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In The Road to Character, “Adam I” represents the external, success-driven side of human nature. Brooks initially connects Adam I with what he calls “the resume virtues”—the skills a person would put on their resume to help them get a job, such as “confidence” or “leadership.” Brooks argues that nurturing the Adam I side of one’s nature is not enough to completely fulfill them. When one only focuses on their Adam I, they become “a shrewd animal,” someone who approaches life like it is a competition for success. Furthermore, since Adam I focuses only on maximizing their own abilities, they view other people in terms of their abilities rather than their worth.
Brooks also uses “Adam I” to show the major shift that occurred in society from self-renunciation to moral romanticism and self-love. Because Adam I aims for superiority in the external world, they focus only on nurturing their strengths. Therefore, Adam I believes that human beings are born with natural talents that they should maximize. This contrasts against the Adam II side of human nature—the side that believes that the confrontation of one’s weaknesses leads to a deep inner life.
Ultimately, Adam I is meant to “bow down” before Adam II. Therefore, Adam I also represents the part of human nature that Brooks suggests a person be willing to surrender so they can attain greater character. Adam I is all about external gain—getting a good job, being successful—and Brooks’s claim is that a person should ultimately value such material things much less than higher goods like internal growth.
Adam I Quotes in The Road to Character
The The Road to Character quotes below all refer to the symbol of Adam I. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Introduction: Adam II
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To nurture your Adam I career, it makes sense to cultivate your strengths. To nurture your Adam II moral core, it is necessary to confront your weaknesses.
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Without a rigorous focus on the Adam II side of our nature, it is easy to slip into a self-satisfied moral mediocrity […] A humiliating gap opens up between your actual self and your desired self.
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Chapter 1: The Shift
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Only Adam II can experience deep satisfaction. Adam I aims for happiness, but Adam II knows that happiness is insufficient. The ultimate joys are moral joys.
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Chapter 10: The Big Me
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Eventually [humble people] achieve moments of catharsis when outer ambition comes into balance with inner aspiration, when there is a unity of effort between Adam I and Adam II, when there is that ultimate tranquility and that feeling of flow—when moral nature and external skills are united in one defining effort.
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Get the entire The Road to Character LitChart as a printable PDF.
Adam I Symbol Timeline in The Road to Character
The timeline below shows where the symbol Adam I appears in The Road to Character. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Introduction: Adam II
...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...
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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...
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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...
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Brooks states that his book will be about Adam I I and people who have built strong inner character. He explains that he himself was...
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...heart. The people who’ve confronted this problem sacrifice success to deepen the soul. In them, Adam I “bows down” to Adam II.
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Chapter 1: The Shift
...that character is not innate, but that it is built through hard work. One’s success—one’s Adam I —depends on one’s Adam II.
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...is whether they are willing to participate good-naturedly in “the moral struggle” against themselves. While Adam I only achieves success by conquering others, Adam II builds character by conquering the self.
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...and modern society has become superficial. It is a fallacy to claim that nurturing one’s Adam I side is profoundly satisfying because Adam I is constantly desiring more. On the other hand,...
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Chapter 7: Love
Secondly, love endows a person with a poetic temperament. Without love, a person lives like Adam I with a utilitarian logic. With love, however, a person experiences feelings they can’t explain. A...
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Chapter 8: Ordered Love
Augustine’s elevation was a renunciation of the idea of self-cultivation. He realized that Adam I ’s philosophy—that a hard-working person can create their own life—is ineffective; one doesn’t achieve inner...
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Chapter 10: The Big Me
...from positivity to self-branding and finally overboard to a competitive meritocracy. The meritocracy focuses on Adam I but neglects Adam II, which leaves people imbalanced, without fulfillment of the soul. The meritocracy...
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Adam I I’s moral dictionary has shrunk, leaving people at a loss for how to articulate moral...
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...Therefore, part of the answer is to stand against the society that promotes only the Adam I side of human nature.
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...of the moment. In the last several decades, the moral ecology has been built around Adam I only, leading to a narcissistic society. To restore balance between our Adam I and Adam...
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