Benjamin Franklin.docx

Benjamin Franklin(1706-1790)-born in Boston in 1706, the youngest of 11 living children-two years of formal education before being apprenticed at age 12 to his brother James, a printer-rejected his familys congregationalism in favor of free-thinking deism before age 16-at age 17, he broke off his indenture to his brother and ran away to New York and Philadelphia-through hard work, good business sense, social talents, community service, political abilities and literary skill he pulled himself up from relative poverty to prosperity-experimented with electricity (the famous kite experiments)-an important political leader and ambassador to France during the American Revolution; seen in his time as second only to George Washington-among his famous literary productions:-the “Silence Dogood” papers (1722)-Poor Richards Almanac (1733-38)-A Proposal for Promoting Useful Knowledge (1743)-Plain Truth (1747)-A Narrative of the Late Massacres (1764)-“Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One” (1773)-Autobiography (1771, 1784, 1788, 1788-89 but still incomplete at his death)Franklins AutobiographyPart I:-tells about Franklins youth and young manhood in Boston and Philadelphia-told from point of view of a tolerant, elderly narrator-emphasis on how the young Franklin progress in life through hard work, talent and the capacity to learn from his errors-written as a series of letters from Ben Franklin to be given to his son -emphasizes his success in life as a self-made man, with the suggestion that he might serve as a model to others:“Having emergd from the Poverty and Obscurity in which I was born and bred, to a State of Affluence and some Degree of Reputation in the World, and having gone so far thro Life with a considerable Share of Felicity, the conducing Means I made use of, which, with the Blessing of God, so well succeeded, my Posterity may like to know, as they may find some of them suitable to their own Situation, and therefore fit to be imitated.” (231-2)-Franklins family background:-lower middle-class English, land-owning ancestry-“the Family had livd in the same Village, Ecton in Northamptonshire, for 300 Years”-the name Franklin = “middle-class landowner”-“the youngest Son of the youngest Son for 5 Generations back.”-named Benjamin after his (probably rather stuffy) religious uncle-Josiah, his father, was a dyer to moved to America and became a candle maker; his mother, Abiah Folger, was his fathers 2nd wife and daughter of one of the first New England settlers-Franklins early education:-one year of grammar school, where he excelled: “I had risen gradually from the Middle of the Class of that Year to be the Head of it, and farther was removd into the next Class above it, in order to go with that into the third at the End of the Year.” (235)-one year at a school for writing and arithmetic (i.e., practical skills)-apprenticeship to his brother James as a printer (again, an acquisition of practical skills + access to more interesting books)-his natural leadership qualities: the episode where he directs his gang of boys to build a wharf in their fishing pond (235-6)-the importance of reading and writing to Franklins success:-at the beginning of his text, he “lives his Life over again” by writing it down-the books he read as a boy while still in his fathers house: Bunyans Pilgrims Progress, Plutarchs Lives, Defoes Essay upon Projects, Mathers Bonafactus, etc. (all of these are books about self-made men or self-improvement)-his systematic approach to improving his speaking & writing skills -learning to avoid a disputatious style: which is “extremely disagreeable in Company, productive of Disgusts and perhaps Enmities.Persons of good Sense, I have since observd, seldom fall into it, except Lawyers, University Men, and Men of all Sorts that have been bred at Edinbugh.” (239)-writing out and revising his debates with his friend John Collins-attention to the details of writing: -improving his vocabulary by putting things in verse-paying attention to “elegance of Expression,” “Method,” and “Perspicuity” (239)-his spelling and punctuation were already good because of his work as a printers apprentice-reading and imitating Addisons Spectator-devoting all his spare time (evenings, mornings, church attendance time) to studies (240)-Franklins self-irony and self-deprecating (self-mocking) humor:-his opening comments on his vanity: “I shall indulge the Inclination so natural in old Men, to be talking of themselves and their own past Actions.Andperhaps I shall a good deal gratify my own Vanity.” (232)Part II:-the “art of virtue” section; recounts Franklins youthful attempts to achieve moral perfection-satirizes the young Franklins naive arrogance and over-rationalization of his approach to life-his table of 13 virtues -his systematic approach to acquiring the virtues-putting the most useful ones first-practising and mastering one at a time-examining himself to see what his weakness is vis a vis the particular virtue-his “little Book” with its chart for measuring how he is succeeding or failing to acquire each virtue-his chart for how to spend the 24 hours of each day-his final comments about how he succeeded or failed in the acquisition of particular virtues-Order was difficult for him; he eventually gave up trying to perfect himself in this respect-Industry and Frugality were more easily mastered because of the circumstances of his ea