The Road to Character Characters

David Brooks is the author of The Road to Character. In this work, he critiques the moral inarticulateness of modern-day society. He wrote this book in part to restore his own inner life and character… read analysis of David Brooks

Frances Perkins was a workers’ rights activist in the first half of the 20th century and a member of the Roosevelt administration. Brooks regards her as an example of the power of vocation in a… read analysis of Frances Perkins

Franklin Roosevelt was the president in the stories of Frances Perkins, George Marshall, and Philip Randolph and either enabled or thwarted the changes that they respectively tried to make. When Frances Perkins first… read analysis of Franklin Roosevelt

David Brooks introduces Viktor Frankl halfway through Frances Perkins’s story to provide an example of someone who didn’t ask things of life, but rather responded to what life was asking of him. Viktor Frankl… read analysis of Viktor Frankl

Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower was the son of Ida Stover Eisenhower and became the 34th president of the United States. Eisenhower was a man of contradictions: for example, he was not personally religious but believed that… read analysis of Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower

Dorothy Day was a Catholic convert who spent her life caring for the poor and suffering. When she was a child, she lived through the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and believed it was evidence… read analysis of Dorothy Day

George Marshall held countless positions in the U.S. Army and was known for his impressive character and leadership. He was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania in 1880. Marshall was embarrassed when his father’s coal business collapsed… read analysis of George Marshall

Philip Randolph was a prominent Black civil rights leader in the early 1900s. Randolph grew up in the midst of debasing racism but transcended it through his moral conduct and dignity. He worked to organize… read analysis of Philip Randolph

Bayard Rustin was an influential civil rights activist who worked alongside Philip Randolph. He grew up in West Chester, Pennsylvania, but eventually moved to New York where people would be more accepting of his… read analysis of Bayard Rustin

Martin Luther King, Jr. was the most prominent advocate and speaker on behalf of Black civil rights in the 1950s and ‘60s. He appeared alongside Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin in their non-violent racial injustice… read analysis of Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mary Anne Evans lived during the Victorian era in England and published famous novels, such as Middlemarch, under the pseudonym of George Eliot. When she was a child, she was very self-centered. She had intense… read analysis of Mary Anne Evans/George Eliot

George Lewes was the devoted husband of Mary Anne Evans (George Eliot). He was a freelance journalist who believed, along with Eliot, that morality could take the place of a religion that some were beginning… read analysis of George Lewes

Augustine was born near the end of the Roman Empire and is known for his long and torturous road to Christianity. His mother, Monica, ardently wanted him to be a Christian, but in his early… read analysis of Augustine

Monica was the mother to Augustine. She was possessively involved in his life, intervening in his decisions about whom to marry and where to live. She spent much of her life in despair that her… read analysis of Monica

Samuel Johnson was an English freelance writer in the early 1700s who wrote essays, articles, speeches, and compiled a dictionary. He suffered from tuberculosis as a child. The illness and the poorly conducted treatments he… read analysis of Samuel Johnson

Michel de Montaigne was a famous French essayist whose honest self-examination can be compared to that of Samuel Johnson. Unlike Johnson, Montaigne had a wealthy, comfortable upbringing. At first, he believed he wanted to pursue… read analysis of Michel de Montaigne

Johnny Unitas was a quarterback who grew up in a culture of self-effacement half a generation before another famous quarterback, Joe Namath. David Brooks contrasts Unitas with Namath to show the glaring difference between an… read analysis of Johnny Unitas

Joe Namath was a quarterback who grew up half a generation after Johnny Unitas in a culture of self-involvement, or moral romanticism. He was famous not only for his skill as a quarterback but also… read analysis of Joe Namath