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Ben Franklin's Autobiography
How is Franklin a combination of his American roots (In Puritanism and in the relative independence from the society of England) with the Enlightenment ideas of writers like Pope? I.e. -- How is he a particularly American version of Enlightenment Man? Analyze and use examples from BOTH content and style. In answering this question write this question; Write the question on top of the page labeled "your question."
Ben Franklin is perhaps most famous for his aphorisms such as "early to bed, early to rise, makes a man happy, healthy and wise." His Poor Richard's aphorisms often take the form of well-regarded advice regarding health and good, clean living, and this aphoristic, pithy style is characteristic of Franklin's autobiography as a whole.
Yet Franklin is not simply famous as 'Poor Richard.' Franklin is also famous for his experimentation in the fields of optometry and electricity. The world can thank Franklin for his invention of bifocals as well as for the image of the desperate man flying a kite in an electrical storm. This duality of cultural images regarding Franklin is encapsulated in Franklin's own sense of duality of self and culture. His Autobiography stresses the importance of self-reliance, upon his own determination to discipline...
His construction of self through the media of the 'autobiography' of narrative seems particularly American, given the evolving American culture's stress upon the self.
This may be in part due to Puritan's influence on constant self-examination and self-criticism outside of formal church dogma. Unlike Catholicism or European Protestantism's emphasis on church doctrine and the creation of church communities, American Puritanism focused on perfecting one's self from inside out and the creation of one's own moral principles in relation to God. Although Franklin reaffirms this stress upon the self, his intellectual curiosity directed to the outer world takes the form stylistically of Enlightenment writers such as Pope. Franklin's lapses into 'pity' quotations such as aphorisms are reminiscent of Pope's love of couplets, and his use of humor in regards to his self-examination is also quite akin to Pope.
My Questions
2). Write questions of you own, labeled "my questions." In this case it would be very good to make them more specific versions of the main question-for example how is this choice of genre (autobiography)…
Franklin Autobiography On Self-Improvement Benjamin Franklin was able to accomplish many things that ordinary men often are not given the opportunity to do. Franklin's father, Josiah, had initially planned for him to serve the Church, however, Franklin's ambition and intelligence proved to Josiah that his son was destined for greater things. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was written between 1771 and 1790 and was intended to serve as a guide an inspiration
I dressed plain and was seen at no places of idle diversion. I never went out a-fishing or shooting; a book indeed sometimes debauched me from my work, but that was seldom, was private, and gave no scandal; and to show that I was not above my business, I sometimes brought home the paper I purchased at the stores through the streets on a wheelbarrow (Franklin, 1914, p. 70). Franklin
Franklin and the American Dream Ben Franklin exemplified the sense that if a man just worked hard enough, he could obtain prosperity in America. This abundant gaining of the fruit of one's labor is what became known as "The American Dream." Franklin was certainly a proponent of this dream, as is evident in his Autobiography. This paper will show how Franklin's Autobiography marks him as a man who had a large
Benjamin Franklin -- Writer, Inventor, Founding Father, and First True American George Washington may be the father of his country, but Ben Franklin is the first true American. While George Washington was born a wealthy and propertied Virginia landowner in the European aristocratic tradition, and made his fame as a highborn and commanding military general for the crown during the French and Indian Wars, Benjamin Franklin was born to a poor
Work Ethic: Douglass and FranklinIntroductionAlthough they lived in different centuries and had very different backgrounds, Frederick Douglass and Benjamin Franklin share many similarities. Both men were born into humble beginnings but rose to become widely respected leaders. They were both self-educated and used their writing talents to further their causes. And both men were tireless advocates for the rights of others, whether it was Douglass fighting for the freedom of
Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglas Indeed, in both Benjamin Franklin's An Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and Frederick Douglas's A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas, An American Slave, we, as readers, are told the stories of two men who faced adversity, and with much hard work and courage, were able to overcome the obstacles that stood in their way in order to become influential and important men in America. Interestingly