Analysis Of Ben Franklin's Hard Work

In the New World where Europeans were still under the assumption that class defines the amount of success you can achieve, Franklin’s story paved a way for the new “American dream” of working hard and prospering from your own doings. Ben Franklin uses his hard work and takes advantage of his opportunities to meet new people as a way to bring himself out of class and create his own prosperity and wealth. Franklin used his family, background (class) and negative friendships to help him succeed in life, rather than stay poor like many Europeans of the New World were doing. The values of working hard, being honest when dealing with others, and not letting your class define, are all values that Franklin impacted America with when this autobiography

Whether good or bad these values give each American an equal chance to succeed in life which is why many of these Europeans fled and came to this New World, a New World in which Franklin helped mold a way of life. Merriam Webster’s dictionary describes the American dream as “the ideal that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative”, and Ben Franklin’s hard work paved the way for many Americans to come. What makes hard work an American value from Ben Franklins story is that in today’s society people pride themselves on their hard work in order to sustain a living. This concept of hard work is what makes many lives of the people in society today so American. In his autobiography, Franklin says “I was taken home to help my father in his business, which was that of a tallow chandler and soap boiler- a business he was not bred to but had assumed on his arrival…”(Franklin 23). Knowing Ben was the last son of a huge family, and hearing that his father

This concept of meeting people and using them towards your benefit is one of the main foundations for success here in America. The way that Ben Franklin used the people and friends he encountered on his journey is what makes him living the American Dream possible and also what makes this value of networking American. From John Read, who allowed Ben to live with them when he arrived in Philly and also ended up marrying his daughter, to Mr. Denham, who was a Quaker man who helped Ben return to America after his 18 month stay in England, Ben took advantage of the people he came across in his journey. This is present into todays America with so much importance placed on Networking, Ben Franklin was the first and possibly the greatest Networker. Franklin moved from Boston to Philadelphia and also went across the pond to England, and on each of these journeys he met new people that would be essential to his success. “The Governor gave me an ample letter, saying many flattering things of me to my father and strongly recommending the project of my setting up at Philadelphia as a thing that would make my fortune” (Franklin 43). Franklin had met the Governor before and became acquainted with him, and because of that he sent a letter to his father when Ben was in need of money for starting his new printing house. He did not only use these people for his own benefit but he was honest