An Analysis of the Different Forms of Freedom and Bondage Presented in the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave - Literature Essay Samples

Frederick Douglasss Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave brings to light many of the injustices that African-Americans faced in the 1800s under Southern slavery. The story of Douglasss life is presented in a way that makes a compelling argument against the institution of slavery, reinforced by anecdotes detailing graphic beatings and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. However, Douglasss most compelling argument does not simply display the physical burdens of slavery, but also speaks to the toll it takes on both slave and slaveholder. The underlying theme of the story is that slavery corrupts the minds of slaveholders and weakens slaves intellects. In order to justify keeping an entire race of people enslaved, slaveholders had to claim that blacks were inferior on the same level as animals. Consequently, they paid no regard to the sanctity of black families. They treated the slaves as if their familial bonds were completely worthless somethi ng they would never have imagined doing to another white person. This is illustrated by Douglasss own relationship to his mother, from whom he was separated in his infancy, Very little communication ever took place between usI was not allowed to be present during her illness, at her death, or burialI received the tidings of her death with much the same emotions I should have probably felt at the death of a stranger (Douglass, 21). This passage shows how the slaveholders became so convinced of the worthlessness of the slaves that they saw no reason to respect the bond between mother and child. As a result, the slaves view of family was also skewed. In the book, although Douglass appears to know that his mother is important and desires a relationship with her, he is not saddened by her passing because he was never allowed to have a healthy relationship with her. He also has no affection for his sisters and brother, who he was similarly unable to interact with. Additionally, slaveholde rs showed contempt for the families by raping slave women, impregnating them, and then encouraging their white children to whip their half-black siblings, (Douglass was rumored to have been fathered by his master). Slaves suffered from the loss not only of their freedom, but also of their family life, which the slaveholders deemed unnecessary for the slaves. Douglass argues that the slaveholders minds were so corrupted that they viewed the slaves as animals thus their disrespect for black families and marriages. This is displayed through the story of Mr. Coveys first slave, Caroline: After buying her, he hired a married man of Mr. Samuel Harrison, to live with him one year; and him he used to fasten up with her every night! (Douglass, 74) Covey, who professed to be a pious Christian, disregarded the holy institution of marriage by forcing adultery upon two unwilling people in order to breed more laborers. Additionally, the man was only hired for one year, showing that Covey had no intention of allowing the children to have any sort of relationship with their father. The attitude that regarded blacks as lesser beings warped the perceptions of slave and slaveholder alike towards black families. Another way in which Douglass believes the slaves were kept in mental bondage was in the area of education. The ability to read and write was denied indeed obstructed at all costs to slaves. They were expected to work all day and remain ignorant of the world around them starting at a young age. Their masters would rather see them engaging in drinking and boxing than learning to read the Bible: It was necessary to keep our religious masters at St. Michaels unacquainted with the fact, that, instead of spending the Sabbath in wrestling, boxing, and drinking whisky, we were trying to learn how to read the will of God; for they had much rather see us engaged in those degrading sports, than to see us behaving like intellectual, moral, and accountable beings (Douglass, 89). Douglass argues that the slaveholders would rather have the slaves engage in frivolous and degrading activities than read the very book that their faith centered on. He says that the slaveholders kept the slaves imprisoned through this deprivation of knowledge because they made the slaves think that debauchery was all freedom entailed. Also, when Douglass himself learned to read, he discovered that he no longer had the mentality of a slave and that the injustices of the system became much more apparent, inspiring him to work harder to attain freedom. This was an epiphany that the slaveholders did not want to occur amongst their slaves because it could lead to rebellion or mass desertion. Another way in which the slaveholders prevented the slaves from rebelling or running away was by making them accustomed to the system to the point where they accepted it as a permanent reality. From the youngest age at which they could possibly do physical labor, slave children were required to wor k. They grew used to a life of small rations, uncomfortable homes, long hours, and ever-vigilant overseers. Douglass says of the slaves who were selected to do errands at the largest house in the area, It was associated in their minds with greatness. A representative could not be prouder of his election to a seat in the American CongressThey would sometimes sing the most pathetic sentiment in the most rapturous toneTo those songs I trace my first glimmering conception of the dehumanizing character of slavery (Douglass, 28-30). This form of imprisonment is the one that Douglass seems most affected by. It is imprisonment through complacency. The slaves are so resigned to their condition and so unaware of the possibility of a better future that they rejoice when they are enslaved in a slightly more comfortable place. They desire the respect and admiration of their cruel overseers and feel they have earned it when they are sent to the Great House Farm. Rather than competing with rival f arms over their own individual abilities, they bicker over who has the wealthier master and whose master treats them better. Their whole identity is based upon their masters wealth and reputation. This is also a form of psychological bondage because it causes the slaves to not only accept their enslavement, but adopt it as a definition of their own self-worth. This acceptance and embracing of their status as slaves results in submission to perpetual servitude because it is they only way of life they have known. Another example Douglass gives of the slaves ignorance of any way of life other than the one they endure is his own trip to Baltimore to serve under Hugh Auld. Upon arriving, Douglass sees Mr. Aulds wife, Sophia: And here I saw what I had never seen before; it was a white face beaming with the most kindly emotionsShe did not deem it impudent or unmannerly for a slave to look her in the face (Douglass, 45-47). Douglass had become so accustomed to white people showing overt di sdain for slaves that he considered it completely unfamiliar to receive any positive attention from a white person. Sophia Aulds kindness towards him is so foreign to him that he does not even know how to act around her. The difference between black and white is made so distinct by slaveholders that the slaves are unable to comprehend a white person treating them as they would treat a fellow white person. One of Douglasss most important arguments is that slavery corrupts and mentally enslaves the white slaveholders, as well. The clearest example is that of Sophia Auld. Douglass says of her, The fatal poison of irresponsible power was already in her hands, and soon commenced its infernal work. That cheerful eye, under the influence of slavery, soon became red with rage; that voice, made all of sweet accord, changed to one of harsh and horrid discord; and that angelic face gave place to that of a demon (Douglass, 47-48). Invoking images similar to those of a demonic possession, Dougl ass describes the transformation that Mrs. Auld undergoes when she becomes a slaveholder. After initially attempting to teach Douglass to read, she changes her opinion to that of her husband, believing that education and slavery were incompatible with each other (Douglass, 52). The power she gained over another human being and her desire to retain this power motivated her to try to keep Douglass in ignorance and treat him like a lesser being. She had once been kind-hearted, but is transformed by her corrupting power into a cruel and unfeeling person, exploding with rage at Douglass when he tries to read. Slavery blinds her to the suffering of another person with whom she normally would have sympathized. Douglasss narrative is, on the surface, intended to show the barbarity and injustice of slavery. However, the underlying argument is that freedom is not simply attained through a physical escape from forced labor, but through a mental liberation from the attitude created by Southern slavery. The slaves of the South were psychologically oppressed by the slaveholders disrespect for black families and for education, as well as by the slaves acceptance of their own subordination. Additionally, the slaveholders were trapped by a mentality that allowed them to justify behavior towards human beings that would normally not be acceptable. In this manner, both slaveholder and slave are corrupted by slavery.

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Media Violence And The Effect It Has On Actual Behavior

Academic and Professional Communications 100 Assignment 1 PART B: Argumentative essay Title: Media Violence And The Effect It Has On Actual Behaviour. While many argue that film violence has little or no influence on actual behaviour, this essay will argue that media violence has a direct influence on actual behaviour in adolescence and adults. The main ideas I will put forward are. How Media Violence Increases Children’s tolerance of Real-Life Aggression, Violence Exposure in real-life, Violent Film Characters and their portrayal of violent acts, the effects of violence in emerging adults, film violence and subsequent aggressive tendencies. I will also show that people that were angered when they started watching Violent Films or TV were more angered afterwards which resulted in violent behaviour. The portrayal of media violence has come under more scrutiny in recent years with evidence that shows observations of similar behaviour of the viewers. It is documented that children who watched filmed violence are more likely to behave the same way to inanimate or live victims (Drabman and Thomas 1974, 418). As well as filmed violence adolescence have also reacted in different ways to real-life violence where there was a study that one group of children listened taxi drivers on the radio and predicted the ending of a newspaper story children who listened to the taxi driver using aggressive behaviour ended up predicting the end of the story with much more violence to driverShow MoreRelatedViolence And Sex On Television898 Words   |  4 Pages Violence and Sex on Television: Effects on the Younger Audience In today’s society, the media is used greatly for communication, advertisement, information, and for numerous other reasons. The world has evolved by technological advances as well as by the type of content that is put out on the internet, radio, and especially on television. 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Human Resource Management in Developing †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Human Resource Management in Developing. Answer: Introduction Human resource management, abbreviated as HRM, refers to the process of selecting and recruiting employees, providing them with induction and orientation, training, development and assessment of the employees (Hendry, 2012). The report consists of the policies, employee development, recruitment, selection and performance management procedures of a pharmaceutical company. Furthermore, it provides with some recommendations for the development of the policies and procedures. Assure Pharmaceutical Companys human resource policies are highly appreciated and admirable. The company has managed to provide its employees with a great working life. It believes in hiring the right employee, having a sound knowledge about medicines. The employees are given training for thirty minutes every day. It helps in the personality development and fosters the working environment. The company hires skilled employees and organizes orientation programs for them. This in turn, benefits the company to a huge extent (Armstrong Taylor, 2014). The company maintains a procedure while selecting and recruiting new candidates. The manager of the company needs to analyze first whether any position is vacant or not. After doing an analysis of the position, the management team informs the human resource manager regarding the vacancy. The company believes in hiring the right personnel for the betterment of the organization (Berman et al., 2012). The company takes management of employee performance very seriously. The vision and mission is to provide the employees with the best working environment, so that the customers get best services. Furthermore, the employees are encouraged to socialize, which helps them in building a relationship or bond with the customers (Budhwar Debrah, 2013). Evaluation of performances of the employees provides the managers or individual contributors a way to work together in a team. This helps in increasing the employee performances through mentorship, training collaborative setting of goals and targets. Reviewing the performances also helps in introducing new challenges in a multinational organization. It also assists the existing employees in maintaining a diversified culture. Moreover, fairness plays a major role in the success and growth of an organization. The evaluation of programs and procedures in a fair and effective manner contributes to the progress of the company (Marchington et al., 2016). In addition to this, setting up of global standards helps in evaluating the performances. This increases fairness as well as effectiveness in the multinational evaluation processes. Introducing various cultural values as well as prioritizing different methods may help the organization on the long run. In large multinational companies, there exist various layers of management. This can lead to confusion and inconsistency, if the employees are not trained effectively. Therefore, making effective and efficient development in the employees performance evaluation methods can contribute to the companys long term success (Purce, 2014). Assure Pharmaceutical Company is currently facing some issues in the market of Asian region. There was a conflict between the employees and the organization was unable to understand the market needs. Therefore, the company needs to conduct various management programs and events, where professional experts and certified trainers can take special sessions with the employees. The organization can conduct special gatherings, where the employees must be given the opportunity to raise the issues and interact openly, without any fear. This would resolve the internal conflicts to a huge extent. The vision of the company is to offer the customers with best services and become one of the leading providers of medicines, across the world. In addition to this, the company can provide the employees with a balanced professional as well as personal life. Social gatherings and events must be organized in order to motivate and encourage the employees to interact openly, without any hesitation (Alfes e t al., 2013). Interactive sessions with the employees may help in gaining an understanding of the employees demands and expectations from the company. It will help in overcoming the current situation of the company. Induction and orientation programs must be conducted, where professional experts as well as certified trains will train the employees. Moreover, the company should also take care of the employees benefits and appraisals. The managers and human resource managers of the company must collaborate in order to build a continuous employee development culture. It is the responsibility of the employees to seek innovative and new methods of learning. The human resource manager must facilitate staff development processes and activities (Aswathappa, 2013). The training and development procedures must involve; formal training sessions, encouraging employee participation in press conferences, on job training, employee mentoring and coaching with the help of professional experts, job rotation and job shadowing. In addition to this, the company must provide equal employment opportunities to all the new applicants. The organization should also promote diversity, which will help in fostering the workplaces environment. Diversity trainings must also be conducted in order to resolve the conflicts between the employees. Furthermore, leadership trainings must be provided to the management team, in order to lead the subordinates to success (Beardwell Thompson, 2014). Recruitment and Selection The company maintains a procedure while selecting and recruiting new candidates. The manager of the company needs to analyze first whether any position is vacant or not. After doing an analysis of the position, the manager informs the human resource manager regarding the vacancy. The description of the job is analyzed and the selection methods are decided. The position description must include the title of the position, key objective, the qualifications required for the position, work health and safety policies as well as terms and conditions of the company. This must be done within three to five days after consulting with the human resource manager (Berman et al., 2012). The senior management needs to sign off the position description after having a look into it. On getting approval from the senior department, the management department should start giving advertisement on the selected media channels, regarding the vacancy. This must be done within ten working days. The human resource manager must send the advertisements to the publications department, in order to post on digital media as well. This is followed by the short listing of the new applicants. The candidates are shortlisted on the basis of qualifications and experiences. Based on that, personal interview procedures are carried out (Bratton Gold, 2012). The interview procedures are carried out after checking the references and experiences. The pharmaceutical company conducts the interview procedure with a selection panel of three human resource managers and a professional interviewee in the related field. The preparations are done within two to three days. The interview applicants are selected on the basis of the experiences and reference checking is done. The company provides job to the deserving candidates. However, feedbacks are given to the unsuccessful ones over phone, within one to two days, after checking the number of the applicants. The company needs to enhance the recruitment procedure, in order to hire only the eligible candidates, who can work in team by maintaining peace and harmony (Brewster et al., 2016). The above diagram shows how the selection and recruitment of the employees are carried on. The manager of the company needs to analyze first whether any position is vacant or not. After doing an analysis of the position, the manager informs the human resource manager regarding the vacancy. The description of the job is analyzed and the selection methods are decided. After getting approval from the senior department, the management department should start giving advertisement on the selected media channels, regarding the vacancy. This must be done within ten working days. The human resource manager must send the advertisements to the publications department, in order to post on digital media as well. This is followed by the short listing of the new applicants. The candidates are shortlisted on the basis of qualifications and experiences. Based on that, personal interview procedures are carried out. The interview procedures are carried out after checking the references and experiences. The interview applicants are selected on the basis of the skills and reference checking is done. The job is offered to the deserving candidates and the unsuccessful ones are given feedbacks over phone (Sparrow, Brewster Chung, 2016). Performance Management The company takes management of employee performance very seriously. The vision and mission is to provide the employees with the best working environment, so that the customers get best services. However, in order to face the issues of the Asian region, the company needs to take some strategies. After hiring the fresh candidates, an orientation program is to be conducted, where professional experts and certified trainers must give valuable opinions. The pharmaceutical company needs to conduct sessions that are interactive and the employees are encouraged to give opinions and views. Furthermore, the employees must be encouraged to socialize, which helps them in building a relationship or bond with others (Budhwar Debrah, 2013). In addition to this, the company can improve the training sessions to some extent. Trainings sessions must be carried on a daily basis for about forty to forty five minutes, in order to train them on disciplinary skills, managing consumers, understanding the behavior and demands. Induction programs must be conducted by the human resource managers, which will help the new employees gain an understanding of the companys policies and procedures, working environment and others. Certified trainers can organize seminars as well as orientation programs for encouraging and motivating the employees to work better and serve the best to the company (Buller McEvoy, 2012). The training sessions will also help in gaining feedbacks from the employees. The staff members must be encouraged and motivated to speak up, on facing any kind of issues. This will help in resolving the conflicts between the employees. Moreover, if the employees are motivated on a daily basis, the performances will also enhance. Happy and satisfied employees reflect the organizational culture. This in turn brings in high values to the organization. However, performance management of the employees helps in identifying the competencies and in competencies of the employees (Jiang et al., 2012). The diagram shows the performance management plan of any company. It involves planning and managing the employees performances. The training sessions help in gaining feedbacks from the employees. The members must be encouraged and motivated to speak up, on facing any kind of issues. This will help in resolving the conflicts between the employees. Moreover, if the employees are motivated on a daily basis, the performances will also enhance. Happy and satisfied employees reflect the organizational culture. This in turn brings in high values to the organization. However, performance management of the employees helps in identifying the competencies and in competencies of the employees (Storey, 2014). Reviewing the employees performances help in understanding the productivity level. The employees are being rewarded on the basis of that. Performance appraisals, benefits of the employees are all taken under consideration. Training sessions help in understanding the behavior of the employees. In addition to this, the renewal of the employees policies and benefits are done on the basis of the performance and productivity (Brewster Hegewisch, 2017). Recommendations Assure Pharmaceutical Company has successfully gained mass attention, in terms of services as well as loyalty. However, the company needs to focus on digital marketing strategy, to promote its products and services on the global platform. The employees must be given the opportunity to socialize more. Furthermore, categorical programs must be introduced among the employees. Feedback machines must be installed in the stores, which will help the organization to gain an understanding of the customers behaviors and expectations. The company can also engage into social works like poverty alleviation, setting up of free medical checkup camps and distribution of free medicines, which in turn will prove beneficial for the company. References Alfes, K., Shantz, A. D., Truss, C., Soane, E. C. (2013). The link between perceived human resource management practices, engagement and employee behaviour: a moderated mediation model.The international journal of human resource management,24(2), 330-351. Armstrong, M., Taylor, S. (2014).Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers. Aswathappa, K. (2013).Human resource management: Text and cases. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Beardwell, J., Thompson, A. (2014).Human resource management: a contemporary approach. Pearson Education. Berman, E. M., Bowman, J. S., West, J. P., Van Wart, M. R. (2012).Human resource management in public service: Paradoxes, processes, and problems. Sage. Bratton, J., Gold, J. (2012).Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave Macmillan. Brewster, C., Hegewisch, A. (Eds.). (2017).Policy and Practice in European Human Resource Management: The Price Waterhouse Cranfield Survey. Taylor Francis. Brewster, C., Houldsworth, E., Sparrow, P., Vernon, G. (2016).International human resource management. Kogan Page Publishers. Budhwar, P. S., Debrah, Y. A. (Eds.). (2013).Human resource management in developing countries. Routledge. Buller, P. F., McEvoy, G. M. (2012). Strategy, human resource management and performance: Sharpening line of sight.Human resource management review,22(1), 43-56. Hendry, C. (2012).Human resource management. Routledge. Jiang, K., Lepak, D. P., Han, K., Hong, Y., Kim, A., Winkler, A. L. (2012). Clarifying the construct of human resource systems: Relating human resource management to employee performance.Human Resource Management Review,22(2), 73-85. Marchington, M., Wilkinson, A., Donnelly, R., Kynighou, A. (2016).Human resource management at work. Kogan Page Publishers. Purce, J. (2014). The impact of corporate strategy on human resource management.New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals),67. Sparrow, P., Brewster, C., Chung, C. (2016).Globalizing human resource management. Routledge. Storey, J. (2014).New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.