The Era of Reconstruction in American History and Its Aftermath Essay

The Era of Reconstruction in American History and Its Aftermath - Essay Example The 13th amendment thus gave the core natural right, that of liberty a constitutional quintessence. There arose the need for the constitutional safeguard against retrogressive laws such as the Black codes and so the 14th amendment came about. There were several clauses in this amendment, but there were five very sensitive clauses in the amendment. There was a clause that prescribed what qualified individuals to citizenship (Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post-Civil War America 204). Another section gave protection touching on the abridgment of the exemption of the American citizens. Another clause forbade the state from denying anybody their property, freedom or life outside the confines of the suitable process of the law. The state has imposed a duty of ensuring everybody was equally protected by the law, and the equity of protection is not denied to whomever. The Congress was thus through a clause in the amendment granted the powers of putting into effect the amendment (Democracy Reborn: The Fourteenth Amendment and the Fight for Equal Rights in Post-Civil War America 206) Senator Charles Sumner had a profound dedication to antislavery efforts and universal civil liberties issues. He was actively involved in efforts that opposed slavery exploits. Sumner’s campaigns against slavery, especially against the Southerners, saw a fellow Congressional Representative Preston Brooks assault him on the floor of the house. He perceived the civil war as a necessary activity aimed at abolishing slavery and consistently prodded the commander-in-chief at the time Abraham Lincoln into sponsoring legislation for freeing the people ensnared in slavery. Others among his demands concerning slavery were to demand granting of civil, constitutional rights to the slaves and enlistment of the slaves into the army of the Union.

Journal Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 4

Journal - Research Paper Example Academic literacy helps me to communicating the required ideas in the appropriate style besides being able to think critically and rationally. For illustration, suppose the assignment entails intensive research about China; then I will utilize social, economical and political aspects in coming up with a well-researched work (Arp & Jamie, 2011). In gauging the credibility of my research or information, I usually compare it with other trustworthy scholarly works undertaken in the same unit, which I am exploring (Arp & Jamie 2011). In addition, I only usually utilize the credible sources, for instance, scholarly articles, books and reliable websites. Hence, these enable me to merge many and reliable ideas from diverse experts who have researched on the same topic (Coon, Mitterer, Shawn & Vanchella 2010). For example, suppose I am researching about Newton’s laws of motion, then it is essential that I explore resent scientific books, which relate to this field. Besides, do not allow media or friends to influence me because not everything, which people believe is right. In addition, progressing in every life’s endeavor entails making personal decisions and not relying on other people for approval even if they are family members (Davies, 2011). However, I usually seek information and advice where necessary, but fina l I have to make the final verdict. Mainly, this is via learning how to be a seasoned critical consumer of information. Therefore, this entails utilizing a wide range of criteria coupled with analytical evaluation of any information before accepting it where I normally check whether it is inline with my goals (Coon 2006). Consequently, this requires that I able to read and understand each aspect in detail (Reich 2011). Davies, R. (2011). Understanding Technology Literacy: A Framework for Evaluating Educational Technology Integration. Techtrends: Linking

Ethical Issues Report Essay Example for Free

Ethical Issues Report Essay SeaWorld is a public company that is facing a significant ethical issue right now, mostly in part to the release of the documentary Blackfish. This documentary takes viewers inside the capture, training and marketing of these Killer Whales for the sole profit of the company. It also highlights the breeding, training and housing of these magnificent mammals. It brings many ethical issues to the table. 1) Should any wild animal be taken from its natural home and forced to live in captivity? 2) Should these animals then be forced to â€Å"perform† for our entertainment purposed? And finally 3) Should these animals be treated as objects and put thru artificial insemination, separated from family members and subject to inbreeding all while SeaWorld knows that this is making the whales lives beyond inadequate and causing not only death to the animal but to numerous trainers involved as well. Blackfish is a documentary made in 2013 by director Gabriela Cowperthwaite. It focuses on Tilikum (Tili), an orca forced by SeaWorld to live in captivity. It highlights the health issues, the whale-on-whale and whale-on-trainer aggression as well as the compromised lives and social experiences of SeaWorld’s killer whales. Tili is involved in deaths of 3 individuals and is a direct result of keeping killer whales in captivity. The film covers the captivity of Tili in 1983 off the coast of Iceland where he was torn away from his family. It then goes on to show the lack of social interaction these whales receive in captivity; causing grief, stress and anxiety all while being forced to perform. It makes an effort to show that although SeaWorld tried to promote their whales â€Å"wonderfully social and fulfilling† lives it is fact doing just the opposite. Not only that, but only .06% of all revenues SeaWorld actually puts towards conservation. Should wild animals be held in captivity at all? â€Å"Animals are often prevented from doing most of the things that are natural and important to  them, like running, roaming, flying, climbing, foraging, choosing a partner, and being with others of their own kind,† PETA writes in a web fact sheet. â€Å"Zoos teach people that it is acceptable to interfere with animals and keep them locked up in captivity, where they are bored, cramped, lonely, deprived of all control over their lives and far from their natural homes.† True, not all animals in captivity have been ripped from their natural habitat and placed into a cage to be used as a spectacle for human entertainment, but when there is not environmental reason or risk to the animal, why do we do so? Whales are by no means lacking in ocean to swim in. Why, just because we think they look â€Å"cool† should they be subjected to living as we say they should? Former SeaWorld senior trainer John Hasgrove, who appeared in Blackfish, asked: â€Å"If animal care in captivity is truly the goal, why are SeaWorld’s killer whales still â€Å"in the same sterile concrete pools† the park has kept them in for decades? SeaWorld has since said it has spent $70 million into upgrading those killer whale habitats in recent years. Should these animals be forced to perform solely for our entertainment purposes? Humans are generally fonder of critters that seem to have more dynamic personalities and pronounced social attachments. Killer whales are just that. In the wild the stay with their families for generations and have their own communication sounds of clicks and whistles individualized to their pod. SeaWorld has long benefited from promoting this idea. Its killer whale shows, marketing and displays have made the company money for years. For a time, the park even ran a Shamu Twitter account. Lori Marino, a neuroscience lecturer at Emory University in Atlanta who appeared in Blackfish, has said killer whales are among the world’s most intelligent animals. Almost a decade ago, Nova Scotia based biologist Hal Whitehead claimed orcas the second more â€Å"cultural† species. â€Å"They have their way of doing things, which they’ve learned from their mother and their other relatives,† Whitehead told the newspaper. The documentary states that the orcas suffer from broken teeth because they rub and ram equipment in their tanks and that they sometimes regurgitate their food all out of boredom. It also points out that captivity leads to violence and shortened live spans. Finally, are these animals’ just objects and are we under obligation not to  encourage and support this abuse? Is keeping these whales in captivity overshadowing any good that SeaWorld is doing? Is there a moral obligation that we have to protect these creatures from artificial insemination that is often the result of inbreeding? Do we have a right to separate the calves from their mothers just to allow another park, sometimes half way across the globe, a chance to showcase a killer whale? Should be â€Å"training† these whales to do human decided tricks for profit? Where does money no matter hold importance to the damage that we are doing to our environment ethically? How can one say that we have a right to remove an animal from its family and its lifestyle and then tell our children not bring a wild rabbit into the house? These animals, once raised in captivity cannot be returned to the wild, but how can we justify continuing to force breeding and incest? What does it stay about our intelligence and our ethical moral if we do not put an end to this mistreatment of such creatures?

Use Of Torture As A Counter Terrorism Tool Criminology Essay

Use Of Torture As A Counter Terrorism Tool Criminology Essay Torture refers to subjecting intense pain and suffering to a person leading to mental and physical pain so as to obtain certain information that the person is concealing. Therefore, Levinson (p.32) concurs with most scholars that torture is the intentional infliction of pain and suffering to persons usually for a certain purpose. Torture is mainly used as a tool by the United States and other countries to cause a breakdown in the personality of suspects so that they are subdued to give certain information. The most common methods employed during torture include, severe beating, sexual assault, suffocation and electric shock among other methods. Krauthammer in his article states that it was the Bush administration that led to the birth of torture in the United States landscape. According to Krauthammer, no one, not even the executive s allowed to use torture as a tool to obtain information. He further insinuates that the information is nor normally worth the torture. Security agencies should go back to the drawing board and adapt to forensic science techniques. There is need for the police and other security agencies to be empowered through training them on how to obtain information. The UN Convention and Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions prohibit torture (Kinsley, p.1). There have been questions as to whether torture should be banned as a means of compelling persons to give certain information. Torture has had severe consequences that are far reaching from the pain that the victims feel. While we accept that terrorism is a major headache worldwide, it is imperative to consider that nobody is guilty until proven innocent. Moreover, the Human Rights law is strongly against torture as a tool used to coerce suspects to volunteer certain information. Human Rights watchdogs are always against any pain and suffering inflicted intentionally. The United States has always found itself on the receiving end with such draconian laws that have put its image on the spot light. Many people who hear about the torture stories of the survivors or victims often hold a grudge against the government. This is due to the intentional pain and suffering that the suspect is made to undergo. There is an assumption that torture save millions of lives. The major question that makes torture to be at stake is the 50-50 chance. Normally, those who torture suspects assume that they have vital information. What if they do not? The suspects would have already suffered innocently. Krauthammer has put forth certain rules that need to be followed by the United States government. Proponents of torture fear that if the United State government follows these rules to the letter, then it might find itself not torturing anybody at all. We should acknowledge the fact that we are already living with the terrorism problem and are doing nothing on a personal level to reduce terrorism. Do we need the tool of torture to reduce terrorism? The answer here is a loud, NO. Indeed, we do not need any form of torture to reduce terrorism. We can be community police who will be watching our environment on a daily basis to avert terrorism. However, torture should be used as a counter-terrorism tool whenever there is inside information leaked from terror cells regarding an impending terror attack. In this case, torture would enable the suspects who have been nabbed to volunteer certain vital information that may save more lives. In this case, torture is positive as it leads to saving more lives. Therefore, in this case, torture is warranted as a tool to ensure that information is given out by the suspects. Such classified information is usually timely to enable the security agencies to act fast towards averting potential terrorist attacks. The problem comes in when the person being tortured is an innocent person. Most of the times the security forces that inflict torture usually have a fifty-fifty chance that the person being tortured is the actual suspect. In my opinion, torture should not be used as a counter-terrorism tool since it does not acts for the best interest of the general public that live under the constant mercy of terrorists. However, I strongly suggest that the use of torture should be regulated by the international laws. The regulation of torture is key towards ensuring that as much as it is used as a tool, it remains under control so that the suspects are not killed as a result of the infliction of pain and intense suffering. It should be further noted that during the torture process, vital information is normally obtained that is core to fighting terrorism, though with a 50-50 chance of obtaining such information (Kinsley, p.33). Therefore, torture aids in obtaining such information. Critics insinuate that torture has been successfully used as a counter-terrorism tool since it has enabled the police and security agencies to make the suspects to give very important information. As such, torture is worth the task of obtaining such vital information. In addition, the United Nations Convention against Torture prohibits the use of torture as a tool in the fight against terrorism. Torture has been condemned in many states due to the adverse effects that it usually has on its victims. The United States does not support torture at least in theory. There have been various reports and even documentary pointing to the Guantanamo bay prison where it is alleged that prisoners are tortured and even killed. The latest reports indicate that terrorism suspects are usually kept in this prison facility where they are tortured to the end. Research indicates that the information obtained during the process of torture is normally worth the entire process. Most of this information is used by the law enforcement agencies as well as security agencies to form solid evidence and develop on a case. It may also be useful in averting further deaths and property damage in case of a planned or botched terrorism attack. Andrew Sullivan is a strong advocate against torture and describes torture as the exact opposite of freedom. He further states that it is the denial of freedom from humanity and the taking away of selfhood. Andrew Sullivan is therefore against the use of torture as a counter-terrorism tool. Torture has indeed been the tool that most of the security investigation teams use on victims despite the negative image that the punishment comes with. Torture creates a negative picture or image of the police and investigating teams. Hence, this raises the question as to whether the information is worth obtaining in the manner that it is obtained via the use of torture. At times, torture is subjected to the wrong victims or suspects. It is for this reason that I advocate for the government to regulate the use of torture. In my ardent opinion, torture should only be used after investigations are complete and that they point towards a particular person. Otherwise, it would be unfair to subject an innocent person to torture when in fact they know nothing about terrorism. Investigating teams have to be succinct in their work to avoid the occurrence of this kind of errors; otherwise, it would amount to massive infringement of human rights. On the other hand, Krauthammer supports torture as a tool that assists the investigating teams to obtain useful information that indeed help them to unravel certain cases of terrorism. It is obvious that terrorism is not morally right. However, where saving many lives is concerned, torture would indeed be the ultimate solution. Terrorism has been a global problem and continues to be a problem in the wake of several terrorist cells. Recommendations The government should consider using other forms of punishments or methods that would coerce suspects to give certain useful information. However, this again poses a problem as to whether the terrorist suspects will volunteer information. Most of the terrorists usually take an oath that can only be broken through the use of torture. Personality breakdown has been proven to work just right for them. According to Krauthammer (p.2), the United Nations Convention should consider monitoring the submission and administration of torture as a tool that is effective for obtaining information from terrorist suspects. This should be carried out according to the laid out plans. Conclusion The pain and suffering caused by torture are often extreme and traumatizing. In fact, there is possibility that the suspect being tortured does not have the vital information required to fight terrorism and save millions of lives. Torture obviously goes against human rights and infringes on individual rights. It has often been suggested that the torture victims usually have rights just like the other people. Human Rights Watch has been stern in discouraging this form of punishment. I therefore do not support torture.

Physics of Rifle Recoil :: physics recoil gun guns

Missing figures Recoil, commonly referred to as "kick," occurs as a result of Physical properties at work. However, it is often undesirable because it can be uncomfortable for the shooter and can reduce accuracy. The purpose of this webpage is to discuss the physics involved with rifle recoil in order to address various methods of minimizing it. Rifle recoil is most simply explained by Newton's First and Second Laws of Motion. When a rifle is fired, a force is exerted on the bullet that projects it forward. By Newton's 1st Law, it can be inferred that and opposite force will be imposed on the rifle. From Newton's 2nd Law it can be deduced that this force can cause an acceleration (linear or angular) which results in velocity and therefore kinetic energy. Energy is also transferred into the marksman in the form of work. The total of this energy is called Recoil Energy and can be calculated. When a gun is being held at rest, there are three forces acting on it. The weight of the gun pushes downward, and the shooter's hands exert a normal force upward on the gun as shown in Figure 2 below. The point P represents the point of contact between the stalk and the marksman's shoulder. Image - Torque 2 [Figure 2] When the gun is fired, the bullet is projected forward by a force, and an opposite force (F) pushes backward on the gun. Since the barrel where the force is acting is slightly above the point of contact with the shooter's shoulder, torque is created. The normal forces put on the gun by the shooter's hands momentarily become negligible.* The forces acting on the gun directly after the gun is fired can be simplified as in Figure 3. R is the perpendicular distance between the recoil force and the point P. L is the perpendicular distance between the location of the force due to gravity and the point P. The resulting linear and angular acceleration can be seen in Figure 4. Image - Torque [Figure 3] Image - Torque 3 [Figure 4] The elevation caused by the angular acceleration can decrease accuracy by altering the trajectory of the bullet, and the horizontal acceleration causes a force to be exerted on the shooter's shoulder which can be painful. *This suggestion is not completely accurate because the shooter's grip will put a downward force on the gun when the gun is fired.

What the Cinderella Story Has to Teach Young Girls Essay -- Literature

At first glance, what makes a fairy tale a fairy tale may seem obvious—some kind of magic, hidden symbols, repetition, and of course it’s evident it’s fiction—but fables are more than that. As Arthur Schelesinger puts it, it’s about â€Å"[expanding] imagination† and gaining understanding of mysterious places (618). While doing this, it also helps children to escape this world, yet teach a lesson that the reader may not be conscious of. A wonderful story that achieves all of this is Cinderella, but not the traditional tale many American’s have heard. Oochigeaskw, or The Rough-Faced Girl, and Ashputtle would be fitting for a seven-year-old because they get the gears of the mind turning, allowing for an escape on the surface, with an underlying enlightenment for children of the ways of the world. The Rough Faced Girl is the Native American variation of Cinderella. It was originally told in the language of the Algonquin, who resided in the Eastern Woodlands of the United States and greatly differs from all the other stories of Cinderella. This tale’s focus is of an invisible man who will marry the woman who can see him. His sister, who has the ability to view him, cares for him and brings different woman to the wigwam to test their sight of the â€Å"Invisible One† (639). Many woman tried as they might, are unable to see him except one, Oochigeaskw. This woman is the youngest of three siblings, and is treated the poorest—scars covered her body from where her sisters burned her (640). I prefer this story to the rest because there isn’t the use of magic†¦or magic for the woman’s own benefit. Instead, once the sister proves The Rough-Faced Girl can see her brother, she bathes her and all her scars disappear. My interpretation of this is tha t Ooch... ...on. Works Cited Behrens and Rosen. Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum 11 ed. Longman, 2011. Print. Bettelheim, Bruno. â€Å"’Cinderella’: A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts†. Behrens and Rosen 651-657. Cullen, Bonnie. â€Å"The Rise of Perrault’s ‘Cinerella’†. Behren and Rosen 645-650. Grimm, Jakob and Wilhelm. â€Å"Ashputtle.† Behrens and Rosen 628-633. â€Å"Oochigeaskw – The Rough-Faced Girl (A Native American ‘Cinderella’). Behrens and Rosen 639-640. Orenstein, Peggy. â€Å"Cinderella and Princess Culture†. Behren and Rosen 670-673. Panttaja, Elisabeth. â€Å"Cinderella: Not so Morally Superior†. Behrens and Rosen 658-661. Poniewozik, James. â€Å"The Princess Paradox†. Behrens and Rosen 666-669. Schlesinger, Arthur Jr. â€Å"What Great Books do for Children†. Behrens and Rosen 617-618. Thompson, Smith. â€Å"Universality of the Folktale†. Behrens and Rosen 619-622.

Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death Essay

Edgar Allan Poe’s short horror story entitled ‘The Masque of the Red Death: A Fantasy’ was published in Graham’s Magazine in 1838, and talks about a plague that the main character, Prince Prospero, attempts to evade (Laurent 2003). He holds a masquerade ball, each in different color, inside seven rooms in his abbey. On the other hand, Irvin Layton’s horror (or suspense) poem entitled ‘Rhine Boat Trip’ was written in 1977 and talks about murdered rabbis and the ghosts of children in the events in Nazi Germany, especially those that occurred during the Holocaust (Rhine Boat Trip, n. d. ). These two texts are both horrific, but aside from being different in terms of the format and the length, both display contrasting perspectives in their artistic, textual frames. Poe’s short story and Layton’s short poem display a suspense story; yet, as a whole, they display different styles and time frames. While Poe’s style displays something that is currently happening and distinctively described, Layton displays one that had already happened in the past and is directly described. Main Body The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe This short story attempts to describe how a plague called the Red Death enters Prince Prospero’s dominion, a prince who is being described as â€Å"happy and dauntless and sagacious† (Poe par. 2). The plague that has swept over the land is horrifying. As described, Blood was its Avatar and its seal –the redness and the horrors of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men. And the whole seizure, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour. (Poe par. 1) From this paragraph, Poe specifies how horrifying the plague is. The victim loses most of the blood within the body, which is the cause of sudden dizziness and dissolution. Poe’s use of blood is enough to make the story appalling to the reader. Using pictures that signify awfulness and terror, Poe makes the story one that makes the reader horror-struck. However, the plague is said to have stricken only his dominions and not Prince Prospero and his â€Å"hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court† (Poe par. 2). Poe makes it appear that the plague only strikes those that are not hale and light-hearted or only those that are wicked, depraved, or poor. When his dominions were cut in half and the depraved dominions were already cast out, Prince Prospero is said to summon his friends, and using a masquerade ball inside seven rooms, each in different color, of his castellated abbey, he entertains his friends amid the plague. Poe describes the abbey: This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince’s own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. (Poe par. 2) The exact description of the castellated abbeys indicates that Prince Prospero and the one thousand light-hearted friends are being protected from the killing plague that has stricken over the land. Then Poe begins to describe extensively the seven colored rooms: It was a voluptuous scene, that masquerade†¦ There was a sharp turn at every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect. To the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued the windings of the suite. These windows were of stained glass whose color varied in accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened. (Poe par. 4) Poe mentions that, having to describe the decorations of the castellated abbey, Prince Prospero is actually eccentric, august, voluptuous, and bizarre. Poe also mentions that â€Å"[t]he tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colors and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere fashion. His plans were bold and fiery†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (par. 6). A mystifying figure suddenly appears, one that is described as â€Å"a masked figure which had arrested the attention of no single individual before† (par. 9). When Prince confronts the mystifying image, he suddenly falls dead, as specified in these lines: â€Å"There was a sharp cry – and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostate in death the Prince Prospero† (par. 12). The Red Death has entered the ball, and as the prince falls dead in the carpet, the people surges to the figure to remove the mask, only to find it empty. Each one falls to the ground, as the plague enters each of the one thousand guests in the ball. The Red Death surges upon all of the dominion. The Masque of the Red Death is one horror story in which Poe exemplifies great and immense description in every detail and part of the story. Poe uses symbols, such as colors and lines, in order to describe each detail magnificently and make the reader see distinctively. Rhine Boat Trip by Irvin Layton This 16-lined poem attempts to describe how the castles of the Rhine are haunted by ghosts of Jewish mothers and children in the lines: â€Å"The castles on the Rhine / are all haunted / by ghosts of Jewish mothers / looking for their ghostly children† (Rhine Boat Trip, L1-4). In contrast to Poe’s distinctive description, Layton’s style is simple and easy to read and understand. It does not describe each detail individually but rather, puts the picture and leaves the reader free to describe each picture. It allows the reader to put in detail what the castle looked like at Rhine. Having to put the exact name of the castle in the line is enough to picture the detail distinctively. Unlike Poe’s style, which provides the exact picture by describing immensely the detail in the story, Layton’s style is one that uses words in order to describe immensely what the picture or detail appears to be. However, instead of describing the castle as something that is enormous, fantastic, or incredible as Poe has done, Layton pictures the castle in a horrifying manner: â€Å"[A]nd the clusters of grapes / in the sloping vineyards / are myriads of blinded eyes / staring at the blind sun† (Rhine Boat Trip, L5-8). Layton instantly pictures the castle as horrifying, which is different from Poe’s style, wherein the latter pictures the castle as magnificently decorated before interpreting it as horrifying in the latter portion of the story. Each word that Layton uses carries a specific meaning. This is different from the manner in which Poe writes, wherein he describes in detail only to prove that the place is magnificent and is owned by a splendid duke living in the castle. In lines 5-8 of Layton’s poem, for example, the clusters of grapes of line 5 does not just depict the Jewish families but may depict families or communities that include everyone, including the reader. However, because Layton uses ‘sloping’ when he describes the vineyards, it may conclude to something that is negative, since it goes downhill, which is symbolic. Something negative, such as negative customs or culture that are found in the family or community, might have been included in the clusters of people. The use of grapes also depicts meaning, since grapes are used by the Jewish during the Passover and Holocaust. Having depicted too, that the clusters of grapes are actually â€Å"myriads of blinded eyes† (Rhine L7), it appears that the Jewish families (or German families) are blinded to what is about to happen to them and the surrounding community. They are staring at the blind sun because there is no hope for them in the end, since God is about to punish them, it is like God is nowhere in sight. In lines 9-10, wherein it says that â€Å"the tireless Lorelei / can never comb from their hair† (Layton L9-10), it appears that Lorelei is praying and doing sacrifices to God; and because she can â€Å"never comb from their hair† (Rhine L10), it symbolizes that important people in the community, such as Lorelei, pray and do sacrifices to God, so that the latter may show mercy to them and then remember His covenant with them. Lastly, lines 11-16 depict the rabbis that have been murdered and are wailing: â€Å"[T]he crimson beards / of murdered rabbis / however sweetly they sing / one hears only / the low wail of the cattle cars / moving invisibly across the land† (Rhine L11-16). Crimson is used to signify blood or death. The word ‘one’ is being used to mean both the person that hears only the wailing rabbis, as well as, the One God that appears to have turned His back on the Jewish people despite their prayers and offerings. Cattle cars are wailing in line 15, meaning that these cattle cars that are â€Å"moving invisibly across the land† (Rhine L16) are not with cattle but with people, which signifies a state that is inhumane and atrocious. The cattle cars are invisible because, first, no one had paid attention to them during their crisis; and, second, what the author has been describing is something that had already happened in the past. This poem also depicts strong emotional response because of distinctive images that were used by the writer. Like Poe’s story, this poem uses images, such as castles, grapes, vineyards, sun, rabbis, and cattle cars. However, unlike Poe’s story, Layton’s style is one that is simple yet direct; one that is more symbolic than that of Poe’s. Conclusion Poe’s short story entitled The Masque of the Red Death, as well as, Layton’s short poem entitled Rhine Boat Trip are both horrific, symbolic, and descriptive. However, Poe’s story is distinctively descriptive in detail, with an enormous, fantastic castle. Layton’s poem on the other hand, is simpler and direct, easier to read and understand, more distinctive in word, more symbolic in style, with a horrifying castle. Layton and Poe are alike; yet diverse. Works Cited Laurent, Sabrina. Metaphor and Symbolism in The Masque of the Red Death. July 2003. United Nuke. 14 March 2009 . Poe, Edgar Allan. The Masque of the Red Death. 2009. Jalic Incorporated. 14 March 2009 . Rhine Boat Trip (1977). N. d. Gonzaga University. 14 March 2009 . Other Sources Roberts, Edgar. Writing About Literature – Brief (11the ed. ). White Plains, NY: Pearson Longman, 2005.