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Review Of Tom Godwin's 'Cold Equations'

633 Words3 Pages

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

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