What does the title "The Cold Equations" refer to in Tom Godwin's story?

The classic science fiction short story "The Cold Equations" tells of a pilot named Barton aboard an EDS, or Emergency Dispatch Ship, who is tasked with delivering a supply of medicine to a colony on a frontier planet. After leaving the immense hyperspace cruiser and beginning his descent, Barton realizes that there is a stowaway aboard. The rules say that any stowaway that is discovered must be immediately ejected into space, as the EDS has no weight allowance for extra passengers. However, Barton discovers that it's an eighteen-year-old girl who just wanted to go down onto the planet to visit her brother. He contacts his superiors and does everything he can to avoid killing the girl, but in the end, he has no choice and must put her into the airlock and eject her into space.

The title "The Cold Equations" refers to the calculations involved in determining how much fuel the EDS needs to safely make it down to the planet with its cargo. The word "equations" refers to the calculations, and the word "cold" refers to the fact that they are relentless, unchangeable, and capable of resulting in the death of those who do not respect them. The details of the story that refer to this are found near the beginning when Barton, the pilot, is considering what he is going to have to do and why.

The cruisers were forced by necessity to carry a limited amount of bulky rocket fuel, and the fuel was rationed with care, the cruiser's computers determining the exact amount of fuel each EDS would require for its mission. The computers considered the course coordinates, the mass of the EDS, the mass of pilot and cargo; they were very precise and accurate and omitted nothing from their calculations. They could not, however, foresee and allow for the added mass of a stowaway

Godwin refers to these equations later in the story while Barton is attempting to delay carrying out the execution as long as possible.

H amount of fuel will not power an EDS with a mass of M plus X safely to its destination. To him and her brother and parents she was a sweet-faced girl in her teens; to the laws of nature she was X, an unwanted factor in a cold equation.

Tom Godwin's chosen title for his short story "The Cold Equations" refers to the cold, factual mathematical equations that were used to calculate Marilyn's fate.

The first equation refers to the one the computers that govern the Stardust cruiser and the Emergency Dispatch Ships (EDS) use to calculate how much fuel to load Barton's EDS with so that he will safely arrive on Wodoen to fulfill his emergency mission. The conflict of the story is built around the fact that the computers only calculate the amount of fuel required to transport the ship, Barton, and his cargo, no outside factors such as a stowaway. Therefore, the longevity of Marilyn's life is governed by the simple calculation that says there is not enough fuel to carry her weight plus land the ship safely on Woden so Barton can save the lives several explorers. The first cold, hard equation is referred to in the following sentences just after the narrator of the story reflects on the fact that the men conquering the frontier, meaning outer space, perfectly understand they are at the mercy of natural forces, such as tornadoes, which feel "neither hatred nor compassion" for living beings:

The men of the frontier knew--but how was a girl from Earth to fully understand? h amount of fuel will not power an EDS with a mass of m plus x safely to its destination. To him and her brother and parents she was a sweet-faced girl in her teens; to the laws of nature she was x, the unwanted factor in a cold equation.

The second equation is the one Barton uses to determine that if he reduces his deceleration to .10 at a specific moment in time he can afford to keep Marilyn on-board for a certain amount of time without crashing because his fuel has run out. Commander Delhart agrees to ask the computer how long she can remain on-board at that speed, and the computer returns with the answer that she can remain on-board until 19:10, exactly 57 minutes.

This may be a story about the future, but the sexual politics are definitely from the 50's, when this story was published. The story's central point is that the laws of nature are immutable and supersede human emotional needs. The fact that the stowaway is a girl invokes an emotional response in the pilot that, had the stowaway been a man, would not have happened. So in a sense, the "cold equation" that sentences the girl to death can be seen as a metaphor for "natural laws" that are deployed to emphasize the girl's powerlessness and the scientific "authority" of the men.

Another kind of metaphor might be the description of Marilyn's body after being jettisoned into space: she will go from being a "pretty girl" to a corpse "all dry and shapeless and horribly ugly." Her body can be understood as a metaphor for her humanity, although again in this case her personality is either subsumed by her physicality, or infantilized (as with he story of her brother getting her a kitten).

In both cases, the girl's only defense against the rule that says she must be jettisoned is her being a girl. While it may be true that her added weight has thrown off the fuel calculations for the ship, it also is true that these calculations mandate a kind ritual violence exempt from moral law.

In his short story "The Cold Equations," author Tom Godwin uses personification and similes much more often than he uses metaphors. Still, a few metaphors can be found. A metaphor is a type of figurative language in which an author creates additional meaning by comparing two unrelated things by saying something is something else. Through metaphors, authors give further meaning to abstract concepts by relating abstract concepts to concrete objects, allowing the reader to picture the abstract concept in his or her mind. Metaphors can be implied as well as explicitly stated.

Godwin uses two metaphors in Marilyn's final remarks to her brother in their goodbye conversation over the communicator. In these final remarks, Marilyn tells her brother she'll always be with him in some form or another, even in her death. The idea that Marilyn will always be with him gives both of them more courage to face their losses. Marilyn first uses a metaphor to describe herself as the breeze that surrounds a person, thereby comparing herself to a breeze, saying "maybe I'll be the touch of a breeze that whispers to you as it goes by."

Since Marilyn is saying she will be a breeze in the future, even though she can never literally be a breeze, even in her death, she is creating an implied comparison by calling herself a breeze in some future point in time.

She next creates an implied metaphor to say she'll always be near him in the form of a lark. She says, "maybe I'll be one of those gold-winged larks you told me about, singing my silly head off to you."

Even in her death, Marilyn cannot literally be breeze or a lark, we know she is creating metaphors by saying she will be those things in the future.

Earlier, a simpler, explicitly stated metaphor is used to describe Barton's and Marilyn's view of the planet Woden aboard the EDS as they approach it:

Woden was a ball.

Planets are never literally balls. Even the planet Earth is not perfectly spherical. It is, instead, what scientists today call "not even a perfect oblate spheroid" (Choi, C., "Strange but True: Earth Is Not Round," Scientific American).

What is the main theme in "The Cold Equations" by Tom Godwin?

In Tom Godwin's science fiction story “The Cold Equations,” a young girl makes the fateful decision to stow away on a spaceship, hoping to visit her brother on a galactic outpost. She doesn't realize that her extra weight, as small as it might be, will cause the supply ship to run out of fuel and crash, necessitating the fatal need to force her off the ship and into the certain death of outer space.

Students usually say that the theme of this story is something along the lines of “the universe is a cold and uncaring place—its laws cannot be avoided.” While this is obviously true, we also have to look at how the human beings in the story react to what is happening. The pilot, whose life was endangered by the girl's thoughtless behavior, goes out of his way to help her speak to her brother one last time.

By the end of the story the girl is able to face her situation, walking into the air lock seconds before her death with “her head up,” instead of being emotionally broken.

With this in mind, the theme has to include something of the better side of human nature. It should be something like: even when events and circumstances are tragically beyond their control, human beings still have the ability to care for each other and find value in life.

The main theme of "The Cold Equations" is also the aspect of the story that makes it striking and important. It is the inexorable nature of the physical universe.

The cold equations that give the story its title are the math equations governing the pilot's decisions. Barton (the pilot) is not free to act on his own, and can't allow Marilyn to stay on board, because there is not enough fuel. As his commander says over the communicator, " You know you have a limited supply of fuel; you also know the law as well as I do."

It is these equations, and the strict laws of the physical universe that they express, that force Barton to jettison Marilyn. Because he knows the rules of the universe and she does not, he cannot try to take her to see her brother, or compromise in any way, because if he does, all the sick people on the planet Woden will die.

In the short story "The Cold Equations," author Tom Godwin wants us to believe Marilyn's death was an inevitable sacrifice for the greater good.

Godwin depicts the inevitability of Marilyn's death by explaining the mathematical necessity of her death. Emergency Dispatch Ships (EDS) were designed to be fast and lightweight to deliver needed emergency supplies and aid to colonies on distant planets speedily. Since EDSs needed to be lightweight, they could only carry the exact amount of fuel needed for them to reach their destinations, and the amount of fuel was calculated based on the mass of the ship and distance. Any additional weight, such as the weight of a stowaway, would throw off the calculation, leading the EDS pilot to burn fuel too fast and crash, ultimately resulting in many people's deaths. Therefore, as determined by cold calculation, stowaways like Marilyn had to be jettisoned from the ship to ensure emergency assistance was actually delivered; this cold calculation determines the longevity of Marilyn's life:

The men of the frontier knew. . . h amount of fuel will not power an EDS with a mass of m plus x safely to its destination. . . to the laws of nature she was x, the unwanted factor in a cold equation.

Since no one can logically dispute the laws of physics determining what is needed for an EDS to reach its destination to deliver emergency aid, the reader can easily believe Marilyn's death was inevitable.

In addition, Barton is on his way to deliver serum to rescue the lives of six explorers on Woden. If Marilyn stays on the EDS, she'll cost the lives of seven men, Barton included, rather than just her own life. Since the reader sees this is true, the reader can easily believe Marilyn's one death is for the sake of the greater good.

What are the "cold equations" in Tom Godwin's story "The Cold Equations"?

There are two "cold" equations used and referred to in Tom Godwin's short story "The Cold Equations." The first is the equation used to calculate the exact amount of fuel needed for an Emergency Dispatch Ship (EDS) to reach its destination; the second is the equation used to determine how long Marilyn can safely stay on-board the EDS at a decreased deceleration speed. Both equations are governed by the laws of nature, and these laws determine the longevity of Marilyn's life, just as they determine the longevity of the lives of all men on the frontier, meaning the men who are colonizing outer space:

The men of the frontier knew—but how was a girl from Earth to fully understand? h amount of fuel will not power an EDS with a mass of m plus x safely to its destination. To him and her brother and parents she was a sweet-faced girl in her teens; to the laws of nature she was x, the unwanted factor in a cold equation.

The first equation is the one computers use to determine the precise amount of fuel needed for an EDS to reach its destination in order to fulfill its emergency rescue mission. Since EDSs must be fast and, therefore, lightweight, they can only carry a limited amount of fuel. Fuel is calculated based on mass and distance. The amount of time and energy it takes to reduce the ship's deceleration speed must also be factored because EDSs have to be traveling very slowly to be able to enter the atmosphere of the new planet without burning up. Deceleration requires a great deal of energy, which consumes fuel faster; the girl's additional weight would increase the "gravities of deceleration" to the extent that the ship would run out of fuel before reaching its destination.

The second equation is the one the computers use, upon Barton's request, to calculate how long Marilyn can safely stay on-board the ship traveling at a reduced deceleration speed of .10 gravities. Commander Delhart agrees to feed the data of Marilyn's weight, the speed of deceleration, and distance into the computers in order to keep Marilyn on-board and alive as long as possible and returns with the answer that Barton can remain at the deceleration speed of .10 gravity until 19:10, exactly 57 minutes.

Summarize the main events, setting, characters, and resolution of Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equations".

Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equations" is a very utilitarian science fiction short story. Utilitarianism is a moral theory that bases right and wrong on the number of people the action benefits or brings pleasure to. The story is utilitarian because the pilot is forced to act for the sake of the greater good by saving multiple lives rather than just one.

In the science fiction story, outer space is being colonized, an action that leads to its own set of moral obligations and consequences. One consequence is that the colonists do not have the easiest method of delivering emergency supplies. As the narrator, who is the pilot, named Barton, explains, "huge hyperspace cruisers" transported colonists and made routine visits to the colonies; however, since they were very expensive to operate, they could not make unscheduled emergency stops. As a solution, small, lightweight Emergency Dispatch Ships (EDS) were created, but their size necessitated being engineered in such a way they could only carry as much rocket fuel as was needed to make it to their destination. Fuel was calculated based on the "mass of pilot and cargo"; any extra weight on the ship would lead to a shortage of fuel and an inability for the emergency vessel to make it to its destination. The danger of emergency mission failure led the authorities to devise the interstellar regulation stating, "Any stowaway discovered on an EDS shall be jettisoned immediately following discovery."

Barton knows instantly he has a stowaway on the ship due to a heat gauge on his control panel. He expects the stowaway to be a "man with some ulterior motive" and is very surprised to see a young curly-haired, blue-eyed, perfumed girl emerge, named Marilyn Lee Cross. As their conversation progresses, Barton learns Marilyn stowed away to travel to see her brother, being completely naive of the dangers the frontier poses and of the consequences for stowing away. Barton becomes faced with the moral dilemma of choosing between empathizing with and protecting Marilyn due to her naivete or protecting the lives of the colonists by succeeding in delivering the medical supplies. However, Barton knows protecting her will lead to the loss of many lives rather than just her own life, leaving him to make a utilitarian decision.

Barton does all he can for Marilyn, including trying to get the commander to bring the Stardust to rescue her, calculating how much time she can remain on the ship, asking permission to remain at that speed for as long as the computer allows him to, allowing her to write letters to her family, and even getting in contact with her brother, Gerry Cross, so she can say goodbye. However, Barton knows it is his moral duty to eject her from the ship in order to spare the lives of many, even though, as she says, she "didn't do anything to die for."

Beyond raising questions about the rightfulness of utilitarianism, it also raises the ethical question concerning whether or not a person should pay consequences for wrongful acts committed simply out of ignorance. The resounding answer the story gives is "Yes"—a person must pay consequences regardless of innocent ignorance.

This is a classic science fiction story.  A teenage girl stows away on a space ship headed to a colony on a far away planet, in order to see her brother.  The ship is carrying medications necessary for the survival of the colony.  It also has only the bare minimum fuel needed to carry the bare-bones ship to the colony.  The equation of the title is the one that relates the weight of the ship to the weight of the ship plus the girl--there is nothing to jettison in place of the girl, and the captain has to tell her she must be sacrificed so that the medications reach the colony.

To summarize any work of fiction, in either a paragraph or more, start by identifying in the opening sentence the title of the work, the author, and the central characters. A sample opening sentence for a paragraph summarizing Tom Godwin's short story "The Cold Equations" might look like this:

Tom Godwin's short story "The Cold Equations" is about Barton, a pilot of an Emergency Dispatch Ship, who discovers he has a stowaway named Marilyn Cross on his ship after takeoff.

After identifying these basic details, a summary next explains what is essential about the story, which will be the important elements of plot development, including conflict, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

Godwin's story contains an internal conflict because, though Barton feels fully prepared to jettison a male stowaway to ensure the EDS arrives at its emergency destination to save the lives of many, Barton is overwhelmed with the cold cruelty of the laws of nature once he realizes the stowaway is a young, innocent teenage girl, guilty of having made a mistake in judgment. While Barton hates the idea of killing an innocent girl, he knows he must sacrifice her one life to save the lives of many.

The rising action occurs the moment Barton realizes the stowaway is a girl and sets to work contacting his commander to see if she can be rescued in any way. When she can't, Barton asks permission to reduce his deceleration speed to keep her on-board and alive as long as possible. The climax occurs when Marilyn realizes the consequence of her action truly is death, and Barton says, "You'll never know how sorry I am. It has to be that way and no human in the universe can change it." We can consider the actions of her writing a goodbye letter to her parents and contacting her brother to say goodbye as the moments of falling action. Finally, the resolution occurs when Marilyn says, "I'm ready," because it is at this moment that both she and Barton fully accept she has been helped in every way possible and that her fate is sealed.

To complete the above assignment, one would use the first sentence to explain the setting of Tom Godwin's short story "The Cold Equations." Setting is the backdrop of a story. It includes the "social conditions, historical time, geographical locations, weather, immediate surroundings, and timing" of a story ("Setting," Literary Devices). Within the first four paragraphs of the story (two full paragraphs), we learn the immediate surrounding in which the story takes place is some sort of EDS ship. By the fifth paragraph, Godwin's narrator refers to "Paragraph L, Section 8, of Interstellar Regulations," and upon reading the word interstellar, the reader begins to suspect the general location of the setting is in outer space. The reader's suspicions are confirmed in the seventh paragraph (third full paragraph), when the narrator uses such words as "Galactic expansion," "hyperspace drive," and "huge hyperspace cruisers." In the next paragraph, we learn the protagonist of the story is a pilot of an Emergency Dispatch Ship (EDS). Due to the nature of the story, the reader can also deduce that the story is set during some futuristic time period. If we were to explain all of these details in one sentence, it might look like the following:

Tom Godwin's futuristic science fiction short story "The Cold Calculations" is set in outer space on a small spacecraft called an Emergency Dispatch Ship, or EDS.

One would use the second sentence to explain who the characters in the story are. We are introduced to the protagonist of the story within the first few paragraphs. By the middle of the fourth page, readers learn his name is Barton when he radios to speak with Commander Delhart. The antagonist of any story is a character who is at odds with the protagonist; the protagonist overcomes the central conflict of the story by battling with the antagonist. Though she is just an innocent teenage girl, the stowaway creates the internal conflict within Barton; therefore, the stowaway is the antagonist of the story. We learn her name is Marilyn Lee Cross on page 6, when pilot Barton asks her for her identification disk. A final character of lesser importance in the story is Gerry Cross, Marilyn's brother. If we were to explain the above in one sentence, it might look like this:

The main characters of the story are the protagonist, pilot Barton, the antagonist, Marilyn Lee Cross, and the two minor characters Commander Delhart and Marilyn's brother Gerry Cross.

One would use the third sentence of the assignment to name the problems in the story, otherwise called conflicts. As mentioned earlier, the central conflict in the story is an internal conflict within Barton. Barton knows he must execute Marilyn by jettisoning her from the ship to ensure he is able to save the lives he has been sent to save on an emergency mission, but he is reluctant to kill her since she is just a naive teenage girl. The second conflict is an external conflict between Marilyn and her environment or Marilyn and her fate.

What are the main events in the first paragraph of "The Cold Equations"?

The very first paragraph of Tom Godwin's short story titled "The Cold Equations" is actually nothing more than one very suspenseful sentence, stating, "He was not alone." However, there is a more standard full paragraph after the opening sentence that contains a few events though not many.

The first event is that the narrator describes the hand of the heat gauge in the control panel in front of the protagonist as having moved up a tiny bit. The gauge had read zero when the ship launched, but over time has moved up a tiny bit. It has been an hour since launch time, so it has taken an hour for the gauge to register a tiny bit of heat beyond the heat that should be being emitted from the protagonist.

We can say that a second event described in the paragraph is the protagonist listening to his environment for the sounds of an intruder since he knows the heat gauge is telling him some being is inside the ship besides himself, but all the protagonist hears is the "murmur of the drives." We can also say that a third event is that the protagonist realizes the heat gauge is pointing towards the closet containing the emergency supplies; the hand of the gauge tells him a body, or being, is inside the closet.

However, it should also be noted that all three of these events happen simultaneously: the protagonist notices the hand of the gauge, listens to his environment, and comprehends what the gauge is signifying all at the same time.