In David Brook’s The Road to Character, Brook discusses the immoral and self-promoting character present in today’s first-world societies. By revealing the internal struggles most people face in improving their characters morally, he highlights the daily daunting decisions of choosing between vices and virtues. Brook assures that the more self-promoting, greedy, vain self of character, Adam 1 as Brook calls it, can be uprooted by the humble, more loving Adam II. Throughout the book, Brook describes individual examples of historical and respectful figures that have all struggled to cure their Adam 1 infesting plague from their character and become as purely Adam II as possible. Using examples such as Dwight Eisenhower and George Eliot, Brooks describes in detail their struggles and then their moral revelations. With each figure, Brook reveals a moral or virtue that allowed their transition to Adam II: self-acceptance, humility, self-defeat, dignity, self-restraint, love, among many others. At first, each figure views each virtue as a challenge but gradually begin to utilize each trait to help build their character. Brook’s use of the characters is not to glorify those with impressive values and Adam II qualities, but instead to show their lifelong internal struggle that should be mirrored by his readers.
The point of this book is that character is a lifelong struggle that requires constant nurturing and the strength to make decisions that don’t threaten to drag one’s character back to Adam I’s devilishly welcoming arms. Frederick Douglass’s famous quote “If there is no struggle, there is no progress” applies strongly to the rough path to become Adam II. Brook thoroughly explains that the struggle to develop an Adam II character becomes even more strenuous as humility and suffering threaten to overcome one’s mental efforts to change. Becoming Adam II is no easy task, as it’s often discouraging and sometimes feels useless. The internal battle can be represented by the following question: Help others gain success or help one’s own self-gain success? The answer is simple as most would choose to help themselves, but by helping others gain success, qualities of humbleness and humility can be achieved. Only the mindset to help others above oneself truly portrays Adam II.
All in all, the attempt to improve one’s character is difficult and strenuous to the point of giving up; however, by achieving the traits of Adam II, one becomes more happy, peaceful, and at rest with oneself. Although most prefer the ambitious, self-gaining lifestyle of Adam I, it only leads to restlessness and a sense of no purpose.
---Hamilton Nguyen---
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ReplyDeleteWhile the virtues that are characteristic of Adam II certainly seem fulfilling and uplifting, and the vices of Adam I appear to be selfish and immoral, I feel like it is far better to strive toward a compromise between the two mindsets. For example, Adam I is self-centered, and although this can be seen as a negative trait, I believe this quality is necessary for someone to be successful since one must be ambitious in order to achieve the goals that they desire. Nevertheless, qualities like humility and self-restraint -- which are emphasized in Adam II -- are important in building character and achieving the satisfaction that comes with helping others. However, if one spends too much of their time looking after others, they are prone to neglecting their own well-being. Clearly, Adam I and Adam II are two extremes on opposites sides of a spectrum in which the individual must find a happy medium.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Max states, having a middle ground between the two could help balance out an individual. Having ambition tends to help one become successful and strive to do their best compared to their companions. However, helping others would be beneficial to the humility/humble part of our character. By helping others we get to see what struggles another person is going through and try to aid them. This can shift our perspectives by being grateful and input the things we get from helping others with their problems by applying it to our lives. Overall, I think trying new experiences and venturing out, can help shape our character/personalities in a good way.
ReplyDeleteWhile it seems the book has several good points about the differences between good and bad character, I kind of feel as though it stresses and appeals to a certain ideal way of life, more or less perfectionism. Although the author makes it easy to understand his message by painting the picture of the two ways of life as the two characters of Adam, it seems as though he may have overgeneralized what it means to have a good character by believing that the sole way to achieve it is to be selfless. While caring for and helping others is very true of good character, I believe the good in someone is not just seen in that quality alone. For example, strength, determination, excellent work ethic, and honesty are all traits that show good character that don't necessarily have to with being selfless.
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