James Baldwin Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

James Baldwin - Research Paper Example His narratives and productions novelize essential subjective queries and quandaries amidst multifaceted societal and psychosomatic burdens discomforting the reasonable incorporation of not only blacks however also of male homosexuals, portraying as well some adopted disablements to such personages' expedition for recognition and rightly approval, specifically in his second novel, Giovanni's Room (1956), printed well in advance the equivalence of homosexuals stood extensively promoted in America. Baldwin's superlatively recognized novel is his first, Go Tell It on the Mountain. In 1953, Baldwin's principal novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, a semi-autobiographical bildungsroman, was printed. Baldwin's principal assortment of dissertations, Notes of a Native Son give the impression two years later. Baldwin persisted to investigate with fictional procedures during the course of his career, disseminating poems and theatres as well as the literary and fiction essays for which he was known . Baldwin's subsequent novel, Giovanni's Room, stimulated a polemic disagreement when it was first issued in 1956 outstanding to its unambiguous homoerotic material. Baldwin remained once more repelling brands with the publication of this book: regardless of the interpretation of society's potentials that he would print workings allocating with the African American knowledge, Giovanni's Room is entirely about white characters. Baldwin's succeeding two narratives, Another Country and Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone, are extensive, investigational works distributed with black and white characters and with heterosexual, homosexual, and bisexual typescripts. These novels brawl to enclose the commotion of the 1960s: they stand inundated with a sagacity of ferocious turbulence and atrocity. Baldwin's prolonged paper down at the Cross (habitually called The Fire Next Time subsequently the name of the book in which it was printed) correspondingly presented the bubbling disgruntlement of the 1960s in an innovative method. The thesis was at first printed in two large productions of The New Yorker and affluence Baldwin on the cover of Time magazine in 1963 whereas Baldwin was remaining in the South, speaking nearby for the disconcerted Civil Rights crusade. The dissertation communicated about the uncomfortable rapport amongst Christianity and the mushrooming Black Muslim program. Baldwin's next book-length essay, No Name in the Street, also debated his individual understanding in the setting of the late 1960s, precisely the killings of three of his own friends: Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Baldwin's literatures of the 1970s and 1980s obligated to remained principally unnoticed by faultfinders, however even these transcripts are beginning to receive attention., Eldridge Cleaver's malicious homophobic outbreak proceeding Baldwin in Soul on Ice, and Baldwin's reoccurrence to southern France subsidized to the intelligence that he was not in sou pcon with his audience. Continually accurate to his personal persuasions somewhat than to the sensitivities of others, Baldwin sustained to inscribe what he sought to write.

U4IP Building an Organization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

U4IP Building an Organization - Research Paper Example How to build a diverse culture accommodating highly creative technical staff In order to create a culture of diversity, the management has to ensure that, the working environment is resourceful. This means that all employees have equal value in the organization and they have a feeling of appreciation. The management should ensure that employees are well conversant with the mission, vision, objectives and core values of the company. This will enable the team to focus on the company’s strategies hence putting extra effort and creativity in their work for goal achievement. Recognition of employee through appreciation, promotion and benefits are the motivating factors that can challenge weak employees to improve (Madden, 2003). In addition, the firm should source employees from diverse geographical areas regardless of race, religion or background. This will ensure a combination of skills, ideas and creativity from all backgrounds leading to overall success of the organization. The management being the role models of culture diversity should share their skills, competence and knowledge with the employees. This will ensure that the employees uphold and maintain the culture in all levels of operation. How the success of the organizational design in structure and culture will be measured The success of the organization can be measured in various ways. Both qualitative and quantitative methods can be used in determining whether the organizational culture and design structure is successful. The number of customers using the services in a day, week, month or yearly can be used to measure the success of organizational design. The higher the number of customers using the services means the organizational design operating well and fit. On the other hand, if there are few customers attending the firm and using the services and products, it means the design is unsuccessful. Therefore, the management should come up with a new design that will attract and meet customersâ €™ needs. Additionally, an organizational design that is easy to operate and that employee enjoy working with means it is good since workers have accepted it. The management can decide to carry out an interview both internally and externally. This would involve the quality of services and products offered by the company, the design and structure the company is using and the characters of employees. Response to these questions will answer whether the organization is operating well or not. Comparison with other firms in the same line is another way that can be used to measure success of design and culture. A company that has a culture of diversity and is well structurally designed is famous than a company that is poorly structured. How to build teams across a geographically diverse organization Since the company took a global strategy, there is a need to come up with a clear way of managing the entire organization regardless of the geographical location. A Geographical Dispersed T eam (GDT) that has a common objective and goal to the organization should be formed (Madden, 2003). The team members should have trust and proper communication channel to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of the company. The team should be composed of competent and qualified personnel. These groups

Enteprenuership and Organizational Behavior Essay

Enteprenuership and Organizational Behavior - Essay Example This study therefore seeks to establish adequate principles and approaches needed to accomplish the relevant ambitious trends. Systematically Analyse the Concept of Entrepreneurialism The entrepreneur is an individual or group who is keen to abide by the risks of organising, operating as well as assuming the possibilities for a business venture in order to build capital either through profits (in case of profit earning organisations/companies) or through funds (in case of non-profit institutions). From a generalised perspective, entrepreneurialism can be denoted as one of the effective entrepreneurial cultures deliberately contributing towards various social development activities. Entrepreneurship today is extensively involved with the transforming ideas concerning economic growth of a society or a country at large. They are risk takers, who look forward to undertake any challenge or task without any hesitation. There are certain numbers of characteristics that are involved with the effectiveness of entrepreneurs, such as self confidence, sense of ownership, continuous learning skills, communication abilities, goal and system oriented cognitive skills and dedicat ion towards the objectives with an optimistic point of view, among others. Among the various notable entrepreneurs of this era, Lord Alan Sugar has been one. Born in East London, he worked against all odds to be a member at the House of Commons and to hold 89th position in the Sunday Times Rich List of 2011. Amstrad has been his most successful venture. 1.2 Critically Evaluate Entrepreneurialism as an Agent of Change in Both Public and Private Health and Social Care Sector. In the modern day context of healthcare and social organizations, the entrepreneurs are highly inclined towards gaining increased revenue or profit for the organization. However, social enterprises now-a-days entail certain significant attributes related to the governmental public policies. The enterprises of the globalised world focusing on a developed entrepreneurship are different from traditional and socio-economic approaches which motivated the European countries to adopt developed legal frameworks. The contemporary scenario of healthcare organizations is necessary to be conscious of the environmental changes, also to implement suitable plans and strategies for the organization, concentrated on its social benefits. Significant plans along with the appropriate strategies are more effective for the organizat

A sociological perspective Essay Example for Free

A sociological perspective Essay The term inner city life refers to the system of life of those people, who are underclass, cut off from the regular city life. Yet the elemental building blocks of their lives-work, family, community all exists, however in corrupted forms. A sociological perspective: Inner city residents are underpaid socially disorganised, where no one trusts the other and each has to struggle for existence in highly unfavourable conditions. The most precise way to explain inner city life in sociological terms is to consider 1. Criminality: The absence of proper means of existence leads to the demolition of the laws of the community and every member lives by preying on his fellow citizens. 2. Illegality: Due to the absence of proper family values, and absence of fathers in many cases, the young ones tend to grow up devoid of any values and ethics, unready to take the responsibilities of life and family which they have to undertake at a young age. In other words, they are improperly socialised. Moreover, financial, emotional and intellectual deficits aggravate the situation. 3. Schooling: A teacher has a significant contribution is shaping the lives of children. However teachers in inner city life differ from that of the city teachers on various grounds, teaching experience, certification and involvement with the students. In the inner cities there is a dearth of teachers leading to the appointment of less qualified teachers. The more a teacher spends time with her students, the more are they motivated to come up in life? Not only that, proper cooperation of the teachers help children gain confidence, getting a better idea about life. However, lack of cooperation from the teachers leads to a sense of helplessness among the students and leads them to question their own capabilities. 4. Community influence: apart from school, the time a child spends in his community also shapes his personality. Increased prevalence of poverty, exposure to violence and absence of parents at home leads a child to spend most of his after school time in his community. Absence of structured programs or opportunities is reasons enough for the children to go astray. For example, a black family living in a white dominated area has to face sneers and remarks against their race, which has a negative impact on the children. An economic perspective: The most important reasons which effect youths in inner city are: 1. Lower socio economic status: social disadvantage is associated with increased stress among adults throughout the socioeconomic gradient. One of the foremost reasons for this is the stressful working conditions of the youth. Most of the times, they are made to work under extreme conditions. They are made to do menial jobs and are highly underpaid. Most of the times they are unable to provide for themselves the bare necessities of life. Indulging in criminal activities thus becomes an obvious option. 2. Poverty: this is one condition of existence which hampers their growth. Living in poverty can lead to a deficiency in food, clothing, shelter which all people need to fulfil their growth needs. Poverty is the main source of stress, strain, anxiety and frustration among children which need to be overcome. In absence of the basic needs of existence, children often tend to move towards criminal activities. A psychological perspective: Social disadvantage is related to increased stress among inner city circles. One explanation for this is that as one goes down the socioeconomic order, they have fewer psychological resources to meet this stress because of such challenging circumstances. Because these are abilities and resources those individuals draw upon while stressed, to withstand the threats from the environment. According to Gallo and Mathews, the relative lack of resources is mainly due to depletion, with lack of replenishment of the existing resources and also due to a continuous interruption in the process of development. Economic instability, racism, adequate coping methods, negatively affects the psychology of the people mainly the youth. This is actually the critical period of development in which definite behavioural and psychological patterns are formed which exists throughout. This is termed as â€Å"reserve capacity† â€Å"Psychological† and â€Å"Environmental† perspectives are the two main categories in this field. The first emphasises on objective events and conditions, associated with effective adaptive demands, while the latter focuses on individuals’ subjective evaluation of oneself and one’s abilities to cope with the demands. It stresses that â€Å"stressors† are environmental events or conditions that impose stress on individuals and â€Å"stress† is a person’s appraisal to these conditions as taxing or threatening to their psychological makeup. Among the youth, this stress is subject to their level of optimism, adequacy of coping styles, personality traits and other factors.

Strategic Change in Government Based on Organization Hierarchy Essay

Strategic Change in Government Based on Organization Hierarchy The literature supports the position that there should be a relationship between the structure and organization change. This study was undertaken to determine how different organization roles, hierarchy, and sizes affect planned strategic change. A survey instrument was administered to top federal government agency leadership to assess change in their organization. The intention is to draw common relationships between organization change and specific categories or sizes of organizations. Role of Change Business strategy and structure have always been related. Organizational change involves innovation, process improvement, and organizational redesign (Galbraith and Lawler, 1993). They also noted that the hierarchical structure is related to changes in speed, quality and productivity. In recent years, the pace of change has accelerated so drastically that most organizational structures and management principles have no hope of adjusting or adapting (Hammer and Champy, 1993). Today’s changes are discontinuous and happening at a geometric rate. Organizations must be sufficiently agile to be instantly reconfigurable to meet new demands (Tetenbaum, 1998). Change efforts involve attempting to reduce discrepancies between the real and the ideal (Hersey and Blanchard, 1993). The change could be a first order change that occurs in a stable system that itself remains unchanged. It could be a second order change when fundamental properties of the system are changed such as the fall of communism (Hersey and Blanchard, 1993). Evolutionary changes are gradual and tend to be first order while revolutionary changes are second order. Both of these events could be driving the changes described in this study.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some changes are limited and incremental in nature. Strategic, system wide changes implemented under crisis conditions are highly risky. Nadler and Tushman (1990) found that all strategic organizational changes initiated under crisis conditions with short time constraints were by far the riskiest. Such changes usually require a change in core values. Some recent trends that have generally lead to significant changes in corporate culture are reengineering, shift to horizontal forms of organizing, total quality management (Daft, 1998). These should not negate the i... ...tudy in TQM, leadership, and organizational culture in a government agency. Public Administration Review, 56: 227-236. Scott, W. R. (1998). Organizations rational, natural, and open systems (4th ed.). San Francisco: Chandler Publishing. Scott, W. R. 1998. Organizations rational, natural, and open systems (4th ed.). San Francisco: Chandler Publishing. Seidman, H. (1998). Politics, position, and power: The dynamics of federal organization (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. Seidman, H. (1998). Politics, position, and power: The dynamics of federal organization (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. Senge, P. 1990. The fifth discipline. New York, NY: Doubleday. Tetenbaum, T. J. (spring 1998). Shifting Paradigms: From Newton to chasos. Organizatinal Dynamics, pp. 21-33. Tushman, M. L., & Romanelli, E. 1985. Organization evolution: A metamorphosis model of convergence and reorientation. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior, 7. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. United States government manual 2000. Office of the Federal Register National Archives and Records Administration. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Strategic Change in Government Based on Organization Hierarchy Essay Strategic Change in Government Based on Organization Hierarchy The literature supports the position that there should be a relationship between the structure and organization change. This study was undertaken to determine how different organization roles, hierarchy, and sizes affect planned strategic change. A survey instrument was administered to top federal government agency leadership to assess change in their organization. The intention is to draw common relationships between organization change and specific categories or sizes of organizations. Role of Change Business strategy and structure have always been related. Organizational change involves innovation, process improvement, and organizational redesign (Galbraith and Lawler, 1993). They also noted that the hierarchical structure is related to changes in speed, quality and productivity. In recent years, the pace of change has accelerated so drastically that most organizational structures and management principles have no hope of adjusting or adapting (Hammer and Champy, 1993). Today’s changes are discontinuous and happening at a geometric rate. Organizations must be sufficiently agile to be instantly reconfigurable to meet new demands (Tetenbaum, 1998). Change efforts involve attempting to reduce discrepancies between the real and the ideal (Hersey and Blanchard, 1993). The change could be a first order change that occurs in a stable system that itself remains unchanged. It could be a second order change when fundamental properties of the system are changed such as the fall of communism (Hersey and Blanchard, 1993). Evolutionary changes are gradual and tend to be first order while revolutionary changes are second order. Both of these events could be driving the changes described in this study.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some changes are limited and incremental in nature. Strategic, system wide changes implemented under crisis conditions are highly risky. Nadler and Tushman (1990) found that all strategic organizational changes initiated under crisis conditions with short time constraints were by far the riskiest. Such changes usually require a change in core values. Some recent trends that have generally lead to significant changes in corporate culture are reengineering, shift to horizontal forms of organizing, total quality management (Daft, 1998). These should not negate the i... ...tudy in TQM, leadership, and organizational culture in a government agency. Public Administration Review, 56: 227-236. Scott, W. R. (1998). Organizations rational, natural, and open systems (4th ed.). San Francisco: Chandler Publishing. Scott, W. R. 1998. Organizations rational, natural, and open systems (4th ed.). San Francisco: Chandler Publishing. Seidman, H. (1998). Politics, position, and power: The dynamics of federal organization (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. Seidman, H. (1998). Politics, position, and power: The dynamics of federal organization (5th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. Senge, P. 1990. The fifth discipline. New York, NY: Doubleday. Tetenbaum, T. J. (spring 1998). Shifting Paradigms: From Newton to chasos. Organizatinal Dynamics, pp. 21-33. Tushman, M. L., & Romanelli, E. 1985. Organization evolution: A metamorphosis model of convergence and reorientation. In B. M. Staw & L. L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in Organizational Behavior, 7. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press. United States government manual 2000. Office of the Federal Register National Archives and Records Administration. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Comparison Of Tones Used By Ph :: essays research papers

Two of the most well known black writers that were for the abolishnist movement in America were Frederik Douglass and Phillis Wheatley. At a time when a literate Negro would have only existed in a nightmare and when even the majority of the white women in the country were illiterate, these two authors of distinguished valor managed to write literature and recite speeches that inspired some of the most impenetrable minds to change their ways of thinking. Wheatley would move her readers with her subtle, yet powerful literature while Douglass would do the same with his powerful use of words. Phillis Wheatley was one of the more passive abolishionist writers. Because she was a slave and she was aware of her position in society as opposed to the whites, she knew that enfuriating her audience was the wisest thing to do. When criticizing slavery she chose her words very wisely. In her poem â€Å"On Being Brought from Africa to America,† for example, she does not blatantly protest about slavery and call her readers savages like Douglass would do. Instead she and realized has realized her position in serialized her position in society as a slave and In her literature she criticizes slavery through rli Although, Phillis Wheatley was an abolishnist writer, she passive than a lot of her literature didn’t always reflect. At first glance it would For a man going against a legion of non-followers, Frederik Douglass held nothing back. Wheatley, Unlike unFor an abolishnist writer, one must and Although they both took very diifrent approaches very, but also managed to get their works published. Wheatley would move the crowed inspire authors wrote poetry ab it was a forbidden for a Negros to learn how to read black to learn how to read andbeing literate being illeterate was law for blacks, and women ere being illetarate for Wheatley and Douglass wroteAt a time where it was forbidden for a Negro to learn how to read and even majority of the white women couldn’t read, Phillis and Wheatley were writing verses that were so powerful wthese two authors, managed to recite speeches and write sonnets to get to

Differences in Religion During the Era of Slavery

In Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Douglass writes about his experiences being a slave. Intermixed in these experiences are two distinct factions: the religion of the master, and the religion of the slave. The slave masters and their families were often seen at church on Sunday, and then seen beating and mistreating their slaves on Monday. The slaves often professed to be Christians, but that did not stop them from stealing, lying, and scheming against their owners. Religion played a mighty part in the struggles between the slave and his owner, and this paper hopes to show the extent of those struggles through Douglass’ eyes.Most of the slaves brought from Africa had pagan beliefs that they kept alive despite the fact they were no longer in their own country. While some slaves were taught of Christianity by their owners and owners wives, many still held to the beliefs that they had learned as children. Douglass was one of the group that was taught Christianity, bu t that did not always stop him from leaning on some of the old pagan practices that the other slaves followed. For example, a fellow slave, Sandy Jenkins, had a root that he swore would keep a slave from being whipped by their master (Douglass, 53).The root had to be carried only on the right side of the body, and it would give protection to the person who carried it for as long as it was carried (Douglass, 53). Douglass had a need for a trinket like this when he ran away from his master, Mr. Covey. Covey had severely beaten Douglass, and Douglass had managed to get to an old master’s house in hopes of help (Douglass, 52). When he did not receive any, he hid in the woods for a while (Douglass, 53). He was facing either a beating from Covey or starvation in the woods when Jenkins came upon him (Douglass, 53).Jenkins’ free wife had a home of her own, so he took Douglass there and gave him the root (Douglass, 53) . Sure enough, when Douglass went home, Mr. Covey did not o ffer to beat him (Douglass, 53). In fact, the next day Douglass had an altercation with Covey and Hughes, his helper (Douglass, 54). Douglass beat both of them so badly that they â€Å"never wanted to lay hold of him again† (Douglass, 54). They never did, either. Douglass relates that he spent four more years as a slave, and he was never beaten again (Douglass, 54).Now, the question might be, did the root really have any effect on Douglass’s safety? If it did, how could Douglass profess to be a Christian, and still believe that a root of some kind was going to keep him safe? There are two answers to those questions, both provided by Douglass. Douglass expressed his doubts to Jenkins about the root from the very mention of it (Douglass, 53). The only reason that he took it was because Jenkins convinced him that while it might not help matters, it certainly could not hurt them (Douglass, 53).It appears as though Jenkins was right, but one has to think about the day that Douglass came home, Sunday (Douglass, 53). Mr. Covey also professed to be a Christian, and while beating a slave for everyone to see might be acceptable on other days, it was simply not done on Sunday (Douglass, 53). Proof of this fact can be derived by Covey’s actions on Monday. He came to Douglass and attempted to tie him up for a beating, but Douglass bested him (Douglass, 53). Although the root seemed to help on Sunday, it was not going to help on Monday, except for one thing.The root evidently gave Douglass the courage that he needed to be able to fight Covey and Hughes. One could argue that the root did have some saving power, but it seems much more likely that having that talisman made Douglass believe that he could fight. There really was no reason why he could not. He was more than capable of fighting a middle aged man. If nothing else, the root made him brave. What Douglass truly thought about the root came out a few years later when Douglass found himself working f or the same slave owner as Sandy Jenkins (Douglass, 59).While not in the dialogue itself, Douglass made a footnote that expressed his real feelings. He noted that while Jenkins was totally convinced that Douglass overcame Covey with the help of the root, Douglass held that idea up as a simple superstition common to â€Å"ignorant† slaves (Douglass, 59). So, perhaps there never really was an issue between Douglass choosing to be a Christian while carrying a pagan object. We know, though, the root must have helped at least a little bit. Did Douglass believe in it the moment he stood up to Covey? We will never know.However, this whole episode is representative of what a lot of slaves encountered. They became Christian by choice or by force, but there were always the old pagan beliefs in the back of their mind, the beliefs that they had carried from their home. No wonder, then, that black Christianity was so markedly different than white Christianity. In Douglass’s life st ory, he made it clearly known that he advocated slaves doing what they had to do to survive on the plantations and farms of their owners (Douglass, 81). However, some of these things went against the most basic teachings of Christianity.Slaves were often forced to steal, lie, and carry out all types of schemes to stay alive, fed, and unbeaten. Certainly, no one would claim that all slaves were Christians. The story of the root, as explained above, should be clear proof of that. Not all slave owners were Christians, so there would be no need to expect that they would teach, or force, their slaves to believe what they did not. However, this question is more about Douglass himself than any other slave. How could he condone the unscrupulous actions of any slave, and still be a Christian himself?The answer is fairly simple. Douglass made a distinction in types of Christianity. He saw the Christianity practiced in the â€Å"slaveholding† portion of the United States as a corruption of the â€Å"Christianity of Christ† (Douglass, 81). He went so far as to say that â€Å"to be a friend of the one, is of necessity to be the enemy of the other† (Douglass, 81). From this comment, we can see that Douglass did not have problems with what slaves had to do to stay alive or escape because he could not in good faith recognize the Christianity of his captors as true Christianity.In truth, why would he have any reason to do so? Douglass related many experiences in his life that had been touched by the slave holders brand of Christianity. He endeavored to start a Sunday School for his fellow slaves, and it was broken up by the â€Å"Christian† slave owners because the slaves were learning to read and write (Douglass, 59). His grandmother was sent off to live and die by herself when she was old and of no use to her owner, and all because her former owner, a â€Å"Christian,† had not bothered to release her upon his death (Douglass, 39-41).He saw women beaten unmercifully, and felt the scars and sores left by the repeated abuse (Douglass, 33). He was separated from his own mother as a small child, and allowed to see her only four or five times in his life, and then only at night because her owner would not give her a pass to be late to the fields (Douglass, 13-14). After everything he went through, how could he not consider the Christianity of most of the white men he encountered to be a false, ugly thing?Simply put, Douglass could advocate the non-Christian behavior of the slaves because they were working against a great evil, in his opinion. The battle was not between two groups that believed the same way. It was between two groups that were at desperate odds with each other. Neither one had any respect or kind thoughts for each other, so it might as well have been two completely different religions instead of one. Douglass could see that difference, so he could not be bothered to chide his fellow man for disobeying their masters.In his mind, it was the right thing to do. Douglass mentions in his narrative that he considered being a slave to a religious owner one of the worst things that could ever happen to him (Douglass, 57). It has been fully discussed why Douglass did not see slave owners as having the same type of Christianity he did, but in some instances, such as when he left Mr. Covey and went to work for Mr. Freeland, he claimed that slave owners who were not religious were far and above the best kind to work for (Douglass, 57).We may ask the question, why were religious slave owners so much worse than non-religious ones? To help us understand this situation, Douglass gives several examples of the atrocities committed by â€Å"religious† owners, and the reasons given for their abhorrent behavior. A Reverend Daniel Weeden and Reverend Rigby Hopkins, both Methodist preachers, lived near Douglass while he worked for Mr. Freeland (Douglass, 57). Rev. Weeden beat his slaves unmercifully. D ouglass recalled seeing a woman who was beaten so badly and so often that her back was raw for weeks on end (Douglass, 57).Weeden’s motto was â€Å"behave well or behave ill, it is the duty of a master to occasionally whip a slave, to remind him of his master’s authority† (Douglass, 57). Douglass deemed people of this type to be â€Å"cruel and cowardly† (Douglass, 57). Perhaps they were cruel by nature, and cowardly because they hid behind their religion and used it to excuse what they did to innocent people. The Rev. Hopkins would â€Å"whip slaves in advance of deserving it† (Douglass, 58). The smallest things, such as â€Å"a look of dissatisfaction,† would mean that a slave â€Å"had the Devil in him, and it must be whipped out† (Douglass, 58).Beatings were given for equipment malfunctions, such as a plow breaking, not taking off a hat in the presence of a white person, and even suggesting an easier way of doing a task (Douglass, 58). All this was supposed to mean that the slave was getting â€Å"high minded† and deserved punishment (Douglass, 58). Despite the cruel actions of this man, Douglass noted that there was no one â€Å"who made higher professions of religion, or was more active in revivals†¦ or prayed earlier, faster, and longer than this reverend slave driver, Rigby Hopkins† (Douglass, 58). On the other hand, Mr.Freeland did not consider himself to be religious (Douglass, 57). He gave his slaves and hired men plenty to eat, plenty of time in which to eat it, good tools to work with, and made sure that there were enough people to work his land (Douglass, 58). It is not mentioned one time that he beat his slaves. What could all this mean? One would naturally think that Christian people would be kinder to their slaves than non-Christians, but this was evidently not the case. One reason this could be is that the Christian slave owners were trying, as said before, to â€Å"beat the Devil† out of their slaves (Douglass, 58).As per the discussion of the â€Å"root† earlier, it is no surprise that most slaves were members of some pagan, tribal religion. Some denominations felt that it was better to expose their slaves to God instead of removing their suffering in this world (Thevarajah,1). Some owners thought that Christian slaves might be better than pagan slaves, presumably because they would be more obedient and better behaved (Thevarajah, 1). As we know from Douglass, this was not often the case. We can know for certain that the cruelty exuded by Christians on their slaves was not unique to Douglass’s situation.In fact, it was quite common. Looking at another recollection of servitude, this time from a female perspective, Our Nig; Or Sketches From the Life of a Free Black, by Harriet Wilson, expresses the same ideas of suffering under the hand of a Christian family. In Chapter Eight of this touching book, the main character, known mostly as â€Å"Nig,† gets a chance to go out to church meetings and embraces Christianity. However, all the woman she works for can worry about is that â€Å"Nig† will wish to go to church and to meetings on Sunday, making her unavailable for work (Wilson, Chapter 8).When the woman is questioned about her attitude, since she is a Christian herself and goes to church, she states, â€Å"Who ever thought of having a nigger go, except to drive others there? † (Wilson, Chapter 8). Here, perhaps, we find the truth of the matter. Some Christians believed that it was acceptable to make their slaves into Christians, but these Christians would always be inferior, and perhaps more prone to punishment because of the high standards their owners held them up to. Perhaps it is not so much a question of cruelty, but one of ignorance.In a sickeningly perverted way, perhaps some of the brutal slave owners felt that they were doing the right thing by beating their slaves â€Å"straight . † Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is a book that really opens ones eyes to the warping of religious ideas in the light of the era of slavery. There were pagan rituals going on side by side with church services, and Christians who thought it best to be cruel in order to transfer their belief system to the people that they owned.As Douglass noted, there were two kinds of Christianity in the world at that time, they Christianity of slavery and the â€Å"Christianity of Christ. † Hopefully some of those who suffered under cruel masters in the name of salvation were later able to find the true way for themselves. Unfortunately, there are many who never survived to make their own decisions. This is the shame of the slavery era, especially for those who died in the process of their â€Å"salvation. †