Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

The Free Market

Adam Smith never really treats the free market as a character in the sense that it has a mind of its own or a goal it wants to achieve. But he does think that the free market is a force of good that's been kept down by the bad forces of regulation and government interference. If you're looking for a protagonist who's connected to this idea of the free market, look to the farmers whom we talked about in the "Character Analysis" section of this module.

These farmers yearn for a free market so that they can sell their crops wherever they can get the best price. And the same goes for anyone who's in a similar situation. But unfortunately, there are other people out there who want to keep the market strictly regulated.

For starters, there are people who benefit from having the market regulated because the regulation protects their control over certain areas of the economy. But, Smith insists, everyone would be better off (like the farmers) if the government just got out of the way and let the market do its thing. The whole world would be better, but unfortunately human pride and corruption keeps this progress from happening.