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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Adam I Symbol Timeline in The Road to Character
