FRANKLIN

In Franklin's autobiography he starts by telling why he is writing his stories down and where he came from.  He does mention in this chapter vanity and the importance of it, which I think becomes necessary later in the book.  He ends the chapter with the beginning tails of his journey to Philadelphia and how truly difficult it was for him.  In the second chapter we see Franklin's first few days in Philadelphia once he has gotten there.  We also learn about his first job at the printing house.  In chapter six there are two letters praising Franklin and basically pleading with him to finish book.  Franklin then goes on to talk about virtues which he finds important and talks about how he does with them in his own life.

Franklin's virtues which he writes down is what jumps out at me in this writing.  Now let's think about who Franklin was and how he chose to spend his time.  Having these virtues, which we all know he didn't really come close to following on a regular basis, shows me the hilarity in who Franklin was. Franklin was looked up to, as mentioned in the letters, by the youth of this country(well as much possible for that time).  He was urged to write his stories down because of all that he had done.  Honestly, someone from my time comes to mind when I think about who the youth look up to but in all reality isn't really THAT great of a guy....Tiger Woods. Every child wanted to be like Tiger and come from nothing and be famous and get paid well, have a super model wife with children who are gorgeous. Then he failed, which as discussed in my "Sot-weed Factor" post, Americans love.  I see this theme again in Franklin in that he begins the story as a runaway indentured servant and builds himself up through hard work into someone to be respected, but what I wonder is: did Americans then want to see him fail?  Did people really oversee his indiscretions just because of who he was?  I don't think that anyone should get away with the things they have done just because they are well known.

I was touched in the beginning of his autobiography by Franklin pointing this straight to his son.  Franklin also discusses how in his time people felt they had to listen to their elders even if they weren't interested in what their elders were saying.  He then said he wrote his stories down because then he wasn't forcing anyone to listen to him.  Honestly, I think this is one of the smartest things he could have done.  My father has told me a ton of stories and looking back I wasn't always interested when he was telling me those stories, but now I wish that I had listened better so that I could tell my family about my father.  If my father documented all of his stories and where he came from and what he did, anyone in my family could go back and read those stories when they could truly appreciate everything that was done.

I also think that with Franklin stating in the first three paragraphs in the book that vanity should be a gift that people thank god for I actually had some respect for him.  Although I don't agree with that, at least he can say he knows he's vain.  I thought the first part of the book was nice in that he told his stories as they happened, and in the 6th chapter he added he letters and his thoughts on those virtues that were "important" to him.  When I was reading the end of the book I remembered the part where Franklin talked about being vain and how he thought it was good.  At least I know that him being vain is part of who he is and what his beliefs are.