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The life and essays of benjamin franklin
The life and essays of benjamin franklin
Benjamin franklin's influence
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In distinction from Franklin's French bagatelles which was written for very sophisticated listeners who would enjoy their multifaceted identity and vaguely sarcastic tone. The Autobiography is intended not just for Franklin's colleagues but for future generations as well. Thus, one of the most stimulating topographies of the revision of Franklin as a writer is an analysis of the ways in which he adjusts his stylishness, tendency, organization, and personalities to a diversity of viewers and circumstances. Franklin lived the American Dream. The idea that every US citizen should have an equal opportunity to achieve success and prosperity through hard work, determination, and initiative. “He could achieve the American dream only by hard work." …show more content…
He grew up in poverty and had to educate himself which is no small task to do. While still contemplating, fantasizing, about his future designs and testing theories that have puzzled man. These have been the privileges and liberties we have in America. Nowadays, we have individuals like Mike Bloomberg or Mark Zuckerberg, neither up bring was with an inherited wealth or have an established upper-class family in society, and each become extremely successful. There are several triumph stories that were apprehended with little more than a notion, poor American who ran their way through an institution or to grants. Franklin symbolizes the American Dream. If you want to have more time and money in the long-term, then in the short-term you need to invest some of your money, and a lot of your time, in yourself. Instead of squandering these valuable resources on fleeting pleasures, invest them in things that further your health, relationships, education, and career and will reap rich dividends down the road. While Benjamin Franklin had great motivations to rise in the world, he was unenthusiastic to negotiation his truthfulness in order to do so. For Franklin, the important to being able to choose ideologies over grimy lucre was to not end up so incarcerated to indulgence that you become willing to do anything to preserve that …show more content…
Two quotes come to mind one is “If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher’s stone.” Living within your means is the fundamental basis of financial sovereignty. If you can be steadfast enough to form the routine of spending much less than you make, then you will be out of debt in no time. Debt can cause financial trauma, which is one of the primary source of divorce in America. If you can live within your earnings, then you can possibly live a better-off life. The other is "Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it is." Its meaning is there's nothing wrong with being poor, no shame to be felt by being/have been poor, but thinking that being poor is something to be embarrassed about, is
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’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.
Benjamin Franklin was a remarkably talented man. He started his life as a printers apprentice, but went much farther then there. He developed things that were far more advanced than the time. Benjamin Franklin's stove for example, for cold winter nights, and bifocal lenses for reading. Franklin tracked storms to help understand the horrible weather endured by the colonies. But gis study of electricity made him mist famous and he was known world wide as the founder of the lightning rod. Not only was Benjamin Franklin helpful in developing ideas for better living, he was also a strong force in developing the new nation of America. Benjamin Franklins political views showed him to be a man who loved freedom and independence. His views towards England gradually changed from like to dislike until he finally
On the other side of the spectrum is Ben Franklin 's vision. His vision of America was practical. Stating that wealth, respect, prosperity, is earned through hard work. In Franklin
Franklin moved from Boston to Philadelphia in search of a better place to stay and for his exploration. He is known for going “from rags to riches” from achieving many jobs and contributing to the colonies as a way to give back to the community. He became the first person to open a public library in Philadelphia in hopes of helping more people to educate themselves. Later, he established a fire company, developed a hospital and many useful things that are still with us today. Also, established the University of Pennsylvania and reformed the police department by taxing the community and having steady law enforcement.
Benjamin Franklin is one of the most profound individuals in American history. He is a Diplomat, Writer, Inventor, a founding father, and holds the title as the “First American.” In 1706 Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He is the fifteenth of seventeen children that his father, Josiah Franklin, had. At the age of 8 years old Franklin attended school, here he learned literacy. In spite of his successes in school, he had to drop out at the young age of 10 to assist his father with his business. Franklin did not enjoy working for his father’s business, however he had to work at his father’s shop for about 2 years. Josiah then had Benjamin apprenticed to his little brother, James, who was a printer. James is the founder
On the very first page of his writings Franklin notes that what follows will show him “having emerged from the poverty & obscurity in which I was bred to a state of affluence & some degree of reputation in the world” (Franklin Penguin 1). He brands his tale as the original rags to riches story, the fulfillment of the American Dream. The lengthy sequence of anecdotes which makes up his autobiography carry this theme forward. Whether they are stories centering on his autodidactic upbringing or his long career as a printer, Franklin repeatedly bangs the drum of hard work leading to
In Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography, Samuel Keimer is a character who represents the antithesis of Franklin. The development of Keimer not only improves the reader’s understanding of the minor character, but also of Franklin, the major character. Franklin makes a point of showing the reader each of Keimer’s faults and contrasting them with his own merits.When Keimer is first introduced to the reader, he is in very much the same circumstances as Franklin; they are two young men trying to make a fresh start in a new town, the only difference being Keimer’s economic, and thereby social, advantage. In comparison to Franklin, however, Keimer is a flawed and immoral man; this difference is what makes him the ideal model for Franklin to scrutinize. As Benjamin Franklin consistently moves up the social and economic ladders, more than surpassing Keimer’s achievements, Keimer quickly falls into poverty and loses everything. “With the rest I (Benjamin Franklin) began to live very agreeably; for they all respected me, the more as they found Keimer incapable of instructing them, and that from me they learned something daily.”1 Franklin goes into great detail to teach the reader how one should live one’s life in order to avoid the same fate as Keimer.
Benjamin Franklin and Nathaniel Hawthorne were both very important to America’s early literature. Franklin’s “Autobiography” and Hawthorne’s “My Kinsman, Major Molineux” represents the extremes of leaving home. Franklin makes accomplishing the American dream of the self-made man look easy. Hawthorne, however, revises and critiques that dream, showing the harsh realities of the real world. Franklin reveals his life story as a way to show the people of America that determination, hard work, and intelligence lead to success, while Hawthorne describes the harsh world waiting once youth and innocence are gone.
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.
In 1717, he began to regain some of the knowledge that he was deprived when he was pulled out of school to work for his father. Franklin began reading writings from such authors as: Plutarch, Defoe, and Mather ("The Electric Franklin"). This education obviously became very important later in his life to him and our country. It is like he said, "Genius without education is like silver in the mine (Glenn)."
Carl Doren, author of “Benjamin Franklin,” suggested that Franklin might’ve “tempered the account of his youth, saw his course as straighter than it was, left out or had forgotten his ranker appetites” (56) to ensure that the general attitude toward the stories of his adolescent self was positive, not negative. One such alteration, Doren says, was the exclusion of “General Magazine” in the autobiography, a magazine Franklin published which failed after six months (120). There are other critics who say that Franklin’s autobiography was written in a manner to tell stories in such a way to always show Franklin in a positive light. Lopez and Herbert, for example, say that Franklin’s description of Samuel Keimer, one of Franklin’s bosses, was inaccurately unflattering and facts about him are left out entirely, facts which would’ve completely changed the general mood surrounding his character
This paper also seeks to compare the autobiographies of Benjamin Franklin and Fredrick Douglas. In an e...
If you were born a poor peasant, you would never become a rich king or queen, no matter how hard you worked.
Benjamin Franklin's moral and social philosophies inspired and continue to inspire millions around the globe. Becoming a "self-made man" is a long and arduous task. Improve yourself, which will in return improve the society. Contradiction is inevitable when trying to follow strict ideals. Franklin's purpose was to make people aware of their inclinations and to help them overcome the natural tendencies of man, which would limit our dependence on other people. Benjamin Franklin is an inspiration to us all.