Fidel Castro: Personality Analysis - Research Paper Example

? Fidel Castro Various theories have been put across to explain personalities and what drives them to do the things they do. This landmark advancement has been witnessed for a long time but it started gaining popularity in the 18th century. Fidel Castro is an icon and a leader that has ruled the republic of Cuba for the longest period ever. Castro demonstrates the Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs by focusing on the importance of people living together in community and tapping the positives that comes from them. In addition, he seems to have been influenced by the three aspects that are expressed in the Henry Murray’s theory namely, achievement, power and intimacy. The five dimensional theory model as proposed by Lewis Goldberg can also be used to describe Castro’s life. According to this theory Castro was a secretive person to his enemies and rivals but an intimate a friendly person to his allies. He was an optimist, extremist and was not good at taking opinions. Castro’s achievements were founded on social justice, leadership and spread of his famous communism ideology. Castro is a man that has been assertive, goal oriented, and was very aggressive. Power was at the centre stage of Castro’s achievement, he longed for it and when he captured it, he retained it until he was incapacitated by an illness (Rotella, Abbott, and Gold, 2001). His early self-actualization made him to have many attempts to capture the leadership of Cuba some of which were futile. Fidel’s ideology shook the world while his personality was demonstrated by the strong opinions that he held, his desire for power, achievement and intimacy is evident throughout his life. In his early years, Castro demonstrated a strong foundation that was characterized by the need to be influential and close to his people. The early years were spent on his father’s sugarcane farm in the Oriente province, eastern Cuba. While still young, His extraversion earned him an opportunity to live with his teacher and later was baptized after going through the Roman Catholic teachings (Coltman, 2005). Castro was focused and goal oriented at this young age, he participated in various activities that brought him as a young man who had his people at heart. Castro went to school where he did not perform very well in academics but his passion and need for achievement in co-curricular activities propelled him greatly. Being an aggressive young man, he was unruly and violent aspects that made him to change schools at an early age. He demonstrated his confidence and was seen to be a person who had little or no fear for challenges. In pursuance for achievement, Castro pursued his higher education at the University of Havana. At the University Castro became even more thirsty for power and achievement as he joined the team of demonstrators who were against the government of the day, he became the ring leader. His law degree was becoming less of an achievement as he found passion in politics that he diligently pursued. This is where Castro’s passion came to be revealed not because of his strong academic performance but because of his political spirit. There were several protests in the University that radicalized Castro who developed a deep resentment for United States and the regime of the time under the leadership of President Ramon Grau (Crowder, 2003). Having become a ringleader in the protests Castro commanded a lot of authority from the students. However, he attempted the University student leadership for the position of the president of the Federation of University students but failed. This did not deter the strong willed Castro from pursuing his quest for power; he meant to achieve his purpose of sustaining social justice in the country. Apart from his law degree in the University, Castro earned a lot of popularity from the fellow students as well as from the Cubans because of his advances in resisting the dictatorial regime of the day. He was featured severally on the media platforms for his address to the public in 1946, just a year after he had joined the institution. The landmark event that shaped Castro’s political career and ideology was the joining of Eduardo Chibas’s Socialist Party of the Cuban People (Rotella, Abbott, and Gold, 2001). According to Murray’s motivation theory, effort in work is as natural as work and pay, an aspect that was evident among the group that Castro led. . His openness to the fellow revolutionarists earned him respect and recognition even from other countries. He closely interacted with people from all sectors, including at one time with Batista, the person to become the president. His social behavior was very important in his development as an icon since who those that conquered with his ideology became his allies. He went as far as Dominican Republic and Colombia while a student. This brought him forth as an outgoing and very independent thinker, a person who believed in achieving all that he wanted. His persuasion was based on a ground of becoming the best of himself and translating the same to others. However, the things that the government did especially their relations with the United States often irritated Castro. This prompted him to become so rebellious and developed a desire to capture the power by all possible means. In addition, he recruited a group of students and members of public in his affairs of pushing the government of the day. Having been successful in Colombia catapulted the desire to become a leader over Cuba, in an effort to demonstrate his call and duty he led major protests provoked by killing of a high school student by government machineries. Castro was kind and friendly to his colleague at the university Mirta Diaz-Balart to who he fell in love with in October of 1948; they together gave birth to one child (Ramonet, 2007). Castro was a lovely, responsible, and diligent father and husband who balanced found his time for his family despite the highly demanding task. His liberalism and freedom in the family was shown by the fact that his daughter opposed him and sided with the United States. Drawing from the five-dimension personality model, Castro was an extrovert who demonstrated a concern for his people. Castro was very conscious of the people around him; he took an initiative to use his education as a way of reaching out to the community. In a desire to make an impact through his achievement in education, Castro started practicing law by establishing a law firms that championed for the rights of the less privileged in the society. His quest for power saw him join the reformist Cuban people’s party and wanted to run for congress on its ticket, but the party members refuted and he was left to run for a position in the House of Representatives. The character that Castro had demonstrated earned him rejection by the party delegates; he was an extremist and a radical person that could not be trusted with the country’s leadership. Castro was very creative and strategic in the way he approached situations, he did not engage in something that he did not give his best, he believed in success amidst adversity. Batista introduced a new form of leadership that was dictatorial and oppressed the people, this aggravated Castro prompting him to develop a movement to dislodge him from power in 1953. He was very sensitive on issues that affected the people, his drive was to see the best for the people, and he loathed bureaucracy and social injustice. He was bold and composed, prompting him to make the first attempt that comprised of about 160 men that invaded Moncada military camp in Santiago de Cuba, the attempt was unsuccessful with most of the men killed in the process while Castro was arrested and charged, where he was sentenced for fifteen years imprisonment. A man with a strong will and unshakable character was Castro who served only two years in jail and was released in an amnesty, after which they left for Mexico where they continued to plan on how to remove Batista from power (Schwartz and Butts, 2005). Foreseeing the benefits that are derived from an activity is a motivation to its pursuance; this is in accordance to Murray’s theory. Castro was an example that commitment to a certain task is a factor of the benefits that are associated with the achievement. Castro and his allies plotted to overthrow Batista. Castro and allies were captured while some of them were killed. This agrees with the Murray’s theory that shows that people are constantly in pursuit of responsibility. The energy and solidarity of the members of the members of the team led by Castro saw them re embark on a mission to capture power (Coltman, 2005). His persistence and commitment facilitated the strength of the movement. Ultimately, he overcame forcing Batista to exile on January 1, 1959. Since the guerillas were under his command, he indisputably became the prime minister and the commander in chief of the armed forces in Cuba. Most of the workers and city dwellers applauded the rise to power by Castro. The power minded Castro began strengthening the army to assure his power. His assertiveness ensured that he established reforms that were majorly focused on his communism ideology that he adopted immediately after assuming power. Efficiency and strictness characterized the elevated Cuba leader. His policies were very radical facilitating his adoption of a dictatorial form of leadership just like his predecessors (Rotella, Abbott, and Gold, 2001). Castro demonstrated his carelessness, disorganization, and impulsiveness in the leadership of Cuba. Uniting with other like-minded partners was a strategy that Castro used to get to maintain him in power. Castro developed working relationships with the Soviet Union and resented anything from the United States including use of the dollar in Cuba. He stood his ground and remained constantly entrenched in a belief system that shaped the entire nation. Castro hit the world news when he allowed the Soviet Union to mount their ballistic weapons in an attempt to attack the United States, an aspect that almost prompted the first nuclear war, however, the Soviet Union accepted to withdraw its weapons hence easing the tension. Castro stamped his authority by establishing a one party government that could not be challenged by any individual whatsoever. The communism ideology propagated by Castro ensured that the people’s concerns were safeguarded; he strongly condemned bureaucracy that had resulted into the failure of the sugar industries (Ramonet, 2007). Castro related very well with the three motives as developed by Murray, his quest for power and achievement made the man tick. His enactment of constitutional amendments can be analyzed as a plot to remain in power and still uphold influence. Castro spearheaded a change in constitution in 1976 that saw him become the president of the republic of Cuba. He was to retain the positions of the Secretary General of the Communists party of Cuba and the commander in Chief of the armed forces. Castro attempted to spread his ideology to other parts of South America and Africa where his army took part in various wars in collaboration with the Soviet Union forces. He was presented by a very challenging task when the Soviet Union failed since his country was highly reliant on the union for food supplies (Coltman, 2005). To crown his achievements, Castro left power peacefully. According to Murray, achievement is one of the major factors that influences and motivates individuals to perform; Castro was a victim of this. An analysis of Fidel Castro shows that his life has been in harmony with the provisions of Murray’s big three motives, the self-actualization theory has also taken preeminence in his life. In addition, the big five theory as demonstrated by Lewis Goldberg has influenced the life of Castro in a great way. His quest for power has been demonstrated in his early years, he captured and maintained it and when his time came to give it, he faithfully did. His achievement is demonstrated through his life history. The communist leader has been influential in the world for his ideologies and firm and radical stand. His personality and background has helped shaped his ideology. References Coltman, L. ( 2005). The Real Fidel Castro. Yale University Press. Crowder, S. (2003). Fidel castro: From guerilla to world statesman. School Library Journal, 49(9), 236. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/211742621?accountid=45049 Ramonet, I. (2007). Fidel Castro, My life. Simon & Schuster Export. Rotella, M., Abbott, C., & Gold, S. F. (2001). Journey to the heart of Cuba: Life as Fidel Castro. Publishers Weekly, 248(25), 73. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/197059000?accountid=45049 Schwartz, J. R and Butts, E. B (August 1, 2005), Fidel Castro, Lerner Publications. Read More