Nicholas Marshall

1-24-2002

Composition II

 

High School Seniors Should Read Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography

 

High School Seniors are in a unique position.  They are on the threshold of adulthood; they need to start thinking seriously now more than ever about how they are going to live the rest of their lives.  Many leave home without guidance, either because they didn’t listen to their parents or their parents never told them.  Where then are they going to get tips and pointers toward being successful?  The answer is in Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography.  High School Seniors should be required to read Franklin’s Autobiography.

Franklin’s Autobiography provides a clear illustration of how personal industry can be used to one’s own advantage.  Seniors in High School are neither children nor adults and are caught between the two.  Many are used to having parents constantly about to help and cleanup after them.  Franklin was still a young man when he went on to Philadelphia by himself (Franklin, 19).  He had nothing except for the clothes on his back and three puffy rolls to get him self established in a new city (Franklin, 20).

In the early days of Franklin’s printing business, he presents an excellent example of being industrious.  Through his hard work Franklin gained a reputation of being a hard worker and was able to get business.  One individual so impressed with Franklin said “I see him at work when I go home from Club; and he is at Work again before his Neighbors are out of bed”(Franklin, 49).  The result is that Franklin’s reputation grew and he then received many offers that would help him in his business (Franklin, 49).  Being a hard worker and letting others know you are a good worker allows people to be trusted with more sooner, and they will already be accustomed to hard work when it is required of them.

Franklin provides another example of his industrious habits when he worked at the print shop in London.  He worked harder than his coworkers and didn’t drink or party much.  As a result he was stronger and able to work harder and better than those he worked with.  As an example, he was able to carry two boxes of type at a time when the rest could only carry one box at a time of type (Franklin, 36).

I myself have had experiences where being industrious has helped me.  During all four years of High School I got up at five o’clock in the morning.  This gave me extra time in the mornings to take care of work or projects that required more time.  I was able to get more things done in the same twenty-four hour period than others.  As a result my work was of better quality and my grades were higher and my achievements many.  All of this can be attributed to being industrious or working hard.

Industry is only half of Franklin’s message.  In an essay entitled “The Autobiography and the American Dream,” J.A. Leo Lemay speaks of the American dream as industry combined with self-improvement to advance in society (Lemay, 350).  Franklin spends a lot of time explaining his formula for self-improvement and mostly everything he did was to achieve his goal of virtue.

One of the focuses in Franklin’s Autobiography is on improving his mind.  Franklin starts up his own philosophical society to be a “School of Philosophy, Morals, and Politics”(Franklin, 48).  He called his philosophy school the Junto (Franklin, 47).  Through his club he was able to refine his skills of argument and was also able to instigate change for the better.  It was through the Junto that Franklin came up with the idea of starting a prescription library.  In Franklin’s book he comments on the affects of the libraries that arose after his original library by saying, “These Libraries have improv’d the general Conversation of the Americans, made the common Tradesmen and Farmers as intelligent as most Gentlemen from other Countries”(Franklin, 57).  This arose because the mind was of such importance to Franklin.

Franklin’s book should be read because he does more than just say that everyone should improve in certain areas.  He says what needs to be done, provides a model and then tells how he progressed.  He does this most explicitly with his quest to attain a higher degree of virtue.

The first thing Franklin did was to sit down and define exactly what he wanted to improve and he made a list (Franklin, 67-68).  Then he came up with a chart to track his progress (Franklin, 69).  He even tells how he did and which ones he had trouble with such as when Franklin tells us that he “found myself incorrigible with respect to Order,” (Franklin, 73).  Yet he was successful in most of what he did, he may never of gotten completely perfect but he did improve considerably.

Not everyone agrees that Franklin was such a great person or that everyone should read his Autobiography.  Mark Twain thought too many people turned to Franklin for everything.  Franklin was arrogant and too free with his advice.  He said in his essay “The Late Benjamin Franklin” that boys could not do anything without having “Benjamin Franklin thrown up to them” (Twain, 272).  Twain contended in his essay that Franklin was born a genius and that his behavior did not in any way make him a genius (Twain, 274).

Franklin may have been arrogant but he sort of had a right to be.  His methods worked, and he has the right because of the dramatic change he made in his life.  He went from being poor to being extremely wealthy.  Franklin also practiced what he preached.  With his coworkers in the London print shop, he said this is what I’m doing try it and see how it works (Franklin, 37).  Franklin did the same thing for his quest for self-improvement (Franklin, 67-69).

Another problem people have with The Autobiography by Benjamin Franklin is that it is boring and hard to read.  Franklin uses Latin phrases, a language now considered dead (Franklin, 70).  Franklin also uses his own version of spellings for several words and his vocabulary is just so different, he does it so often there is whole section in modern additions of the text just to translate them (Franklin, 148-152).  Another contention is that the world has changed significantly in about three hundred years and that the book is no longer relevant to our time.  All of these are weak arguments against reading the book.

Not everything a person does is going to be fun, which does not make it any less valid or important.  An example of this is reading in the Bible.  This book is not easy to read, nor is it always easy to understand.  Nevertheless it is still the most read book in Christian nations.  College course work is not always easy but it is important.  In order for a person to grow, he or she must be challenged.  And if nothing else, reading the book can help someone learn to just bite the bullet and do something no matter how much you don’t like it.

In conclusion, High School Seniors should be required to read Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography.  It provides added guidance and advice to live by.  Franklin provides a form to follow.  He is a good example of how industry coupled with self-improvement can dramatically improve someone’s life.  The benefits of the book far outweigh any criticisms of the man or the book.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Franklin, Benjamin.  The Autobiography. Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography.  Ed. J.A. Leo Lemay and P.M. Zall.  New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1986. 1-146.

Lemay, J.A. Leo.  “Franklin’s Autobiography and the American Dream.” Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography.  Ed. J.A. Leo Lemay and P.M. Zall.  New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1986.  349-360.

Twain, Mark  “The Late Benjamin Franklin.” Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography.  Ed. J.A. Leo Lemay and P.M. Zall.  New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1986.  272-274.