Benjamin Franklin's The Autobiography Of Benjamin Franklin
If I were to be alive at the time Benjamin Franklin set out and published his autobiography, I would have a few things to say in regards to his thoughts, statements he made, and actions that he partook in.
To start off with, in relation to Benjamin Franklin’s thoughts, on page twelve of “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin”, he stated “That felicity, when I reflected on it, has induced me sometimes to say, that were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection to a repetition of the same life from its beginning” (Franklin,12).
This does an effective job showing that Benjamin Franklin, although he was a prominent figure during his time, also had some regrets about the way he chose to live his life at a young age. I felt like …show more content…
He stated in “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin” “this booking inclination at length…” (Franklin 17). This was rare because he tended to read books that did not pertain to religion but rather books for his own pleasure due to his interest in them. As for me, I was merely focused on spreading my way of life rather than feeding on knowledge from someone else. The other aspect that differed from my own is the emphasis that he has placed on family. He stated in “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin” “I think you may like to know something of his person and character” in reference to his father (Franklin 15). He chose to explicitly mention his father and went into depth describing him due to the influence he had, while I , for one, in both my journal and the poem “City on a Hill” neglected to mention my family due to not seeing it as prevalent in expressing my desired views so, due to this, I was surprised by this and found this to contrast with my view of how things should …show more content…
One particular statement that he made was ‘For want of modesty is want of sense” (Franklin 20). This seemed to mean that as a person wants to know what is going on around them across all levels, then the same thing applies to the person wanting to not brag about what is going on. One point that was similar between myself and Benjamin Franklin was when he stated in “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin” “It was about this time I conceiv’d the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection” (Franklin 52) This compares to when I stated “For wee must consider that wee shall be as a city upon a hill” (Winthrop 17). This is similar in the way that both Benjamin Franklin and I wanted to achieve a state of perfection; however, it differed in the way that he strived for individual perfection while I wanted to achieve perfection in the sense of being a model for the other cities to look favorably upon. Another similarity between I and Benjamin Franklin was when Benjamin Franklin stated “on the whole, tho’ I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it” (Franklin 58). This relates to myself because I had visions of a city so full of virtue that I wanted others to imitate it. Due to causing individuals, such as Anne Hutchinson, pain in the instance as stated in the journal when she was brought to trial multiple times and was banished at first from
To start off with, in relation to Benjamin Franklin’s thoughts, on page twelve of “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin”, he stated “That felicity, when I reflected on it, has induced me sometimes to say, that were it offered to my choice, I should have no objection to a repetition of the same life from its beginning” (Franklin,12).
This does an effective job showing that Benjamin Franklin, although he was a prominent figure during his time, also had some regrets about the way he chose to live his life at a young age. I felt like …show more content…
He stated in “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin” “this booking inclination at length…” (Franklin 17). This was rare because he tended to read books that did not pertain to religion but rather books for his own pleasure due to his interest in them. As for me, I was merely focused on spreading my way of life rather than feeding on knowledge from someone else. The other aspect that differed from my own is the emphasis that he has placed on family. He stated in “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin” “I think you may like to know something of his person and character” in reference to his father (Franklin 15). He chose to explicitly mention his father and went into depth describing him due to the influence he had, while I , for one, in both my journal and the poem “City on a Hill” neglected to mention my family due to not seeing it as prevalent in expressing my desired views so, due to this, I was surprised by this and found this to contrast with my view of how things should …show more content…
One particular statement that he made was ‘For want of modesty is want of sense” (Franklin 20). This seemed to mean that as a person wants to know what is going on around them across all levels, then the same thing applies to the person wanting to not brag about what is going on. One point that was similar between myself and Benjamin Franklin was when he stated in “The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin” “It was about this time I conceiv’d the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection” (Franklin 52) This compares to when I stated “For wee must consider that wee shall be as a city upon a hill” (Winthrop 17). This is similar in the way that both Benjamin Franklin and I wanted to achieve a state of perfection; however, it differed in the way that he strived for individual perfection while I wanted to achieve perfection in the sense of being a model for the other cities to look favorably upon. Another similarity between I and Benjamin Franklin was when Benjamin Franklin stated “on the whole, tho’ I never arrived at the perfection I had been so ambitious of obtaining, but fell far short of it” (Franklin 58). This relates to myself because I had visions of a city so full of virtue that I wanted others to imitate it. Due to causing individuals, such as Anne Hutchinson, pain in the instance as stated in the journal when she was brought to trial multiple times and was banished at first from