24 pages • 48 minutes read
Tom GodwinThe Cold Equations
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1954A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
Possibility and Limitation on the Frontier
Godwin’s idea of space as a frontier ties in with notions of frontiering already present in American culture, in relation to White, European settlers’ conquest of the West during the 19th century. Godwin echoes the vocabulary of American colonialism, referring to “old Earth and the new worlds of the frontier” (Location 8463). Thus, while Earth is analogous to what the White settlers saw as the known world of Europe, the ever-expanding space frontier is like America in the 19th century. The American West, which was given the epithet “wild”, was an unpredictable place for the colonists, who had to face off challenges from nature as well as indigenous Americans. Many would-be settlers died in the attempt. The tension between the possibility for expansion and prosperity, and the danger that was part of the conquest of the West, is matched in Godwin’s idea of a space frontier where the laws “must, of necessity, be as hard and relentless as the environment that gave them birth” (Location 8523). This new territory is run with maximum efficiency and minimum leniency. For example, the pilot’s EDS has barely enough fuel for him to complete his mission; it cannot sustain any additional weight without disastrous consequences. The sign, which tells unauthorized personnel to keep out, assumes that everyone knows that the laws of the space frontier are exact and the punishments for transgressing equally unyielding. In not mentioning the consequences, the sign does not offer enough of a prohibition to those of an earthly mentality, such as Marilyn.
Another parallel between the space frontier and the conquest of the American West is the potential of financial gain. Just as European settlers left the old to pursue economic opportunity, Gerry goes to work on the space frontier in order to supplement the “bare living” his father makes in his “little” shop. The epithet “little” feminizes and disempowers the store, as it becomes a quaint enterprise in contrast to the daring, masculine missions of those who work on the space frontier. There is a gap of understanding between those who work on the space frontier and those who live on earth. When Gerry reports that the space frontier is a dangerous place, Marilyn imagines that “danger along the frontier was something that was a lot of fun; an exciting adventure, like in the three-D shows” (Location 8871). She does not realize that “when it’s real you can’t go home after the show is over,” a phrase that acts as a metaphor for the harsh rules and irreversible punishments of the space frontier (Location 8873). Overall, the analogy between the conquest of the space frontier and that of the American West implies that sacrifice is part of every human endeavor for expansion. Godwin does not offer judgment but leaves it up to reader to decide whether the risks are worth it.
The Relationship Between Women, Sentimentality, and Courage
The story’s attitude to women generally reflects the time in which it was written, conveyed through the perspective of the male pilot who processes events. After the Second World War and the return of male troops to civilian life, women were encouraged to return to the sphere of the home and focus on domesticity. Owing to her family’s low income, Marilyn is unable to remain at home and must make a foray into the space frontier to find work that will support her.
Initially, Marilyn occupies a masculine role in the story through the pure act of her transgression. This is evident in the pilot’s conviction that the stowaway must be male, in line with his previous experience and assumption that such daring acts are the province of men. However, as soon as he discovers that the transgressor is female, sentimentality overwhelms him “like a heavy and unexpected physical blow” (Location 8501). Marilyn’s youth, femininity, and expression of emotion make her sacrifice uniquely potent for the pilot and, by extension, for the reader. In the pilot’s mind, Marilyn’s femininity makes her worthy of an extended lifeline instead of instant rejection. Godwin repeatedly states that Marilyn is “of Earth”, that old quaint green planet and therefore an accidental interloper in the space frontier (Location 8523). Predictable and safe, Earth is the province of women, whom Godwin thought were “to be loved and protected,” according to his stepdaughter Diane Sullivan (Location 29). That being the case, Godwin’s male characters, the pilot and Gerry, feel disempowered as men when they are unable to protect Marilyn from the space frontier.
Interestingly, the tale shows that Gerry’s protectiveness over Marilyn, in ensuring that she is spared the pain of the permanent loss of her kitten and concealing the harshness of the space frontier from her, backfires, as she subconsciously intuits that he or some other male protector will come to her rescue. The space frontier, however, is a place where no one can save her from the consequences of her actions. When Marilyn haunts the pilot, another sentimental idea—that of the sacrificed female ghost—surfaces in the narrative, as “the empty ship still lived for a little while with the presence of the girl” whose innocence haunts the pilot (Location 9009). A classic literature trope, the sacrificed maiden is an exposition of the corruption of the system, which in this is case governed by ruthless, impersonal science.
Nevertheless, Marilyn also share some common traits with the previous generation of women who helped with the war effort in the 1940s. After the initial protestation of her fate, she accepts her death sentence with equanimity, judging how to make the best use of the time she has left. By the time she is ready for her death, the pilot recognizes that she has entered an autonomous mode when “he let her walk alone and made no move to help her, knowing she would not want it that way” (Location 8996). She fully accepts that she will have to bear out the consequences of her transgression alone. It is as though she wants her last moments alive to be a practice run for her lonely fate. Her continued presence in the ship following her fall augments the impression of her courage and indicates the righteousness of her position.
The Tension Between Science and Humanity
A theme that emerges throughout the story is the tension between science and humaneness. Science and technology, which are used and in some cases invented by humanity, are nevertheless inhuman. For example, Marilyn is sacrificed by “forces that killed with neither hatred nor malice” (Location 9010). Whereas hatred and malice are evils rooted in human emotion, the mathematical equation that judges the moment when Marilyn must be jettisoned is a product of reason. Given that scientific reason does not see Marilyn and is unable to make any exceptions for her, it is almost more frightening than any human motive for killing her. While the old world of earth is shown as a more lenient realm, it is not exempt from absolutes such as the finality of death. Marilyn, however, who grew up alongside her protective older brother Gerry, long lived with the illusion that death was no more final than a cat’s temporary coat-shopping mission. Although she eventually learns the truth about Gerry’s nocturnal trip to the pet shop, she still grows up with the notion that she can find an exception in every rule.
The science of utilitarianism prevails when the pilot is forced to prioritize the lives of six unknown men on the planet Woden to the one life he is becoming sentimentally attached to—Marilyn’s. Godwin’s first submission of the story to Astounding magazine featured a happy ending, where the pilot was able to make a landing and save the woman. Godwin’s adaptation would have allowed for the triumph of human ingenuity in the face of cold impersonal science. However, his editor, John Campbell, insisted that Godwin “follow the implications of his own material (the universe is vast and uncaring and has no room for pity, sympathy or even awareness of the human condition)” and change the ending back to the original one (Location 9060). Campbell’s editorial decision reflects two factors. The first was his contemporaries’ terror at humanity’s impotence in the face of a nuclear attack. The second involved patriarchal narratives’ reliance upon the death of attractive women to evoke pathos. Some of the tragedy for contemporary male readers would come from a sense that chivalry was not enough to save a beautiful woman from the impersonal punishments of the space frontier.
