Autobiography of Ben Franklin Book Review Essay Example
Ben Franklin Book Review
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a man of many trades, including an inventor, printer, scientist, educator, and politician among many other professions. During the summer of 1771, he started writing his autobiography to his son so that he would be able to learn of his father’s life travels and experiences. Throughout the autobiography, which Franklin refers to as Memoirs, we see how a young man matures into an adult, changing from profession to profession, and how he influences many people along the way. Franklin was truly an innovative individual, bright and original, and also a tremendously decent man.
Ben Franklin frequently refers to the theme of virtue and how he was a virtuous man. Over the years Franklin collected numerous desirable qualities he had heard from persons or read in literature. He wanted to make note of these assets, but thought that many of these had too many or too few under the same idea and were somewhat confusing. This instigated Franklin to categorize them in his own way, dividing out the ideas into his “Thirteen Virtues”. Franklin, was a kind hearted man, decent, and did have high morals. Franklin does note in his autobiography that he strived to be virtuous in character. He wanted to live his life without any faults and was fascinated with improving himself with admirable qualities. This is evident when Franklin states, “It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection,” (pg 93). Franklin does go on to reveal that it was not as easy as he first thought it would be, but he would put together a method for learning and performing his virtues to the fullest extent.
Benjamin Franklin, along with being a worthy human being, was an extremely ingenious person as well. Franklin was a very clever man, intellectual and witty, and he did not let his ideas go to waste. Franklin was often intrigued when he would learn new ideas from books he read during his
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was a man of many trades, including an inventor, printer, scientist, educator, and politician among many other professions. During the summer of 1771, he started writing his autobiography to his son so that he would be able to learn of his father’s life travels and experiences. Throughout the autobiography, which Franklin refers to as Memoirs, we see how a young man matures into an adult, changing from profession to profession, and how he influences many people along the way. Franklin was truly an innovative individual, bright and original, and also a tremendously decent man.
Ben Franklin frequently refers to the theme of virtue and how he was a virtuous man. Over the years Franklin collected numerous desirable qualities he had heard from persons or read in literature. He wanted to make note of these assets, but thought that many of these had too many or too few under the same idea and were somewhat confusing. This instigated Franklin to categorize them in his own way, dividing out the ideas into his “Thirteen Virtues”. Franklin, was a kind hearted man, decent, and did have high morals. Franklin does note in his autobiography that he strived to be virtuous in character. He wanted to live his life without any faults and was fascinated with improving himself with admirable qualities. This is evident when Franklin states, “It was about this time I conceived the bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection,” (pg 93). Franklin does go on to reveal that it was not as easy as he first thought it would be, but he would put together a method for learning and performing his virtues to the fullest extent.
Benjamin Franklin, along with being a worthy human being, was an extremely ingenious person as well. Franklin was a very clever man, intellectual and witty, and he did not let his ideas go to waste. Franklin was often intrigued when he would learn new ideas from books he read during his