AmericanLiterature.doc

Benjamin FranklinBenjamin Franklin (1706-1790), American printer, author, diplomat, philosopher, inventor, and scientist. Franklin was one of the most respected and versatile figures in colonial America. An exceptionally well-rounded man, he worked in many fields and succeeded in all of them. He wrote a classic autobiography, made lasting contributions to scientific theory, and devised many practical inventions. His many contributions to the cause of the American Revolution (1775-1783) and the newly formed federal government that followed rank him among the countrys greatest statesmen. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He is often thought of as the revolutionary figure who led protests against the Stamp Act, helped draft the Declaration of Independence, coordinated the peace treaty ending the American Revolution, and co-wrote and signed the U.S. Constitution. It is ironic, however, that Franklin is remembered more as the civic figure-the man on the $100 bill-than as the man who invented the stove or the man who formulated his own theories about lightning and electricity. The irony stems from the fact that Franklin often thought of himself as more of a scientist than a political thinker. This self-identification comes through in the Autobiography, which does not discuss the Revolution in any capacity and hardly even refers to events after 1757. Indeed, in the Autobiography, we get a full picture of Franklin as the Renaissance scholar, fascinated by all types of learning and interested in doing whatever he could to make life a little bit better for mankind, based on the notion that the way to please God was by doing good to other men. This interest manifested itself in public service and scientific progress.The AutobiographyThere are a number of firsts associated with the Autobiography. It is considered the first popular self-help book ever published. It was the first and only work written in American before the 19th century that has retained bestseller popularity since its release. It was the first major secular American autobiography. It is also the first real account of the American Dream in action as told from a man who experienced it firsthand.Nevertheless, despite its groundbreaking accomplishments, the Autobiography has been attacked by numerous critics throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The most notable of these attacks was delivered by D.H. Lawrence in 1923, who accused Franklin of being lost in his own quirky optimism; Lawrence argues that Franklin should have concerned himself with the darker aspects of humanity. Lawrence even proposed an alternate list of the 13 virtues as a means of both parodying and criticizing Franklin. The German sociologist Max Weber also condemned Franklins work on sociological grounds as being blindly capitalistic. In modern times, many critics have found fault with Franklins arrogance versus his commitment to humility. Nevertheless, the Autobiography remains an important look into the history and sociology of 18th century America. Franklin in many ways embodies the Enlightenment spirit, and may even be thought of as the first prototypical American.Born 1706 in Boston, Benjamin Franklin was the 15th of his fathers 17 children. He went to school as a child with the intent of becoming a minister, as his father, Josiah, intended. However, that idea was dropped after Franklin showed a keen interest in reading and writing. He was apprenticed to his brother, James at a young age, but after fighting with his brother he quit the job and moved to Philadelphia, where he worked for a man named Samuel Keimer. After befriending some prominent political figures, including the royal Governor, Franklin left for England, where he spent 18 months working for a printer with his friend James Ralph, with whom he later became estranged. Shortly after returning to America in 1726, with a number of his acquaintances, Franklin formed a debating club called the Junto that met weekly for debate, conversation, and companionship. The Junto attracted some of Philadelphias best minds, and it lent its support to many of Franklins proposals to improve the city. Members of the Junto pooled their books to create a shared collection, which formed the basis for the first subscription library in America. Founded in 1731, it was chartered in 1742 as the Library Company of Philadelphia. Library subscriptions provided funds to buy books that then could circulate among subscribers. Through the Junto, Franklin also promoted his ideas for creating a fire department and a police forcethe first in the colonies. Two years later, he took over The Pennsylvania Gazette from Keimer and turned it into a successful publication with tools from London. In 1730, Franklin wed his old sweetheart, Deborah Read, with whom he had two children. The first, William Franklin, was born approximately one year later; he is the man to whom the Autobiography is addressed in Part One.Throughout the 1730s, Franklin held some minor positions doing printing work for the government. In that time, he began Poor Richards Almanac and became postmaster of Philadelphia. Towards the end of the decade, he invented the Franklin stove. In the 1740s, Franklin worked on several projects, including the fire brigade, the police force, the University of Pennsylvania, the street sweeping service and some other smaller public works projects. He retired from the printing business in 1748 and began to conduct scientific experiments in lightning. In 1753, he was awarded honorary degrees from Harvard and Yale, and he became Postmaster General of America. Undoubtedly, the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is riddled with faults. It is very muddled, particularly towards the end. It was not written in a continuous stretch, but rather pasted together out of separate fragments that were written years apart from one another; often, the author could not remember what he had even written in the previous sections. The work often takes an arrogant, condescending tone, yet it praises the virtue of humility. And perhaps most egregious of all, the part of Bens life with the most historical significance-the American Revolution-is entirely omitted from the work. There is no real mention of events after 1760, 15 years before the outbreak of war. At that year the Autobiography simply stops.A natural question to ask, then, is, Why are we still reading this tangled, sometimes difficult and frequently esoteric work over 200 years after it was written? There are several reasons, one of which is because it establishes in literary form the first example of the fulfillment of the American Dream. Franklin demonstrates the possibilities of life in the New World through his own rise from the lower middle class as a youth to one of the most admired men in the world as an adult. Furthermore, he asserts that he achieved his success through a solid work ethic. He proved that even undistinguished persons in Boston can, through industry, become great figures of importance in America. When we think of the American Dream today-the ability to rise from rags to riches through hard work-we are usually thinking of the model set forth by Franklin in this autobiography.A second reason why the Autobiography remains a classic is for historical reasons. The work was one of the premier autobiographies in the English language. While they abound today in Barnes and Nobles all over the world, the autobiography as a literary form had not emerged at the time Franklin lived, at least not in non-religious format. His autobiography defined a secular literary tradition; he established the autobiography as a work that is meant to not only tell about a persons own life but also to educate the reader in ways to better live life. This format has been modified throughout American history, but it is safe to say that such classics as Frederick Douglass Narrative and Henry Adams The Education of Henry Adams owe much of their style and format to the tradition established by Franklin. In Part Two of the Autobiography, he creates a list of 13 virtues that are, in order: Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanliness, Tranquility, Chastity, and Humility.Also, the Autobiography tells us today what life was like in 18th century America. Naturally, the story is told from the perspective of only one person, but in an age when literacy was low and writing not widespread, any surviving documents are of value to historians who wish to learn how people lived from day to day. Specifics of life in colonial America abound in the book, and this is invaluable information to anyone wishing to learn more about that time period. Of course, one must always keep in mind that life for Franklin was not like life for everyone else; he represents only one person out of many thousands.Franklins Autobiography is also a reflection of 18th century idealism. Often called the Age of Reason, the 18th century was the age of men such as John Locke and Isaac Newton. Intellectualism flourished along with scientific inventions and advances in political thought. Many people held to the optimistic belief that man could be perfected through scientific and political progress. Franklin ascribes to these beliefs partially, and Part Two of the Autobiography shows him trying to live them out.Perhaps the Autobiography has most endured because, despite its muddled nature, it is the preeminent work that mythologizes a hero of the American Revolution. Franklin is often introduced to elementary school children as a Renaissance man, someone who seemed to master all fields of knowledge-he was, among other things, scientist, inventor, statesman and writer. The Autobiography is the only enduring token that enshrines all the facets of his diverse nature; it presents Americans today with a great hero from the past who helped establish the tradition of the American Dream. Numerous critics have often called Franklin the first American; his autobiography provides a good example of why.Just as Benjamin Franklin himself was a man of many interests, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin has many facets. It shows how an ambitious individual can move up in the world by being willing to work hard, by having a decent amount of good luck, and by seizing opportunities. Among other things, his autobiography is a study in entrepreneurism and individual pluck. Franklins economic climb came the hard way, as he worked first as an apprentice to his brother James, who published a newspaper, and eventually became the printer for the state of Pennsylvania and owned his own business. When Franklin was appointed to official government offices, such as postmaster, he also came to know people who were important politically, and some of these early contacts are described in the work. Yet what Franklin seems most proud of and what he spends the most time recounting are the many civic improvements that he had a hand infrom the formation of the first American subscription library to the first fire department, from a plan for improving city cleanliness by paving the streets and keeping the pavement swept to a design for a more efficient stove. Another area that he only begins to describe is his work as a diplomat. Unfortunately, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin ends before it reaches the period of Franklins international recognition.When Franklin began his autobiography, he wrote in the form of memoirs and referred to the work in that manner. The term perhaps more accurately explains the form of the work than the title by which it is most known, as the word “memoirs” suggests the fragmented quality of the book. Franklin lived some thirty years after the events recorded in his autobiography, years of accomplishment and considerable diplomatic influence.Most of the autobiography is in narrative form, but Franklin includes letters from others and a sample chart from his book on self-improvement. He also frequently digresses to moralize on the events and characters that he describes and to offer his opinions on a wide range of topics. The narrative tone of the book is clearly that of an older man looking back upon the accomplishments and mistakes of his youth. An element of self-reflection pervades The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, especially in the part that is written to his son. Nevertheless, the tone is one of perfect self-awareness and personal satisfaction. In the opening paragraph, Franklin notes that he was born in “poverty and obscurity” and reached in his adulthood “a state of affluence and some degree of reputation in the world.” His motive is not to revel in his accomplishments, however, but to offer a method by which his son will be able to advance as Franklin has. Indeed, even modern readers can appreciate the rags-to-riches model that Franklin displays in his autobiography and learn much about the value of studying, working hard, creating a good image, and taking responsibility for oneself.In keeping with the Puritan ancestry that he details at the beginning of his autobiography, Franklin is at ease with introspection. Often, however, this introspection serves not so much to enlighten Franklin about himself as to provide an object lesson for the reader. While he confesses to having committed a number of errata during his life, mistakes that he wishes he could correct, more often he shows how he succeeded and reached his present state. This goal seems to be more apparent in part 1 of the work than in part 2.More than ten years after he stopped writing the memoirs in 1771, he received letters from Abel James and Benjamin Vaughan urging him to complete the record of his life. Among the reasons for continuing the account, Vaughan notes that Franklins life provides “a table of the internal circumstances” of the young country; thus, a historical, public, and collective theme is introduced. Franklin acknowledges his change in audience at the end of part 1 when he notes that some of the information contained in the opening pages of his autobiography is of a private nature and of interest only to family, whereas the next part is intended for the public.Consequently, the chatty, familiar tone of the first part yields to a slightly more formal tone and an account that is more informative regarding specific dates and civic accomplishments. Franklin is didactic throughout the work, and he is rarely hesitant to voice an opinion on topics ranging from religion to government. What he has to say about religion dramatically shows the shift in sensibility from seventeenth century piety to eighteenth century secularism. Above all, Franklin was interested in producing good citizens, people who would contribute to the improvement of society. It is interesting to note that, while the autobiography begins with references to religion, and an acknowledgment of God, the focus throughout is on humanitys accomplishments. An erratum, the word for a printers error, is the word that Franklin metaphorically uses to label what in former times might be called a “sin.” A sin cannot be easily forgotten, but an erratum, on the other hand, like a typographical error, can be corrected without much trouble. Thus, Franklin does not achieve the spiritual depth of writers of the seventeenth century, but he shows what it meant to be an eighteenth century individual governed by reason. Thus, his book will continue to be read by both young and older adults.The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is one of the great classics of American literature. It uses a style that has come to be identified with the eighteenth century, a style marked by clarity and balance. This approach makes the text accessible to the young adult reader. Another reason for the long-standing interest in Franklins autobiography is that it brilliantly encapsulates several themes that are central to American culture, such as the rags-to-riches story and the confidence that hard work will earn its desired ends. Then, too, the work shows the development of the United States from a collection of thirteen individual colonies to a thriving union of many states, making it an important document for historians and a realistic, personable entry for young readers into what were perhaps the most crucial years in the history of that country.Franklin was not only the most famous American in the 18th century but also one of the most famous figures in the Western world of the 18th century; indeed, he is one of the most celebrated and influential Americans who has ever lived. Although one is apt to think of Franklin exclusively as an inventor, his 18th-century fame came not simply from his many inventions but, more important, from his fundamental contributions to the science of electricity. If there had been a Nobel Prize for Physics in the 18th century, Franklin would have been a contender. Enhancing his fame was the fact that he was an American, a simple man from an obscure background who emerged from the wilds of America to dazzle the entire intellectual world. Most Europeans in the 18th century thought of America as a primitive, undeveloped place full of forests and savages and scarcely capable of producing enlightened thinkers. Yet Franklins electrical discoveries in the mid-18th century had surpassed the achievements of the most sophisticated scientists of Europe. Franklin became a living example of the natural untutored genius of the New World that was free from the encumbrances of a decadent and tired Old Worldan image that he later parlayed into French support for the American Revolution.Despite his great scientific achievements, however, Franklin always believed that public service was more important than science, and his political contributions to the formation of the United States were substan