Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. The work of a selfish man?

ISBN-10: 3638336948
ISBN-13: 9783638336949
Category: Literary Criticism
Pages: 5
Language: English
Published: 2005-01-10
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Author: Moritz Oehl

Description

Essay from the year 2002 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, Sewanee the University of the South, course: English 377: American Literature until 1860, 1 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: Benjamin Franklin was one of the most famous and important participants in the American Revolution of the 1760’s to 1780’s. Like 55 other important political figures of that time, he was a delegate of the Continental Congress who signed the Declaration of Independence. He is the author of many valuable maxims that are used in everyday conversations still today. Without doubt – Franklin is one of the first celebrities and most remembered political figures in US history. He had an enormous impact on the new American self-confidence and, even more important, the American way of life. But when looking at his Autobiography, many people argue that it does not include any reference to his achievements for society. In contrast, it is stated that these works seem to be revolving only around the events that had a purpose for him personally. Is Franklin a mere egoist or someone who cares about others, too? The first evidence of Franklin mentioning aid to others in the Autobiography is assistance to the “Tallow-Chandler and Soap-Boiler” (Franklin, 542) job of his father. Like all children in the 18th century he is involved in work for the family. This is not surprising, yet. Besides, he learns in his childhood, that “nothing was useful which was not honest” (Franklin, 543). If we look at honesty as a part of respecting and also helping people, Franklin therefore must have been taught mature behavior at an early age. His working career starts when he is still a kid. Franklin’s inclinations are to become a printer. From the age of 12 on, he does an apprenticeship at his brother’s business. Franklin tells us about his time there: “In a little time I made great proficiency in the Business, and became a useful hand to my Brother” (Franklin, 545). O nce again, it is not only pure self- interest that makes a difference in his life. This is even more evident by the fact that he obviously wrote his Autobiography many years later; still, he regards have taken the advices of his family members for granted, too.

Get the book

Similar books

Virginia Woolf and the Great War
By Karen L. Levenback
I owe special thanks to Bruce Martin and Evelyn Timberlake ( at the Library of Congress ) ; Philip Milato and Steve Crook ( at the Berg Collection ) ...
In Search of Elena Ferrante: The Novels and the Question of Authorship
By Karen Bojar
... Alice: “In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens” 157 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation 38 Wertenbaker, Timberlake 21 Wilson, Emily (trans.
Native American Verbal Art: Texts and Contexts
By William M. Clements
HENRY TIMBERLAKE'S CHEROKEE WAR SONG 1. That Timberlake's memoir contains the first English translation of the words of a Native American song seems to have ...
Playing in the Shadows: Fictions of Race and Blackness in Postwar Japanese Literature
By William H Bridges
“Justin Timberlake, 'The 20/20 Experience': Is There a Visual Preference for Whiteness?” Interview with Marc Lamont Hill. HuffPost Live, 27 March 2013.
Shakespeare's Edward III
By William Shakespeare
Thompson , E . in Pollard 1923 . Thompson , J . Shakespeare and the Classics , 1952 . Tillyard , E . Shakespeare ' s History Plays , 1944 . Timberlake , P ...
The Problem with Pleasure: Modernism and Its Discontents
By Laura Frost
In The Problem with Pleasure, Frost draws upon a wide variety of materials, linking interwar amusements, such as the talkies, romance novels, the Parisian fragrance Chanel no. 5, and the exotic confection Turkish Delight, to the artistic ...
The Alice Books and the Contested Ground of the Natural World
By Laura White
Similarly, he deplored the picturestories of A. B. Frost in his Stuff and Nonsense ... When he'd eaten eighteen, He turned perfectly green, Upon which he ...
Fables of Modernity: Literature and Culture in the English Eighteenth Century
By Laura Brown
Renew'd by ordure's sympathetic force, As oil'd with magic juices for the course, ... William Frost (1953; reprint, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, ...
Questions of Authority: Italian and Australian Travel Narratives of the Long Nineteenth Century
By Laura Olcelli
D'Albertis, Luigi. New Guinea: What I Did and What I Saw. 2 vols. London: S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1881. First published 1880.
A Concordance to Conrad's The Arrow of Gold
By Paul L. Gaston, Todd K. Bender
... i ge 3 let S deal ing ge a lings ge at t Joe a f J & at n ce at h-ced ge at hly ue to 3 sec ge is a te debit de cap it a t e u ge c e it ful ge c e i ve ...