Can't Get Enough Bondage

Hegel's remarks concerning how one shapes the negation of their material being, which is done for the sake of edifying self-consciousness through work, makes sense. By negating any significance attached to their material being, one recognizes their impermanent essence in relation to existence at-large, whereby they learn to not only wholeheartedly accept death, but to maintain their negation by means of shaping, or manipulating (viz., working on) objects of their environs in order to become intimately integrated with the material world. This makes sense to the extent that a lack of work, or idle and leisurely activity, could easily lead to the dissolution of one's transcendent state of mind on par with superior self-consciousness, chiefly as an effect of too much surplus time to ponder excessively over the veracity of what they experienced, in turn becoming susceptible to doubt and pathological abstraction of their new paradigm, without having tangible objects of reality to shape and work on in order to realize beyond doubt that they were not dreaming or hallucinating what they experienced, and that their state of transcendence legitimately possesses the potential for maximal application in the material world.
On account of asserting himself as master over objects, rather than vice-versa, the bondsman trumps the fear of death that is primarily rooted in the notion of varying degrees of powerlessness with regards to other people, and all objects of the material world in general, specifically due to the seemingly overarching randomness and chaos that governs the majority, if not all, of the movements and interactions among people and objects of the world. In inverted fashion, the negation of externals by means of working on them reinforces the negation of the self's material being vis-a-vis the nature of existence in its infinite capacity. In consequence, based on personal analysis, such negation enables one to focus on optimizing their mind, or self-consciousness, in order to make existence as positive and fulfilling as possible, which could  arguably not be done by acquiescing to a false superiority of externals over the individual, as well as relying on the opinions and judgments of other people for the sake of validation. Instead, submitting to the Lord, namely the power of Death in Hegel's terms, allows one to fully appreciate their existence for the phenomenon that it is, and not allow other people and the general array of externals govern their gestalt perception and attitude towards life, as well as the content of the rich inner worlds they create by means of developing progressively higher states of advanced consciousness and, arguably, the evolution of imagination and internal peace that follows.
Such qualities naturally follow from what could very well be the most significant feature of such elevated self-consciousness, that being the quality of not just will power, but free will as well. With this capacity, one is able to make better choices regarding not just how to manipulate and navigate the external world, but how they choose to perceive and react to any given occurrence based primarily on their idiosyncratic perception.
Moving on, Hegel's claim that "Without the formative attitude, fear remains inward and mute, and consciousness does not become explicitly for itself," connected to the bondsman insofar as it initiates propulsion into a state of pure negativity, emphasizes that the Lord maintains a superficial self-centered attitude, wherefore his overseer-like mode of formative activity is not capable of engendering a maximization of consciousness associated with the apprehension of essential being that is necessary for growing into one who is being-for-oneself, rather than one who is merely being-in-oneself, as the Lord is doomed to experience.
Essentially, the Lord channels his fears by repressing them in the formative activity of bounding others in the mode of forced labor, thereby attaining a false sense of superiority on account of his initial layer of fear with regards to shedding his compulsion to dominate, when instead he ought to seek out intensive work, either physical or mental (or both) in order to learn to master his fears and express such mastery through work or creation of some sort. In contrast, the transformation of such fears into a delusive state of godlike dominance over others leads to a severely repressed existence that relies entirely on superficial graces, titles, and material indulgence in order to hide from the ugly truth about himself, or having to truly work at something that benefits the progress of humankind, and in turn his own self-consciousness.  
Furthermore, having a mind of one's own, according to Hegel, is purely regarded as an act of self-will, rather than a new kind of mind that is at one with the objective substance of reality beyond ego, whereby such an individual solely based on self-will has not been faced with terrible fear or horror at some point in their lives. For such an instance comprises the cornerstone of getting a taste of the ultimate, "objective" reality that must be experienced in order for one to attain a supreme state of actualized self-consciousness in the sense associated with that of the bondsman.

Lordship and Youth

Hegel's chapter on Lordship and Bondage, as indicated in class today, has informed many feminist and race theorist within the past century. While reading this section I couldn't help but think of Ralph Ellison's work in Invisible Man, a novel about life for African Americans in the twentieth century and James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time. Both works reference the notion of white youth, that is to say, the idea that white Americans are unable to fully take up the mantle of democracy due to a perspective so rife with privilege that their grasp on reality is compromised. In paragraph 196 Hegel asserts, "the bondsman realizes that it is precisely in his work wherein he seemed to have only an alienated existence that he acquires a mind of his own." This idea applies directly to the unique issues of race in the United States and aligns with the positions taken by both Ellison and Baldwin when they write about the distinct importance of Black Americans on the formation of this country, an importance often overlooked.  Both authors suggest that the structure of democracy is so complicated that it requires a population capable of undertaking the thankless task of upholding its principles and values. This illuminating concept can be traced back to W.E.B DuBois' work and, as a society, we have Hegel to thank for orienting this discussion in the right direction.

Lordship and Bondage

In the Phenomenology, Hegel introduces the "lord/bondsman" struggle, a conflict between two independent minds that results in the subservience of one and establishing rule for the other. This social philosophy has been recycled by contemporary philosophers and socialist leaders to support their unique proletariate struggle, but it appears that Hegel was not offering a solution to "classism", as it were. Hegel is giving an example of how self-recognition is only possible through the reflection of oneself in another, therefore self-recognition is dependent on mutual recognition.

In our lord/bondsman example, we have two minds fighting for power over the other, and it is necessary that one mind must submit to the other. When this happens, both minds are experiencing freedom; the lord has the freedom to command the bondsman, and the bondsman has the freedom to engage in meaningful work. In this example, the lord has demonstrated a "deficiency". She was willing to die or kill for this power over her bondsman, which means she was unable to see her reflection in the bondsman. Her power is completely dependent on her bondsman, whereas the bondsman was able to recognize himself in his lord, achieving self-recognition.