Mr. Covey's identity being the cause and effect

Mr. Covey let his identity, his job as a slave-breaker, become who he was. When a person lets their job dictate who they are as a person it can have horrible effects on their personal lives and the lives of the people around them. Mr. Covey may not have been an angry person in nature, but his job as a brutal slave-breaker, turned him into an infuriated, mean man. Thus causing him to believe that without his job title he would be nothing. Mr. Covey seems to honestly believe that without his job he would be degraded to the level of a slave and be shunned by the farming community. He runs his plantation so strickly because if he did not run it this way he would not be the man he is known for being. He even goes so far as to not send Fredrick to a public whipping for fear of people believing he can no longer break slaves like he used to. In doing this Mr. Covey loses who he claimed to be a religious man and becomes a tyrant.