Adam’s self has strengths in ______ but deficiencies in ______.
Like Adam, I tend to favor ____ while having less competence in _____
Goods make you believe life is worth living
From studying Adam’s life, I have learned that I should be wary of a lack of personal
investment in the world and be sure to develop connections with the people in my world in order
to develop a deeper relation to my world and extend my ability to experience the internal goods
of relationships. Adam has no ability to invest in others through empathy or compassion. He
believes he has created his own world and the rest of the people around him are therefore not like
him and cannot be related to. Adam has no friends. Adam has almost no meaningful experiences
with his children, believing that solely producing money is the best he can do to provide for
them.
It is fitting that the woman he finds as perfect, Cynthia, has an insatiable desire to for
external goods (money, status). When Cynthia doesn’t have her money or status (envious of
Adams body, sad when she has kids nearer to the beginning), she becomes very displeased. She
only can imagine a happy world if that world includes her being attractive
Adam’s way of thinking limits the amount of experiences he can enjoy. When he has
money, he only wants more money. He knows no other way to be pleased with himself. Through
Adam’s relentless pursuit of personal betterment coupled with an ignorance of anything outside
his circle of goods he can experience he becomes an extremely focused self, only able to be
pleased by