Thursday, September 1, 2011

Ben Franklin

The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin starts out with him trying to tell his son about what his life was like. He explains of how he came from England to the New World in order to make a name for himself. Also, Ben mentions that he has some parts of his life that he wishes he could change and this makes me believe that he must have taken the wrong path at a certain time. Along the beginning he also mentions God and how he only hopes He brings good things for him.
As Ben progresses in his trip, more of how he truly is comes out. He starts to show how arrogant and how holy he thinks he is. He sees everyone as being under him and thinks that everything will work out the way he wants because he is educated and well dressed. In the second chapter, he sees a woman that he calls his "soon to be wife" and this makes him seem more of an arrogant. Whether he was just foreshadowing for his son or just wanting to make a joke, these lines about his wife put doubts in my mind of what he truly was trying to say.
At the end of it all he still is trying to make the point that he is better than many others by including the letters from people that he knows. These letters only show that maybe people appreciated what he did or just admired him, but he tries to convert them to "praises" toward him. Also, the list of virtues that he thought everyone should follow was pretty foolish because he also mentions that he sometimes failed at certain one's and tried to follow only what was convenient for him.
Whether Ben was a great man or not in his time, his autobiography demonstrates that he was a dedicated man and did really want better things for himself. The only thing that I still question is that if he truly did all the good for the benefit of others or just to make his reputation higher and to make himself feel noticed?

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