to read the disk, reading it slowly to delay the inevitable for as long as possible, trying to help her by giving her what little time he could to recover from her first horror and let it resolve into the calm of acceptance