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Finish/review "Cold Equations" and write/post a journal identifying and explaining either a conflict in the story or a theme of the story.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005

Answers

A conflict in the Cold Equation was the desperate trying of the pilot, the commander, and the records manager to save Marilyn. The Stardust operatives did all that they could to prolong Marilyn’s death. . They tried so hard, but the circumstances prohibited them from saving her. The closest ship was light years away. There was simply nothing that could be done to save her. Though many time to help me, they could only prolong her death.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005

A major theme of this story was that many things in life although affected and usually caused by your decisions are ruled by things beyond your control. This is shown when the girl, not knowing the consequences, becomes a stowaway and is still killed because of the law, despite her unawareness.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005


A theme to this story is don't do things that you know are wrong. You know that you will get punished for what you do, but what you can never be sure of is how bad your punishment will be. The girl, in this case, knew she was breaking a rule and was going to suffer the consequences. However, if she had known she was going to die, she never would have thought of this plan.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005

A possible theme of this strange story could be something along the lines of the cliché “live each day like it’s your last.” There’s a whole almost two pages of the girl talking about what she wishes she’d done, or what she wishes she’d said. She says, “you don’t tell them such things when you’re young and your life is all before you – you’re afraid of sounding sentimental and silly.” The author seems to be getting at the fact that you never know when something could happen to you or someone you love, so you never want to put off the things that run the risk of being sentimental and silly. (...i know, so corny...)

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005

I believe that a theme in the story is that you have to face the consequences of your actions, whether good or bad. The girl was scared at first, but came to realize that there was no way to escape the consequence of stowing away on the EDS. She had to die, or seven others would die because of her.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005


A theme to Cold Equations is to never do the crime if you can't do the time. The girl KNEW something bad was going to occur when she staked out on the ship. Yeah, right you're gonna get a little fine for hopping on a secret ship in outer space where you haven't even heard from your brother in like 10 years! Sorry girls, but may i guess that this girl was a blonde? JAYKAY

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005

I think the theme of the story is pretty much what everyone else said but to also know the full consequences of what you're doing. I mean really, if the girl was aware she was doing something wrong she should've taken some time to read about the laws of space and what actually happens to stowaways instead of just assuming there was only some kind of fine. Supposedly ignorance is bliss but what happens when the bliss is interrupted by death? Maybe if she had been younger it would’ve been different but really, what she did was stupid and it only caused a lot of people pain.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005

The major conflict in The Cold Equations was the cold, harsh, unfeeling laws of logic and the girl's perception of fairness. Logic said that the girl could not be saved no matter what was done because of this decision. The girl believed that since she didn't do anything to die for, she did not have to face a consequence as severe as death. These two ideas are in conflict. The girl failed to see that logic said she must die, not fairness.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005


I think that a theme for cold equations is that the good of the many outway the needs of the one. This is a possible theme because the pilot had to decide to kill seven people or kill one. I believe this is the theme because it also brings up the question what would you do.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005

A theme that stuck me greatly in this story was the idea that humans have absolutely no power against the mercilessness of nature. The EDS pilot was forced to let an innocent girl die because in the cold, ruthless cosmos, if she did not get removed from the ship then many others would die with her. Mother Nature does not lightly forgive mistakes, no matter who makes them. Ignorant as she was, innocent as she was, in hiding herself on the EDS Marilyn put herself at the mercy of nature. As a result, she had to forfeit her life in order that the EDS pilot and many men counting upon the medicine could live. The simple reality of her environment sealed her unfortunate fate, and there was nothing anybody could do.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005


I think that the major conflict from this story is whether the pilot should kill her or not. In the end I think that he made the right decision because 1 life is not nearly as valuable as 7 lives. Regardless of the humane thing to do I think that he did the right thing by stalling for time and getting in touch with her brother. It would however be a very tough thing to live with for the rest of your life knowing that you killed an innocent child.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005

I think that the major conflict of the story was between the pilot's knowledge of the so-called "cold equations" and Marilyn's pleas for life. He really did not want to have to "dispose" of her, but he knew that he and the six men on Woden would die if she didn't. He clearly made the logical decision of sacrificing the girl instead of himself and six others.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005

I believe that a conflict would be between death and Marilyn. She at first was scared to die and was as she said a "coward." Then she realized that she was being selfish, because she would not be able to tell her family about how grateful she was for having them. She wanted to tell them manys things before she died, but now she was unable to. She was worried about after she died what her family would think of her. I believe that this gave the death of her a signifigance and that the death of herself and the people close to her, when she died, was thought throughly by her.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005

The conflict of the story was a moral one the EDS pilot had with himself. The fact that the stowaway was a girl made the moral decision much harder for him. Instead of the person being a guilty man trying to escape life it was a young innocent girl who had much life yet to be lived. He tried to prolong the girls’ life and make her passing easier, but he could do nothing to save her. Now he will have to live with a shadow in his mind forever. He will constantly re-work the situation in his mind trying to save her 15 years after his death. Forever will he hate himself for his decision even though it was the right one? Her life was exchanged for his and the 6 explorer’s. Each party had live a good life and did not deserve death, but one must be sacrificed for many for that is how it has always been.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005

I believe a theme of this story is that you don't always get what you deserve. The girl did not do anything that bad by being a stowaway, and she certainly did not deserve to be killed for it. The fine would of been a fair punishment, but life isn't always fair.One must deal with the consequences of their actions, if you deserve them or not.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005


Never risk something not worth losing. Marilyn did this when she entered the EDS secretly and hid in the closet, guessing that she could see her brother by stowing away on the EDS. Only problem was the fuel was calculated to have just enough for the specific mass on the EDS of the pilot and his cargo, she was a factor that threw off this calculation. Having changed the calculation, the pilot bought her some time to live and she got to write 2 letters to her parents and talk to her brother before she had to be jettisoned.

-- Anonymous, January 05, 2005

I believe that the theme of this story is not to take risks when you have no idea what the consequences could be. The girl knew full well that she was breaking some "regulation" when she risked sneaking aboard the EDS just because she couldn't wait a bit longer to see her brother. If she had bothered to ask anyone, or inquire about it, she she most likely would not have lost her life because of it.

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2005

I find that a minor theme (no, not a major theme, becuase that is what most people say) in this story could be "Always bring extra fuel." This may seem a bit ironic, but it is still sensible.

Even if trustworthy computers calculate exactly how much fuel will be needed, you should always have extra, just in case you cannot land where specified, or something like a stowaway adds extra weight. In the story, it stated that there was a minimal amount of extra fuel alotted to each EDS to make way for very small miscalculations, it is still not enough for an emergency.

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2005


I think the theme of this story is that if you break the rules, you get punished. The stupid girl saw the sign, and it said "UNAUTHORIZED PERSONEL STAY OUT" for a reason! she deserved what she got.

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2005

Yee-haw! Final post (I think . . . ) I've been out, so just let me wrte this in peace.

I really do think that a major and, yes, not quite so original, theme in "The Cold Equations" is that when a crime is committed, the pursecutor of the action has to pay the piper and be willing to face the music (double whammy on the puns, eh?). No matter if the action that a character in this story has done, you as a human being has ever done, or anyone else, you have to believe in everything you do and stand by your own decisions and the consequences, positive or negative. The unnamed girl was frightening in the beginning of the story, but soon came to understand that her fate was inevitable, she had to die for the greater good. She choose her own life for the other seven, which somehow seems to offset her tragic brain lapse in stowing away in the first place. Almost forgiveable, one might say!

-- Anonymous, January 06, 2005


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