Mary Frances Panis

Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography

ENG 106: Composition 2

Jan 31, 2002

I believe that Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography should be required reading for high school students. While it may be a bit difficult to read at times, it has some very strong benefits and is interesting. This book allows young people to see that the types of issues they face are the same faced during Franklin’s time. Ben Franklin shares his life’s experiences with his son as a helpful guideline - that is still has value today. Finally, this autobiography contains the challenges and rewards for following these basic moral values.

Today’s teenagers sometimes get upset or frustrated with their parents because of conflicting personal goals. The parents may want them to become a doctor but they may want to become a pilot. Benjamin Franklin had the same problem in his youth. His desire was to go out to sea but his father said he had to do an apprenticeship instead.

Ben had been sent to grammar school to learn writing and arithmetic. “Under him”, (George Brownell) “I acquired fair Writing pretty soon, but I fail’d in the Arithmetic, and made no Progress in it.”[1](6) After his father withdrew him from school, Franklin started working with him making candles and soaps. When this didn’t work out he was sent to do apprenticeship with his brother on a press. He was only 12 years old and committed to stay there until 21.

At the age of 17, Benjamin Franklin ran away from his brother and family. He didn’t know anyone when he arrived in New York. The only thing he had was a little bit of money and his experience. This didn’t help any because no one was hiring. He got word of possible work in Philadelphia and moved on. This cost him some more of his money and soon he found himself tired, hungry and without shelter. He sailed, walked, stayed where he could sleep, and became ill during the voyage there. Travel for a runaway teenager was just as difficult then, as it is today.

Franklin mentions about making “Enquires, among the Remains of my Relations”[2](1). He wanted to share with his son what his life was like and what he had to go through to become successful. To do this, he had to depend on what other people remembered as well as his own memory at his late age of 80. Franklin was encouraged by Abel James to finish the writings he had shared with him[3](58). Benjamin Vaughan encourages Franklin to continue to write his life’s history so that later writers could not distort the truth.[4] (59). In Heritage of American Literature, James E. Miller Jr. quotes Benjamin Franklin as saying: ”For the incidents of the voyage, I refer you to my Journal, where you will find them all minutely related. Perhaps the most important part of the journal is the plan to be found in it, which I formed at sea, for regulating my future conduct in life.”[5](469) Benjamin Franklin wrote his autobiography so his son would come to know how he went from rags to riches While not everyone can go from rags to riches, the idea and adventures of getting there can be just as exciting. What Benjamin Franklin shows us in his autobiography is that hard work, determination, and certain morals are important to success.

In Franklin’s Autobiography, Dr. Baird comments about Franklin’s work habits as: “Working at the press late into the night and at it early in the morning”[6](49) Still, John Adams gives a different opinion altogether.[7] The idea that Franklin lived a studious life may not be the key to his success. It was who Franklin was acquainted with more than anything else. Franklin was well respected by monarchs, government heads, educated people and common citizens. (245)

Benjamin Franklin’s moral ideals are still valid today. From his writings we learn that “Justice. Wrong none, by doing Injuries or omitting the Benefits that are your Duty”[8](67). “Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or your self. Avoiding trifling Conversation”[9](67).

Sometimes being able to see something in a different perspective will help us to remember what it is we already know about moral values. In reading this book, at a still impressionable age, students can apply what they want. They may do it consciously or unconsciously. Either way a seed will be planted in the back of their minds. When students feel that life is against them, they can relate to Franklin’s autobiography and know that they have a chance to succeed as well. Reader’s Digest Illustrated Encyclopedia Dictionary describes Benjamin Franklin as a “U.S. statesman, philosopher, physicist, and journalist.”[10](665). Like today’s students, he was also a youth struggling to find his way in the world. Through his examples, he shows them that they too can succeed.

[1] Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography page 6

[5] Heritage of American Literature, James E. Miller Jr.

[6] Comment by Doctor Baird in regards to Franklin’s work ethics. Page 49

[7] John Adams on Franklin, May 15, 1811 page 244

[8] Names of Virtues with their Precepts. Page 67

[9] Names of Virtues with their Precepts. Page 67

[10] Reader’s Digest Illustrated Encyclopedia