##quality In Tom Godwin's The Cold Equations By Tom Godwin

J.M. Barrie once wrote, “You can have anything in life if you will sacrifice everything else for it.” Throughout this semester, the most prevalent subject that has continuously risen from conversation is that of sacrifice. Through the three books read in class, A Tale of Two Cities, A Doll’s House, and Brave New World, one can learn that sacrifice is not a selfless thing, but a necessary part of life when attaining something he or she feels is of greater value.

For myself, the most exciting part to read in the short story "The Cold Equations" was in the very first part when the pilot knew that someone was hiding in the supply closet and he knew he was "not alone" the first two words of the story had me hooked. From here on he continued explaining that a tiny white hand on a gauge let him face the reality that a person who was not supposed to be on the tiny EDS ship was hiding in a supplies closet.At this point, you are as scared as the pilot as to what is in there especially with this line, "There was something in the supplies closet across the room, it was saying, some kind of a body that radiated heat." Consequently, the pilot has a dialogue with himself about the expectations of an EDS pilot and

The debate over fate and free will is a long going discussion among people. Some believe that their choices have been planned out for them, while others believe that their destiny is in their hands and they can forge their own path. In Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations” this idea is explored when a girl named Marilyn Cross stowaways on a ship. Once she is discovered, Marilyn learns that the ship she has chosen to hide out on has limited fuel and can only take a single person. This person must be the ship’s captain, Barton, who must deliver serum to a sick colony on a nearby planet and also return hom. No matter how hard either of them try, it seems the inevitable is only delayed. The cold equations that run the ship’s maintenance call for

In the following essay I will make a comparison between three short stories: “The Princess Who Stood on Her Own Two Feet,” “The Lottery,” “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” and discuss the common theme of sacrifice that is presented in them. In the story “The Princess Who Stood on Her Own Two Feet,” princess sacrifices herself in order to achieve happiness with the selfish and sexist prince. In “The Lottery” people stone a person every year to provide a sacrifice in order to have good harvest. In the story “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas” a poor child is sacrificed in order for the whole city to exist.

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

Novelist, Truman Capote, in his informative novel, "In Cold Blood," recounts the moments before the murder occurred and the aftermath of the murder. Capote's purpose is to illustrate in detail the occurrences before, during, and after the murder; as well as, to inform the reader of why the murder took place in the first place. He adopts a factual tone to emphasize the seriousness of the situations; he then shifts to a grieving tone in order to appeal to similar experiences and feelings in his adult readers.

From the very beginning of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, the Clutters' fate is sealed at the hands of Dick and Perry, but the readers are still left in suspense and waiting in anticipation. With quick transitions and a recurring theme of something being the last for the Clutters, the beginning is a rousing murder scene without even a mention of the actual violent act. The sharp juxtaposition of describing the Clutters' everyday life compared to Dick and Perry preparing for the murder is striking. While the readers know the outcome of the violence, they are left wondering how and why until later in the book. Even then, like with any intriguing crime scene, people want to feel the thrill of the chase with the slight, underlining knowledge that

In the short story, “The Cold Equation” by Tom Godwin, the author provides the details needed to infer that a man is working against his own emotions and lack of power, in order to help an innocent young girl; in the end, after the man makes a little gesture of care, the girl dies for what she knew wasn’t what everyone wanted, but needed to happen.

A short story is a work of literature that is shorter than a novel. Although some may believe the length may not be enough to develop a noble story, in these few pages an author can pack a tight punch that will leave one in awe, disgust, or utter sadness. Whether there is a moral of the story or it is simply for the reader’s enjoyment, each author has their own style of conveying a message through their work in very diverse ways. Through Flannery O’Connor and Chuck Palahniuk’s works we can see this very evidently.

In “Ransom of Red Chief” O.Henry uses situational irony to create humor in his short story. It is very fun to see the things that happen throughout the story because the reader does not expect those things to happen. As a result of O.Henry using situational irony, it develops the theme crime doesn’t pay. In order for the reader to understand the theme they need to understand situational irony and how it affects the story.

Short stories have been written for a long time for many reasons. Whether the reason be for getting a point across, persuading someone or just for the pleasure of the reader. The creation of short stories has been a privilege for the writers especially because of every writer has a purpose and they can portray it through their literature and show how it has evolved from when it was first created. Many critics also think that short stories can teach more than novels because of the fact that author’s get their point across quicker than an author in a novel. Through the stories of “Paul’s Case,” “Bartleby the Scrivener,” and “To Build a Fire,” American authors present many themes for the readers to consider.

The meaning of sacrifice is defined to be the action of given up something that is highly valued for the sake of having something else considered to have a great value. () However, based on theme the structure of sacrifice is made when one of the main character gives up or stand up for something they dearly care for no matter what the consequences are. In the novel “The Hungry Games”, the play “Romeo and Juliet” and the poem “Easter 1916” they each express the theme of sacrifice in a similar purpose. These works of literatures explain to its readers and audience that sacrifices are made it life to change the world or to make an impact.

What if there was a pilot who was afraid of heights? This is an example of situational irony. Situational irony makes an ordinary story extraordinary in unexpected ways as it can also be alarming or amusing. Authors use situational irony to provoke feelings in their readers, such as humor and pity. O. Henry uses situational irony to show humor in his story, “The Ransom Red Chief.” Guy de Maupassant also uses situational irony in his story the necklace where the reader feels pity towards the characters. By examining these two short stories, it is clear that authors utilize situational irony to affect readers’ emotions.

In class we discussed the case of Marilyn as well as two other scenarios involving a transplant patient and a train that were to kill children playing in the tracks. The class agreed that the pilot did indeed do the right thing. The numbers principle states that if the number sacrificed is less than the number saved the sacrifice is permissible. We agreed with Mills and his views regarding the cold equation case. Marilyn should have not been on the plane in the first place

Even out in space like in Tom Godwin’s “Cold Equations,” problems can present themselves, and characters soon figure out something significant. They open their eyes, in a way, and change because of it. The theme that someone has to open their eyes to see the bigger picture is shown in Tom Godwin’s “The Cold Equations,” Morley Callaghan’s “All the Years of Her Life,” “How Far She Went” by Mary Hood, and John Steinbeck’s Of Mice And Men.