In what important ways is the setting of the final frontier different from Earth in Tom Godwin's short story "The Cold Equation"? Is Godwin's space...

In his short story "The Cold Equations," Tom Godwin describes his setting of the final frontier, or outer space, in a way that it remarkably resembles locations on Earth, especially during the days of colonization and imperialism. The only real difference between the planets in space being explored and colonized and the locations on Earth that were explored and colonized is that there is substantial distance between locations in space. The distance is so great that colonists and explorers had even fewer chances of surviving in space than they did in their new settlements on Earth in the colonial days.

Distance is an important aspect of Godwin's description of outer space as a setting because he notes that, as the galaxy continued to be explored, colonists and explorers in their different locations became more and more isolated:

Galactic expansion had followed the development of hyperspace drive, and as men scattered wide across the frontier, there had come the problem of contact with the isolated first colonies and exploration parties.

These isolated colonists and explorers had, from time to time, emergency situations, and it was too expensive for hyperspace cruisers to make emergency, unscheduled visits. Therefore, Emergency Dispatch Ships were built, carrying limited fuel supplies, and their limited fuel supply creates the conflict of the story.

In contrast, while colonists in our own days of colonization also had their own emergency situations, most colonists were able to get the emergency supplies they needed because the distances between the colonies and the mother countries were not that great, and plenty of ships were involved in the exploration and colonizing process. Only some colonies completely failed, leading to total death, such as Jamestown in Virginia and several in the Caribbean ("Failed Colonies," National Humanities Center).

Despite the difference in distance, Godwin's setting closely resembles locations found on Earth because he describes the explorers as suffering from such things as tornadoes and being "stricken with the fever carried by the green kala midges," a description that sounds remarkably like malaria carried by a parasite that infects female mosquitoes. Due to these similarities, while Godwin's setting may not be completely believable as a realistic description of planets in the galaxy, his setting is certainly relatable.