Analysis Of Benjamin Franklin's Way To Wealth

Gerry Rouse

Eng-231

Mr. Bowen

September 7, 2013

Essay 1

The works that I chose for this first essay are all unique in their own way but also have some similarities. The writings of Benjamin Franklin, Anne Bradstreet, and the letter written by Chief Tecumseh, all show compassion, intelligence and the dedication of the human spirit.

In the “Way to Wealth” by Benjamin Franklin, he illustrates a perspective that is centuries ahead of his time. His insight into the art of being frugal and the need to plan ahead is prevalent. As such, the principles that he lays out for success haven’t changed much in 200 years. One quote that struck me was; “Pride is as loud a beggar as want, and a great deal more saucy!” Pride can be ones downfall especially when that pride is not backed up with drive and ambition. Franklin writes; “Trusting too much to others Care is the ruin of many.” Indeed, trusting in one’s self to accomplish goals is certainly more gratifying. I believe that Franklin is attempting to tell us that too many people over time have attempted to find a shortcut for the way to wealth but only found that it was never really a secret, just a simple approach to an earned lifestyle.

In contrast to Ben Franklin’s piece, we have the compassionate and poignant work of Anne Bradstreet’s, “Upon the Burning of our House”. The irony here is that Ben Franklin speaks of pride and caring too much in the assistance of others while Anne Bradstreet writes about the despair yet the glimmer of hope that arise from the burning of the family home. Although Bradstreet lost many of her material items she kept a positive attitude and remained strong in her faith. She writes, “I blest his name that gave and took, that laid my goods now in dust. Yea, so ...

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...tinually driving the red people, when at last you will drive them into the great lake [Lake Michigan], where they can neither stand nor work.” Indeed, this sums up his fears that one day, they will have no land of their own at all. He seems almost cynical (yet serious) in his words, stating that; “Sell a country?! Why not sell the air, the great sea, as well as the earth? Did not the Great Spirit make them all for the use of his children?”

Lastly, all three of these works are uniquely connected to each other. The want and the need for materialistic things are sometimes overshadowed by the most important thing…the individuals themselves. The qualities that each of these works shows are the need for humans to reexamine what is really important to them. As Anne Bradstreet so eloquently put it, “"Yet by his gift is made thine own; There's wealth enough, I need no more."