Benjamin Franklin Research Paper

Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography
From reading the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, who throughout his life Benjamin Franklin was known for being in many different trades, from a publisher, an inventor, a diplomat, to a political philosopher, I have come to learn that his life was about doing what he needed to become successful. Benjamin Franklin has written his autobiography in a unique and unified way, but also in some ways very disjointed making the effectiveness of the theme detracted, which made reading his autobiography even more difficult to understand and follow at times.
As Benjamin Franklin wrote his autobiography, it seemed to be written as if he was following the time line of his life but then would at times cast away from
that time line and would write about things that he had mentioned previously and then come back to pick up and continue where he left off in the timeline.
Benjamin Franklin started his autobiography out by sharing his father’s letter that he had written to Benjamin Franklin.
Telling him about some of his father’s ancestors and his life before Benjamin Franklin was born. His father had written about finding accounts of his ancestor’s births, marriages, and deaths from the year 1555 only in the registers at Ecton. Benjamin Franklin had three uncles, Thomas who took after his father in becoming a Smith. He died January 6, 1702. Benjamin Franklin and his father believed if Thomas had died the same day Benjamin Franklin was born "one might have supposed transmigration" in other words, they believed Benjamin Franklin could have been reincarnated. John was another uncle of Benjamin Franklin who was a dyer in woolens. Finally there was Benjamin, who Benjamin Franklin himself was named after, that was a silk
dryer.
Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography seems unified because reading from the beginning to end. Our reading about Benjamin Franklin’s life starting from when he was born, which was January 6, 1706 on Milk Street in Boston and following many different and important events through his life that he experiences. For some examples:
- Benjamin Franklin stopped going to grade school at the age of ten and started working under his brother James at the age of twelve as a printer.
- Later Benjamin Franklin was persuaded by Governor Keith to go to London to look for work.
- Benjamin Franklin then returns to Philadelphia.
- Benjamin Franklin partners up with Mr. Meredith and opens a printing office together.
- Benjamin Franklin gets married to Rebecca Read.
The autobiography continues all the way to Benjamin Franklin’s death on April 17th, but was finished not by Benjamin Franklin himself but by William Temple Franklin and published by William Franklin in the last year of his life.
As much as Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography seemed to be unified, towards the middle to the end of the autobiography in some ways it gets disjointed.
Benjamin Franklin starts to jump from one year and then jumps to another year and then back again to continue on the unified timeline that he seemed to be following. For some examples:
- Benjamin Franklin writes that 1758 was the year he stopped writing for the Almanac, then jumps back to 1748 to discuss when he sold his business.
- Towards the beginning of Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, he writes how he meets Rebecca Read and how he should have married her but he was moving out of town and explained how it would have never worked. Then later Benjamin Franklin comes back to Rebecca Read in the autobiography when he talks about wanting to settle down and marry, then Benjamin Franklin jumps back to the time when he first met Rebecca Read and ends up running into her and finally marring her.
I feel that the time that it took to finish the work of Benjamin
Franklin’s
Autobiography enhanced its overall theme and effectiveness because Benjamin Franklin himself wrote the majority of the autobiography. Benjamin Franklin was able to write a lot of specific details about all the events that he experienced and how it later affected him and his life. Even though Benjamin Franklin wrote out of order on some events, which made his autobiography a lot more difficult to read and stay focused on, I was always able to relate back to the actual "theme" of Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography and at the end understand what I have read. I also believe that the length of time that it took Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography to be written in had a big effectiveness because Benjamin Franklin was able to give a lot of great detail on the events he had come across and been involved in throughout his life.