Compare and contrast this lesson’s excerpt from Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography to his letter describing the opportunities in America for children of poorer families.

The Autobiography opens with a salutation to Ben Franklin son, William Franklin who at the time was the royal governor of New Jersey. Franklin is writing in the summer of 1771 on vacation in a small town about 50 miles south of London. Franklin says that because his son may wish to know about his life, he is taking his one week vacation in the English countryside to record his past. Franklin says that he has enjoyed his life and would like to repeat it, although he would like to correct some small errors if the opportunity arose. But since Franklin cannot repeat life, he can instead recollect it. He thanks God for allowing him to live a good life.

Franklin recounts some of his family's ancestry. He has been the youngest son of a youngest son for five generations, although Franklin does have two younger sisters. He tells of his grandfather and uncles, and he includes some poetry from his well respected uncle Benjamin, the man after whom he was named. The Franklins have always been an active clan; they were involved very early on in the Reformation in Europe, for instance. Ben then discusses his parents. His father, Josiah Franklin, moved from England to America in 1682 with his wife and three children. He had four more children with that wife, and ten more children with Abiah, whom Josiah married after his first wife died. Ben himself, the 15th of 17 children, was born in Boston on January 17, 1706.

Most of Benjamin's brothers became apprentices in various trades, as was the custom in the 18th century. Ben, however, was put into grammar school with the intent that he would later go into the church. He quickly rose to the head of his class, and before long he was sent to a different grammar school to develop his writing and math skills. Although he failed at math, he was very good at writing. However, at age ten he was taken from school and put to work with his father, a candle and soap maker. Around this time, Ben, being interested in the sea but prohibited from becoming a sailor by his parents, once convinced his young friends to build a wharf from some stolen stones from a quarry. He was caught and punished so as to be taught that dishonesty is never useful.

Ben writes that he admired his father, who he deems was of "sound understanding and solid judgment" and generally respected in town. Josiah taught Ben the crucial skill of debate, which would forever more come in handy. As a tribute to his parents, Ben had them buried in a prominent Boston graveyard near Boston Common (Paul Revere, John Hancock and Sam Adams are some of the others buried there), and he erected a monument to them which stands as the central feature in the cemetery today.

However, Ben disliked his father's trade making candles, so Josiah set out to find him a new line of work. After passing up cutlery, Josiah noticed that Ben was particularly bookish, and so he put Ben to work for his brother James a printer. Ben, at the age of 12, signed a contract to work for James for the next eight years. This line of work allowed Ben to read even more. He notes that he enjoyed particularly Bunyan, Mather and Daniel Defoe. He borrowed many books from a local bookseller, and developed his own writing skills by imitating the style used by the professional authors. Around the same time, he notes that he befriended a "bookish lad" named John Collins, with whom he honed his debate skills via letters. Josiah, meanwhile, helped advise Ben in his writing form. He acquired a copy of the British newspaper The Spectator and imitated its style, soon leaning "method in the arrangement of thoughts."

Explanation:

he opening part of the Autobiography addresses some themes that will come up later on in the book, namely, self-betterment and religion. Franklin's tone at the beginning of the book is humble and indicative of a belief in utilitarianism. He claims to write only so that his own life may be an example for his son of how one can live well and how one can get through hardships. Franklin's book, a story of self-betterment, is written so as to be a model for the betterment of others. This general motive for writing, as well as Franklin's mention of correcting some errors were he to relive his life, both indicate Franklin's constant interest in self-improvement. This is perhaps the largest theme in the Autobiography; it dominates Part Two and recurs often in Part One.

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