In Benjamin Franklin’s The Autobiography, Franklin writes to his son claiming that he lived his life so well that if he had the chance to relive it, he would. Acknowledging that he had made mistakes in his life, Franklin concluded that they were minor and compared them to a “speckled ax.” (991) The significance from the comparison was that, even though the man wanted a shiny ax but received a speckled one, he still received an ax and a speckled one was better than none. Some scholars would argue that Franklin was arrogant in his writings, citing that he believed that his life should be a model for others to follow. While it is true that Franklin believed this, he was not arrogant, but humble. Franklin uses words such as, “humility” (936) to …show more content…
describe his nature. After examining his Autobiography, we can see that Franklin exemplified the American dream by climbing the social and spiritual ladder and he wanted his followers to do the same. Growing up in a humble London home, Franklin was youngest son of seventeen children. By age 12, his father, Josiah, sent him away to apprentice for his older brother, James, at a printing shop. This is where Franklin had early access reading and discovered that he enjoyed it much more than traditional labor jobs. This would influence his career later on. Growing up, Franklin learned a lot about the world and people.
The fact that not everyone is a good person was something that he learned in particular. After being lied to about being promised a letter of recommendation at a Printing Firm in London, Franklin could have gotten mad and quit. Instead he continued to network and make contacts. After printing A Dissertation Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, (964) Franklin was promoted to composing articles and began making more money. He rented a room from an elderly woman who told him thought provoking stories. After eighteen months in London, he moved to America where he took a management job at a printing press. This shows him growing, not just physically but socially as he becomes …show more content…
self-made. While in America, Franklin openly took risks by not following the normal traditions of the Puritan-formed new world. Instead of being a devout Christian, Franklin explored within his own intellectualism and fully converted to Deism. “I grew convinced that Truth, Sincerity, and Integrity in Dealings with Man and Man, were of the utmost Importance to the Felicity of Life, and I formed written Resolutions.” (974). This explored his bravery by contesting the normal “serve God” and choosing to “serve self.” He used the Bible, itself, as an example to focus on ones self in Philippians 4:8, “Finally Brethren, whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, or of good report, if there be any virtue or any praise, think on these things.” (986) This inspired Franklin to publish a method to follow in order to live a good life.
He wrote thirteen virtues that were to be followed. The first was temperance and the last being humility. He referred to this as his Execution of the Plan for Self-Examination. After looking back on his life based on the method that he created, he was able to see his faults and lamented over them. “My scheme of ORDER, gave me the most Trouble […].” (991) He later compared his life to the speckled ax and realizes that even though he had made mistakes and not followed the order that he had made for others, he believed that his life had turned out just as
good. In Franklin’s Autobiography, he challenged his readers to follow his life as an example in order to become a successful American. Franklin was an example of the American dream not just because he made a lot of money, but because he branched out and thought for himself. Although this text has been interrupted in many ways, we can deduce that Franklin wanted the best for his followers by encouraging them not to make the mistakes that he made, but to follow the path that he laid out. Whether spiritual or physical, this made it possible for anyone to obtain success.
Gordon S. Wood delves into Benjamin Franklin’s philosophical, political, and personal legacies in the biography, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin. The book travels through Franklin’s experiments, his travels in Europe, and his role in the American revolution. The book begins when Franklin retires from business and becomes a gentleman. It was when he became a gentleman, it allowed him to analyze the world around him. “Indeed, he could not drink a cup of tea without wondering why the tea leaves at the bottom gathered in way rather than another,” a quote from Edmund S. Morgan’s book, Benjamin Franklin. Franklin spent a great deal of time in Britain before returning to America. When he returned, he threw himself into the American revolution, which sent him to France. After he accomplished his duties in France, he returned back home to America where he ran for public office.
Franklin wrote his autobiography for his son. His journey was very important to him. His son would benefit from this. He says “I sit down to write them for you”. (Franklin (473) This signifies all of the effort he is putting into his writing. Franklin had a strong belief in God. He says, “And now I speak of thanking God, I deserve with all humanity to acknowledge, that I owe the mention’d happiness of my past life to his kind providence…” (474) This quote shows that he is thankful for all that God has done for
Franklins in his Autobiography, composes the idea of a “self-made-man” by depicting his experiences of his hard work ethic to go from poor to rich. Throughout his writing he explains how he made himself successful. He took chances and was proactive.
While writing a letter to his son, he begins to explain his reasoning for writing in a somewhat formal fashion, stating what he felt was the purpose of his life. His light hearted nature would show through when he lightly mocked previous statements he had written. He shows a lot of pride in all of the accomplishments he had made in his life. He refers to his past mistakes as ‘errata’ which is a term used for correcting printing mistakes. This suggests that he simply viewed his errors in life as easily replaced with the greater things he has gone on to do. He stressed the importance of hard work and that it would certainly lead to greatness and wealth. In part two, a seemingly older Franklin focuses his tone away from entertaining himself and his son. He goes on to explain a series of models and virtues that would lead to a happy and fulfilling life. Lastly in part three, a slightly older Franklin encourages people so stop thinking in self-interest and to join together to encourage social
Franklin’s accomplishments arose from the influence of family, friends, education, and personal experience with being African American. He had a difficult task as an historian as he was writing about the neglected history of his minority group while being an advocate for the rights of this group. This could be perceived as a conflict of interest, but he thought of it as being beneficial. His method of writing was not to promote African Americans, but to interpret their involvement in the framework of American history. This was not something that had been done extensively and thoroughly before. Franklin set the stage and helped to create a widely accepted field of history.
Franklin was remembered for stating "the longer I live, the more convincing proof I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men." Franklin 's ideas that contributed to the Enlightenment is found in his Autobiography. His idea of a perfect person has 13 virtues and claims that a practical and scientific man is based on combining their values and economic values. Franklin preferred voluntarily societies over government control, all his thoughts can lead back to free opinion. In his, Almanac is reflected on his scientific interests and was popular within the
...rtue. He made columns for the days of the week and for the virtues on each page. If he broke a virtue he would put a black dot in that column for that day. He was only concentrating on that particular virtue that week. After that week, he would concentrate on that virtue and the one(s) previous until he mastered them all. His final sentence, "I should be happy in viewing a clean Book after thirteen Weeks daily Examination..." We finally heard what his method was.
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is a representation of the new prospect of upward mobility in colonial America during the 18th century and the development of the Age of Reason, which assisted in the conception of the idea of the “American Dream”; a dream that includes fundamentally social ideals such as democracy, equality, and material prosperity. Furthermore, Franklin’s autobiography exemplifies a significant shift in focus from religion to enlightenment and reason. Additionally, there were forces specific to Benjamin Franklin's Philadelphia, that played an important role in his perspectives and the changes that occurred within colonial America during the 18th century.
In The Autobiography, Benjamin Franklin recounts the many paramount experiences throughout his life that shaped him into great American figure he was known to be. On the opening page, Franklin reveals the book’s epistolary format by writing, “Dear Son,” going on to admit that he’s made some mistakes in the past and to recollect that past is a way to relive it. By divulging his desire to “change some sinister Accidents & Events” (Franklin 3) the author indicates how important it is for his son to observe as he amends his mistakes. Pride, virtue and vanity play a pivotal role in Benjamin Franklin’s life and the way he portrays himself to others. Instances occur where the author is shown gloating about his great accomplishments and he puts emphasis on his need to live a virtuous and morally perfect life. Throughout his story, Benjamin Franklin tells his son of his many virtuous acts and momentous achievements, motivating the question as to whether he seeks his own approval more so than the approval of his peers.
Benjamin Franklin was a very prominent figure in shaping our nation. Many people look at him as a role model or just as an amazing individual. He had his faults just like every human being had, and he shouldn’t be discredited because of a few minor glitches to his character. As being the only person that had signed The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, and the Treaty of Paris, this immediately separates him from all others. One of the things that he wrote about in Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and Other Writings, was trying to be the ideal person, and even made a list of virtues to live by. His virtues were very important to his lifestyle, and he followed them to a great extent.
All of Benjamin Franklin’s actions make us believe that these virtues are the way he intends to live his life for the rest of his life. Benjamin Franklin elf examined himself constantly and criticized his actions to change the ways he was carrying out certain stuff. Franklin divided up his day making sure that every hour and very minute was spent doing something productive- 6th virtue-. He explains why he uses such extensive meaning to describe the virtues that some find “outrageous”. For example, he has a particularly hard time with achieving the 13th virtue-Humility- and that is why he defined it as “Imitate Jesus and Socrates”. These two men are great men that some find impossible to imitate. This caused people to think of these virtues as a joke. However, imitating these two men is possible, in one’s own way. One can imitate their actions and incorporate their qualities into ones’ own character. The imitation of these two men would certainly solve Benjamin Franklin’s of being thought of as proud and would also solve other problems that Benjamin Franklin has with
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was not perfect, but foreshadowed the way America is today. In this he writes about himself because although one cannot go back and do life again, one can rewrite the events of it and encourage people. Franklin made many mistakes in his life. By realizing his mistakes and his faults he was able to become a better person and by seeking self improvement. Through the progression of the book, Franklin tells the readers about things he learned through experiences, highlights his achievements, and shows that he is not afraid to work to succeed. Benjamin Franklin was a very intelligent man from start to finish. Since he had a passion for improvement, he did not only improve himself, but he helped improve Philadelphia.
In his several dialogues, Plato contends the importance of the four virtues: wisdom, courage, self-control, and justice. In The Republic, he describes a top-down hierarchy that correlates to the aspects of one’s soul. Wisdom, courage, and temperance preside control over the rational, spirited, and appetitive aspects of the soul. It is when one maintains a balance between these aspects of his soul that he attains peace within himself: “...And when he has bound together the three principles within him...he proceeds to act...always thinking and calling that which preserves and cooperates with this harmonious condition (Plato 443c).” Wisdom and knowledge consistently remain at the top of his view of happiness. During the apology, Plato is asked what punishment is best suited for him. He sarcastically answers, “to be fed...(It is) much more suitable than for any one who has won a v...
He claims that virtue of thought is taught and that virtue of character is habitually learnt. Either way, virtues do not “arise in us naturally” (216, 1103a20). He argues that humans have the capacities for virtues, but they must act on them (216, 1103a30). Thus, a person must learn to use the capability of being virtuous, meaning someone needs to teach them those virtues (217, 1103a10). To be virtuous, it is not just the action that matters, but the reason behind the action too. Aristotle says that a person should be consciously acting virtuous because this would result in him living a happy life (221, 1105a30). This takes time and a person must constantly repeat these actions to achieve the end goal of being virtuous (221,
Benjamin Franklin is one of the most influential and famous figures of all time. Ben Franklin if often referred to as the "self-made man," and his philosophies and principles in the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, edited by Louis P. Masur, has served as a self-help book for millions around the world. Franklin's Autobiography is a prime example of the American dream, a rag to riches story that has inspired many people to think of themselves and the community in a different light. Franklin's moral and social philosophies are packed deeply into his Autobiography. Franklin believed that improving ones self was the key to success. Self-improvement, self-education, and self-discipline are the main factors of a self-made man. Improving yourself will ultimately improve the society as a whole. Franklin speaks of principality and inclination. His idea was to produce the principle man with the awareness of man's natural inclination. Throughout the text Franklin provides examples from his own life that contradicts his moral and social philosophies. These contradictions are mostly caused by natural inclinations. Franklin uses these contradictions to educate people to be aware of their natural inclinations and to try and overcome them. Franklin's realizes that improving oneself is a road with many imperfections. Not even the "self-made man" was completely perfect.