Tom Godwin's 'The Cold Equations'

A short story by Tom Godwin called “The Cold Equations” interprets the theme life isn't always fair. This story takes place in the year 2178 and is about a girl, Marilyn, who stows away on a space craft called “Stardust.” The girl get's caught because of the heat radiation from her body. She is told about the rules and how she would have to be killed, because the craft has only a certain amount of fuel to get from point A to point B. She had no idea of the rules, and was only trying to get to see her brother as a surprise; thus, she would never be able to see any of her family again. The captain of the craft tried everything he could to save Marilyn so she would not have to suffer for doing nothing to deserve to die. The captain transmitted to the planet her brother was based on and made it so they might have a chance to talk before she would have to die. Her brother was the last person in her family to hear her voice, although she wrote letters it wouldn't be the same for any of them. The captain sat in the sorrow of the families loss, because he too never wanted her to have to die. Tom shows my theme in several parts of the short …show more content…
Marilyn tells the EDS driver, “You're going to make me die and I didn't do anything to die for-- I didn't do anything--,” (4). Marilyn certainly didn't do anything worth dying for. The rules of space were different than the ones she lived by on Earth, and certainly more deadly; she had no idea what she was getting into by stowing away on a cruiser. The intentions she had were good, but by doing so she caused a tragedy nobody wanted to happen. Marilyn was 18 and had her whole life ahead of her back on Earth, yet she chose to go through a door that stated “UNAUTHORIZED PERSONAL KEEP OUT!” (2). This is almost always a warning sign that something you should not know about is behind it and or it is dangerous to people without the proper attire or