Ben Franklin Autobiography

These sections of Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography were interesting to read. In the first four paragraphs of chapter one Franklin begins his work by addressing his son, and explaining why he believes he should put the major events of his own life into writing. In the last four paragraphs of the chapter Franklin tells the story of how he first arrived in Philadelphia. In the beginning of chapter two he describes the events of his first few days in the city. It is also in the beginning of chapter two that Franklin describes his first job in Keimer’s printing house. Finally our last section, chapter six, begins with two letters addressed to Franklin, both pleading with him to continue to work on his autobiography. Each of the men who wrote the letters agree that Franklin’s work would be very beneficial to the youth of America. After these letters Franklin goes on to write about his own ideas on reputation, the church, religion, and virtues.

  As I read these parts of Franklin’s autobiography I found I enjoyed reading the sections in the first few chapters much more than the sixth chapter. Franklin seems much more genuine and humble in the beginning. The first chapters were more entertaining to me, and I think these chapters related more to the portions we read of The Sot-Weed Factor. The first chapters showed what life was like in America during this time. I found it fascinating to try to visualize the events in my head as Franklin rowed the boat to Philadelphia, walked around the city in dirty clothes trying to buy bread, or visited the first print shop he would work in. The sixth chapter went into much further detail about Franklin’s virtues, and beliefs. While still interesting, this chapter was much more dry than the earlier chapters. Rather than explaining what physical life was like in early America, this section seemed to portray the philosophical beliefs of one of our founding fathers.