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
Brooks remembers a time when his local NPR station rebroadcasted an episode from a show called Command Performance for World War II troops. The episode they replayed was first aired the day after V-Day, when the war in Europe ended with the U.S. and the Allies as the victors. Brooks was struck by the episode’s humble and gracious tone. Despite the fact that the episode was addressing one of the most important and valiant military victories in history, no one was boasting about it. Instinctively, the program hosts all resisted claiming moral superiority.
In order to make the point that people used to be humbler, Brooks described the humility American spokespeople showed after one of the greatest triumphs in the country’s history. At this time (the mid-1940s), some belief or tradition in society made people instinctively more grateful and humble whenever they accomplished something.
Themes
In contrast, Brooks remembers the football game he watched right after listening to the V-Day episode. One of the players, after making a good play, pranced around the field congratulating himself. The excessive self-love of the football player compared to the humility of the World War II heroes made Brooks recognize the major shift that has taken place from self-effacement to self-promotion in society.
Brooks highlights how surprising the old habit of humility is by comparing it to how people react to accomplishments in the present day. Now, people make huge displays of self-celebration over the most trivial successes. Thus, Brooks concludes that a major cultural shift that must have occurred.
Themes
Brooks says that in the culture before this shift, people were generally more “skeptical of their desires” and more willing to combat their flaws. Overall, society was less promotional. For instance, only one political figure published a memoir during Eisenhower’s time in office, whereas 12 did during Reagan’s term. Also, when George H. W. Bush was running for office, he resisted the modern pressure to use “I” in his speeches because he was raised in a time when self-promotion was disapproved of.
All kinds of trends reveal this shift from humility to self-praise; even the way people refer to themselves and the importance people place on their own lives has changed. Instead of thinking of oneself as part of a collective, people now think of themselves as “I’s.” And instead of focusing on global issues and other people’s suffering, people want to tell their own stories.
Themes
Brooks analyzes data to illustrate the cultural shift from humility to the “Big Me.” Psychologists have noted an increase in narcissism among adolescents. Also, over time, achieving fame has been increasingly ranked as more important than any other ambition. From TV to religion, the message has changed from self-sacrifice to self-love: Disney movies teach self-trust, the Girl Scouts urge girls to put themselves at center stage, and religions insist that God made everyone special.
Brooks finds evidence of the shift everywhere he looks. Even in traditional institutions that usually don’t change along with culture, such as religion, the message has changed from humility to self-love. This shows that the shift has been so pervasive as to affect the institutions that supposedly focus on boosting people’s morality, character, and inner life.
Themes
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Brooks returns to the episode of Command Performance, the humility of which he found “haunting” and beautiful because it made the speakers on the show gracious and comforting. Brooks comments that humility is intellectually remarkable because it leads to wisdom—the dignity of owning one’s ignorance and “the role [one] plays in a larger story.” Lastly, humility is morally impressive: it actively resists vices, such as pride, and works to build character.
Brooks stresses how truly impressive humility is. It is difficult to be humble because it requires accepting one’s limitations. It also requires one to constantly stand guard against their vices. Moreover, even though humility is a process of self-resistance, it results in a graceful, effortless outward demeanor. Therefore, humility has a transforming effect on a person.
Themes
Brooks points out that today, many people use “the journey” as a metaphor for life, viewing themselves climbing “the ladder of success” on a journey through the external world. People tend to view all accomplishments—even ones that are purposeful and make a difference—as external gains.
When people think about progressing through life, they tend to think about gaining more and more things. They measure their progress through how much they’ve gained, calling life a “journey,” rather than focusing on improving their inner character.
Themes
In contrast, humble people use the metaphor of self-confrontation. They view themselves as “deeply divided,” talented and flawed. They know that if they don’t confront their weaknesses, they’ll let down an essential part of themselves. For these people, self-confrontation of their flaws is more important than the ladder of success and is the “central drama of life.” They desire to become strong where they are weak.
When humble people think about progressing through life, they think about the progress they make in their own selves. Therefore, although they also use the “journey” metaphor, the “ladder of success” is an inner ladder, and they ascend it gradually by triumphing over their own flaws.
Themes
Essentially, the problem is people’s tendency to be self-centered, Brooks claims. Brooks quotes a passage from a David Foster Wallace speech which claims that it is impossible not to view oneself as the “center of the universe.” Brooks claims that this self-centeredness leads to vices such as pride and manipulativeness. It leads people to constantly rank themselves superior in comparison to others.
Putting oneself first actually damages a person because it exacerbates their vices. In this way, self-love does not lead to a complete, worthy, and strong self but rather to a sinful, weak self. This addresses Brooks’s claim that character is built by first denying the self the things it wants.
Themes
Brooks explains that people mistakenly put the things they love in the wrong order, putting less valuable objects of love above more valuable objects of love— putting love of money over love of family, for instance. Although everyone likely knows deep down which loves are most important, many people disorder them. Someone who betrays a friend’s secret at a dinner party is foolishly putting their love of popularity above their love of friendship.
Brooks claims that it is a common mistake to put the things we value less above the things we value more. In making this claim, he suggests that everyone knows deep down what is right. Morality is a blueprint in every human being, but because people naturally have weaknesses, they stray from following the moral blueprint.
Themes
Brooks says that the humble, moral realist understands that everyone is made of “crooked timber.” Given that everyone is flawed, character doesn’t emerge from one’s talents or achievements, but out of one’s struggle against their flaws. This is shown in personal stories in which people are jubilant when they overcome a weakness and dejected when they succumb to one.
Since everyone is born flawed, there is no way a person can be good by simply being themselves. They can only be good by confronting the flaws they started out with, molding their character over time into something that is good. Through this idea, Brooks suggests that Adam I’s logic does not work, because Adam I assumes that people are inherently good and deserving of success.
Themes
Brooks mentions a friend who lies awake before bed thinking regretfully of his hard-heartedness with people who needed him that day. After recounting all his “sins,” he plans for how to avoid the same sins the next day. Brooks claims that everyone has this responsibility to become more moral each day. People like his friend understand 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.
According to Brooks, the act of molding one’s character into something good is not a change that can happen overnight. Besides actually accomplishing the change, it is more important to give oneself the goal of being a little bit better every day. In doing so, a person will make small moral improvements that will slowly improve their overall character.
Themes
Brooks notes that, although the words “fight” and “struggle” apply to one’s confrontation with their weaknesses, the building of character is not always war-like in the usual sense. Often, character is built through love and pleasure. Through devotion to a person or cause, one learns to emulate good qualities, serve those they love, and desire better things.
Character-building can happen through loving something good. Alongside biographies that tell of people who achieved character with an inner struggle, Brooks will also tell love stories in which people learned to forget themselves and then find their true selves through love.
Themes
Brooks admits that no one can build character without help. Confronting and defeating one’s vices is too difficult a task to undertake without support, whether from family, friends, exemplars, traditions, or God. Everyone needs advice, inspiration, and encouragement in order to build their character.
Help from outside structures helps a person when they are trying to improve their character. Because people are born with flaws, following the a role model or tradition’s guidelines helps guide them in the right direction.
Themes
Brooks claims that, in the struggle for character, it doesn’t matter where a person works or whether they are upper- or middle-class. All that matters 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.
If one follows Adam I’s logic, their progress will be reflected in their social standing because it depends on how much they’ve gained than materially. But building character will not be reflected in one’s social position: since Adam II’s progress is in the self, it defies all material circumstances and can be undertaken in spite of one’s social position.
Themes
Brooks notes that every exemplar he will discuss in the following biographical essays “had to go down to go up.” In order to see who they really were, they had to lower themselves in humility. They “quiet[ed] the self,” and suddenly they could see things clearly and accept what was around them. Having quieted the self, they found themselves supported in ways they could not imagine beforehand.
Character-building is a never-ending process because it is about achieving strength that a person did not start out with. Therefore, all the exemplars Brooks writes about go through an up-and-down process that ultimately leaves them higher than they started out. They had to shed the nature they were born with (a mixture of good and bad) before they can develop a better character.
Themes
Brooks goes on to say that after humbling oneself, a person finds new joy, new loves, and new callings. They are transformed. Going through the process of humility endows a person with self-respect. Self-respect is not gained by being better than others, but by being better than one’s past self. Self-respect develops through inner victories as opposed to external ones.
Life is still a journey for the person who undertakes character-building. However, their journey involves self-competition in which they constantly improve themselves. This results in self-respect rather than in the public respect that the Adam I person achieves.
Themes
Brooks states his belief that the old formula for character building shouldn’t have been given up. People don’t know how to build character anymore, 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, one’s Adam II side can achieve satisfaction because it knows that moral joys are true joys. Brooks’s goal is to help people relearn the tradition of building character.
Brooks wants society to relearn how to build character because only through this process is a person truly happy. Therefore, his book is ultimately not about preparing people to make a difference in the world or to be a great leader—rather, it is about improving people’s well-being. Brooks suggests that in today’s society, without the knowledge of how to build character, people are unsatisfied.
Themes
