Death haunts us each living second. It is an unstoppable force whose thirst for life never runs out. When we are born into the world, the first thing we learn is fear. Life is the only tangible thing we have to hold on to, and when that is taken away, we are left with fear once again. These ideas are expressed in the two short stories “The Cold Equations” and “Hinterlands” which establish the basis for what it means to be sacrificed. William Gibson and Tom Godwin, in their respective short stories, explore the ideas of whether or not a person's life is truly significant or valuable in the eyes of others by critiquing the mentality that inhabits it.
In the story “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin, we hear the story of an EDS pilot delivering …show more content…
Their lust for knowledge fueled their reasoning behind their ideology and inherent willingness to sacrificing members of society. This utter lack of respect for life in the pursuit of power was due to the Box Theory which helps make the process of killing innocent lives seem sweeter and less awful than they should be. “Box theory; Black Box is the sanctioned metaphor, the Highway remaining x in every sane equation. We aren't supposed to worry about what the Highway is, or who put it there. Instead, we concentrate von what we put into the Box and what we get back out of it”(Gibson 2). The thought of having lives taken away just out of curiosity of what is on the other side seems inhumane. Each time the government sends an astronaut to space, they disregard the lives of those being sent there not caring whether they make it back alive or not. Gibson demonstrates how far people would go for their own selfish desires. Gibson underlines the big picture of having death as an aways to amend the forthcoming of wisdom. All that matters to the government is the thought of knowing what can be achieved and not caring for what is lost in the
In the story “The Cold Equations” by Tom Godwin, we hear the story of an EDS pilot delivering …show more content…
Their lust for knowledge fueled their reasoning behind their ideology and inherent willingness to sacrificing members of society. This utter lack of respect for life in the pursuit of power was due to the Box Theory which helps make the process of killing innocent lives seem sweeter and less awful than they should be. “Box theory; Black Box is the sanctioned metaphor, the Highway remaining x in every sane equation. We aren't supposed to worry about what the Highway is, or who put it there. Instead, we concentrate von what we put into the Box and what we get back out of it”(Gibson 2). The thought of having lives taken away just out of curiosity of what is on the other side seems inhumane. Each time the government sends an astronaut to space, they disregard the lives of those being sent there not caring whether they make it back alive or not. Gibson demonstrates how far people would go for their own selfish desires. Gibson underlines the big picture of having death as an aways to amend the forthcoming of wisdom. All that matters to the government is the thought of knowing what can be achieved and not caring for what is lost in the