Marilyn’s Character
Whether it’s choosing where you should work or choosing if you should really lie on those train tracks, everyday everybody is faced with many choices. A person’s character is defined by the decisions they make. In this case, Marilyn Cross from Cold Equations is very spontaneous and oblivious to the dangers and punishments caused by her actions.
Marilyn Cross was a teenage girl who snuck aboard the EDS before contemplating what consequences would erupt from her decision. For example, she explained to Barton, “I just sort of walked in when no one was looking my way’ she said…’It was an impulse of the moment to stow away, so I could get to see Gerry…” (pg. 10) She told of how she snuck onto the ship and that she only wanted to go see her older brother, Gerry. Although it was a honest reason, Marilyn should have known better than to sneak aboard the EDS. Marilyn went further saying, “I intended to pay for my keep on top of paying for the fine.” (pg. 10) Because she got on the ship impulsively, Marilyn wasn’t aware of the extent of her consequences. She figured since there was extra space in the storage room, that her presence wouldn’t affect the ship and that she would just have to pay a fine. Later after Barton called the Stardust, Marilyn found out that she was going to get jettisoned. She was shocked and claimed that everyone just wanted her dead. Though it was her fault for ignoring the “UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL KEEP OUT!” sign, Marilyn kept saying that she did nothing wrong. With Marilyn’s spontaneity and ignorance to the space laws, her punishment was much more severe than she would have ever thought.
When the time grew closer to when Marilyn was going to get jettisoned, she started understanding that she had to face the consequences of her actions. First, after Marilyn found out she is going to die she started saying that everyone wanted her dead but Barton explained why they had to kick her off and she asked, “And nobody wants me to...