Manipulation In The Cold Equations By Tom Godwin

In “The Cold Equations”, a short story by Tom Godwin, Godwin did some interesting things with time as he described the unfortunate story of a girl who stowed away illegally on a small spacecraft. The girl, Marilyn, did not know the consequence would be her own death. Unquestionably, in “The Cold Equations,” Tom Godwin manipulated time in order to influence the pace of the plot, because the manipulation and presence of time and deadlines creates suspense, inspires increased interest, and purposefully instills a sense of impending doom. Godwin’s manipulation of time creates suspense. It does this by establishing deadlines that can be imagined in real terms. Consequently, when one is reading “The Cold Equations,” the deadlines that Godwin created within the story force the reader to imagine the time as real, for the reader knows the length of those spans of time. Therefore, the expectation of bad things to come is intensified and makes the reader better understand the emotions of the characters. One example of this in the story occurred as follows:

“The chronometer on the instrument board read 18:10 when the commander spoke again. ‘You will resume deceleration

Then, hesitating a moment, he reached out and shut off the communicator. It was 18:13 and he would have nothing to report until 19:10. In the meantime, it somehow seemed indecent to permit others to hear what she might say in her last hour.” (Godwin)

By stating the times (18:13 and 19:10), Godwin gave readers an idea of how much time would pass until Marilyn’s imminent death. Marilyn's death is inevitable and it looms over the present of the story slowly counting down until the end. The readers probably did not want Marilyn to die, so at this point, they’re just waiting for the sad but unavoidable ending, giving Godwin a manipulatable chunk of time where he can work on getting his ideas and meaning