34 pages • 1 hour read
The Road to Character
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Chapter 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “The Shift”
After contrasting the humility of Command Performance, a World War II (WWII) victory, celebrity radio show that was broadcast on D-Day, with the bombastic victory laps of a football quarterback on television, Brooks goes on to give several real-life examples of humility in the face of adversity. He calls this the culture of “Little Me,” whereas the quarterback exemplifies what he calls our present culture of “Big Me,” marked by self-centeredness and constant self-promotion. While he does not necessarily feel that we have lost our way, or even become essentially bad, he believes that we have forgotten how deeply humility benefits not just ourselves, but others.
Chapter 1 Analysis
Humility—“the awareness that there’s a lot you don’t know and that a lot of what you think you know is distorted or wrong” (8-9)—is the thematic guiding star of this chapter. Examples of humble behavior in the public eye—usually from actors and political figures, as well as from literature and from organizations such as the Girl Scouts of America—from past decades and centuries stand in sharp contrast to modern self-promotion and self-centeredness, underscoring Brooks’ central thesis with stark effectiveness. Adam I’s success is not possible without the firm underpinnings of Adam II’s moral struggle and personal journey toward
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By David Brooks
