Review Of Tom Godwin's 'Cold Equations'
In the story “Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin the author justifies the readers of the thematic tension compassion versus reality ultimately favoring reality based on the decisions made throughout the story. In the short story Marilyn, a young-teen girl, boards a spaceship so she can find her long lost brother, Gerry-- little does she know the law states any stowaway found in an EDS is to be jettisoned immediately after being found! The Commander very knows of the complications for Pilot Barton, having to kill a young-teen-girl, so he extends how long she can live just until her weight will make a big impact on the fuel. This scared girl doesn’t understand what she has done wrong, because all she perceives to do is meet up with her brother, who she hadn’t seen in over 10 years. …show more content…
Minutes before her last breaths Gerry, her brother, signals them in the Stardust; so the two share their last few words before they lose signal. Now she must come to her fate, she is heaved into space, and she turns into an ugly shapeless figure. And Pilot Barton can only feel helpless, because there is nothing he can do for this 18-year-old-girl that just wanted to see her brother, and her words will run through his head haunting him for the rest of his life. One point the author makes that proves reality is ultimately favored is that the pilot has a very hard time killing a teenage girl because if it would have been a man he would have no problem but he has to kill the girl no matter the circumstances. The author says in the story "I 'm sorry." He spoke slowly to her, gently. "I should have told you before—I should have, but I had to do what I could first; I had to call the Stardust. You heard what the commander
The Cold Equations By Tom Godwin Analysis
653 Words | 3 PagesThe story Cold Equations by Tom Godwin, and the poem Traveling Through the Dark by William Stafford, both use two components of moral reasoning; moral judgment, and moral motivation. Cold Equations takes place in outer space where a slight increase in mass not included in the original calculations could get someone killed. Traveling Through the Dark takes place in 1962 on a road probably countryside. An example of moral reasoning is moral judgement, or the ability to correctly reason in regards of certain circumstances. In The Cold Equations Barton the Pilot of the EDS ship finds a stowaway who boarded the ship illegally and says “These ships are given barely enough fuel to reach their destination, and if you stay aboard, your added weight will cause it to use up all its fuel before it reaches the ground.
Summary Of The Cold Equations By Tom Godwin
786 Words | 4 PagesIn the short story “ The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin the author creates the thematic opposition of doing what’s morally right versus what’s expected or guidelines that must be followed. In the end following the guidelines prevails even though it causes some pain but saves other people from having a similar fate as that of the girls. In the story there’s a man that is flying on an EDS short for Emergency Dispatch Ship and this man is flying to help group one on the planet of Woden. And in doing so he discovers that a stowaway had hidden on his EDS, but what shocks the pilot the most is that the stowaway wasn’t some petty thief or wanted fugitive but rather a teenage girl. As standard procedure for something like that happening the stowaway
The Cold Equations By Tom Godwin Summary
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Analysis Of Tom Godwin's Short Story 'The Cold Equations'
506 Words | 3 PagesTom Godwin’s short story “The Cold Equations” illustrates how one should think of and become accepting of their consequences whether it's deserved or not. The story is about an Emergency Dispatch Ship, also known as an EDS, with the pilot on a mission to give a group of six men who have a fatal fever. The pilot, Barton, during his mission finds a stowaway named Marilyn found in a small closet on the ship. Marilyn was a young girl trying to go to Mimir, for she had a destination waiting and hoped to see her brother who she hasn't seen in 10 years, but little did she know that there was a previously set protocol that determines the life of a stowaway. Barton had sympathy for the girl and did his best to help her by contacting headquarters and asked if there was any way he could spare Marilyn’s life
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