Essay on The Cold Equations

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“The Cold Equations”
Question: Who should be blamed for the deaths of the miners/surveyors and the riots on frontier planet?
Marilyn Lee Cross John Barton The Company
Broke the law
Signs said “keep out”
Delayed Barton’s missions
Destroyed company property
Attempted murder
Persuaded him to dump medicine…jeopardized the lives of the miners
Doesn’t care about others…is selfcentered
Goes on to the ship even though she knows she shouldn’t (thought there would be a fine which shows that she knew she didn’t belong on the ship
Didn’t follow orders even though he was a rule follower at the beginning of the story
Willing to surrender ship Threw out cargo
Didn’t throw girl out in enough time
Tampered with company property
Emotionally
compromised
Causes the loss of money for the company and the riots because of his actions
Is taken in by Marilyn’s use of pathos
Marilyn tells him the miners will die but still goes through with the plan Didn’t make signs specific enough
Consequences not known to general population Doesn’t care about people on the main ships or the EDS pilots…all about money
Angry that Barton even tried to save the girl – no emotion for others
Lied about the “medicine”
Didn’t teach protocol/rules to anyone on the ship
Ship is like a large slave ship transporting people but not caring about them
Didn’t warn the miners that the fungus would kill…still sent them in anyway No redundancy systems in the EDS
Could have: o Better ships o More security o Better regulations o Better signs
Signs were not clear
Laws were not clear as to what would happen
Didn’t want to die
A young girl who can’t think ahead
Didn’t know that the laws in space were different from the laws on
Earth (Barton says in the story that if they were on Earth a transport would be coming to get her and she would be on the nightly news).
Didn’t know that they mission was to carry medicine (didn’t hear what was requested of the supply lady). Is willing to sacrifice herself in order to save Barton and others
Living conditions were poor – walking in own sewage water, tagged like an animal
Willing to sacrifice herself and wants Barton to save/warn the world of the company’s practices
Wasn’t his fault he killed her...it was the law Did
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