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Summary
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Road to Character, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Self-Renunciation vs. Self-Love
Inner Life, External Life, and Character
Vice, Virtue, and Self-Confrontation
Vocation and Sacrifice
Love, Transformation, and Service
Happiness vs. Moral Joy
Summary
Analysis
David Brooks distinguishes between two types of virtues: “resume virtues” and “eulogy virtues.” Resume virtues help a person succeed in their career and in the external world. Eulogy virtues are aspects of a person’s inner character, such as kindness and honesty—the traits about a person that are likely to get referenced in a eulogy at their funeral. To depict the difference between these types of virtues, Brooks adopts a concept from Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik: every person has two natures, Adam I and Adam II. Adam I is career-oriented and has the resume virtues, while Adam II is internally moral and embodies the eulogy virtues. Adam I wants to “conquer the world,” while Adam II wants to “serve the world.”
According to Brooks, humans are in a state of conflict between two kinds of desires, and also between their external and internal natures. These conflicts set people up to need balance and resolution. Throughout the book, Brooks addresses the different conflicts and the things that resolve them. The conflicts throughout the book are between a person and their own self: Adam I and Adam II, as two opposing sides of human nature, fight for control of the person.
Themes
Brooks demonstrates that the two Adams have different ways of reasoning. Adam I reasons economically, maximizing their strengths in order to succeed. Adam II, however, reasons morally. He surrenders himself to something outside himself to gain inner strength. Adam I’s success leads to excessive pride. Adam II’s efforts lead to humility. Adam I champions their strengths while Adam II conquers their weaknesses.
In describing the logic of the two sides to human nature, Brooks sheds light on why Adam II is often neglected. Adam I’s logic is straightforward and rational: in maximizing one’s strengths, a person receives external gain. Adam II’s logic, by contrast, is counterintuitive: when a person makes a sacrifice, they receive something greater in return.
Themes
Brooks claims that current society only nurtures Adam I. Today’s society encourages self-advertisement and the pursuit of success, and this turns people into “shrewd animal[s].” Adam I’s focus on career leaves people with a sense of meaninglessness, and without the inner strength to survive hardships or be dependable. Brooks claims that when one doesn’t build inner character and nurture their Adam II, their external success will eventually crumble as well.
Brooks reveals that Adam II is the core of what makes a person worthy of success. A person who only nurtures Adam I becomes no better than an animal, suggesting that they make decisions based on their own instincts and needs. In contrast, an Adam II person becomes well-rounded, unifying their inner and outer lives with purpose.
Themes
Brooks states that his book will be about Adam II and people who have built strong inner character. He explains that he himself was drawn to a life of inflating himself and his strengths for the sake of success. As a result, he felt a sense of “moral mediocrity.” When one doesn’t rigorously nurture their Adam II side, they forgive themselves for all their self-interested success as long as they aren’t directly hurting anyone. But the person who does this ignores their Adam II side, and a gap opens between their “actual self” and their “desired self.”
Brooks explains that, deep down, everyone knows they are really Adam II, because being moral is an innate part of a human being’s nature. Even Brooks felt morally inadequate when he followed the societal norms that promoted Adam I. People following these norms don’t feel like themselves because they are trying to build their lives from the outside, leaving their inside empty.
Themes
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Brooks outlines the direction of his book. First, he will describe the way culture used to be—promoting humility and the confrontation of one’s limitations—before it shifted to self-interest. Next, he will outline the process of character-building by exploring the life journeys of a number of people, because he believes that example is the best teacher and that “the heart cannot be taught in the classroom.” He will focus these essays on people we remember not because of their accomplishments, but because of who they were. Finally, he’ll sum up his themes.
Brooks explains that he will use biographies to reintroduce character-building to his audience. In doing this, he proves one of his own points, which is that people who acknowledge their own flaws and who wish to confront them and build character always look to things outside them to help themselves. This is because they want to improve their flawed selves by holding themselves to external, objective moral standards.
Themes
Brooks then describes the people who seem to possess character. They have inner balance and are strong in the face of hardship, they make others feel good, and they perform acts of self-sacrifice and never promote themselves. These people have gone through struggle to become mature. They attack “life’s essential problem,” which is that a line between good and evil runs through the center of the human heart. The people who’ve confronted this problem sacrifice success to deepen the soul. In them, Adam I “bows down” to Adam II.
People who have character are sometimes hard to notice because they are reserved, self-effacing, and make others feel good about themselves. These people behave this way because they are aware that the essential truth of life is that they are not perfect, but rather a mix of good and evil. Brooks suggests that people who know this are remarkable in an understated way.
Themes
