54 pages 1 hour read

David Brooks

The Second Mountain

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2019

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.

Part 2, Chapters 9-13

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “Vocation”

Chapter 9 Summary: “What Vocation Looks Like”

Chapter 9, the first chapter of Part 2, is an analysis of what a vocation looks like in practice. Brooks opens with a discussion of George Orwell, the acclaimed British author, and discusses his arrival at his “calling” (89). Brooks believes everyone who is called to and subsequently finds their vocation realizes it is not synonymous with finding a career. Brooks uses 20th-century psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s ideas to outline the relationship between a calling and a vocation. For Jung, there is an inner self that calls a person to his vocation (90). Brooks also makes use of Viktor Frankl and William Wordsworth to flesh out his description of the phenomenon of a calling, the central concept of the chapter. Frankl, a Holocaust survivor and psychologist (known for the development of logotherapy and his bestseller Man’s Search for Meaning), describes responding to the summons of his life instead of dictating to life what he wants of it. Wordsworth recounts an epiphany during which it was made clear to him that he ought to be a poet. Brooks notes that though the call to a vocation is a very spiritual moment (and

Related Titles

By David Brooks

Plot Summary

logo

Bobos in Paradise

David Brooks

Bobos in Paradise

David Brooks

Study Guide

logo

How to Know a Person

David Brooks

How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen

David Brooks

Study Guide

logo

People Like Us

David Brooks

People Like Us

David Brooks

Study Guide

logo

The Moral Bucket List

David Brooks

The Moral Bucket List

David Brooks

Study Guide

logo

The Road to Character

David Brooks

The Road to Character

David Brooks

Plot Summary

logo

The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources Of Love, Character, And Achievement

David Brooks

The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources Of Love, Character, And Achievement

David Brooks