In Part III of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, Franklin concentrates on his achievements and industry within the society, compared to his style and intent in the preceding parts of the biography. Whereas Part I explored his personal life and upbringing and Part II highlighted virtues for the sake of utility and benefit to society as opposed to being virtuous for the glory of God, Part III seems to list his contributions to society. It seems that Franklin has drifted from his original intention to record his life story for his son to solidify his memory as a founding father in America's history. Franklin explicitly writes in the first paragraph of Part I in a letter to his son “having emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred, to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation in the world…” and yet expresses superiority later in Part III on page 95 when he degrades his own by labeling the Poor Richard’s Almanac as “a proper vehicle for conveying instructions among the common people.”
Does this suggest that Benjamin Franklin has forgotten that he too emerged from the lower classes of society? It was by his hard work, determination, and virtuousness that propelled Franklin from poverty to fame. His intent to publish Poor Richard’s Almanac under a pseudonym strikes me as if he cannot include his own name next to something as common as an almanac “scarce any neighborhood in the province being without it.” Seemingly, Franklin would benefit from the fame of having his name attached to such a household item. But perhaps his reason for publishing it under a different name is a bold statement cutting the bridge from his upbringing to his celebratory status.
While he profited greatly from the almanac, his superiority would grant him a second intent in the publication: the ability to impose his thoughts on virtue within the common people. On page 95, Franklin says “I therefore filled all the little spaces that occurr’d between the remarkable days in the calendar with proverbial sentences, chiefly such as inculcated industry and frugality, as the means of procuring wealth and thereby securing virtue.” Franklin, in Part I in the same letter to his son, he comments on “having gone so far through life with a considerable share of felicity, the conducing means I made use of, which with the blessing of God so well succeeded, my posterity may like to know, as they may find some of them suitable to their own situations, and therefore fit to be imitated.” Imitation of Franklin’s entertaining and useful proverbs may improve the status of “common people” by demonstrating his virtues as a measure of success and a means to prosperity.
Though
Franklin identifies himself as separate from the lower ranks of society by publishing the almanac under a different name, he still has the greater good of the public at heart and seeks to inform them of ways to alleviate their poverty and obscurity through hard work, determination, and a virtuous nature.
1 comment:
Anne, I agree with your argument that Franklin seems to consider himself far too superior to be associated with something as common as the Poor Richard’s Almanac,” and I think the title of the almanac supports this. He certainly didn’t have to entitle it POOR Richard’s Almanac, Richard’s Almanac would have been sufficient. But it seems that he includes the word “poor” just to ensure that people know right away that this is intended for the “common people.” It’s interesting that claims he wanted no credit for the almanac and yet he mentions it in his autobiography. Maybe the word “poor” was added to the title so that if his name did become associated with Poor Richard’s Almanac, people would be well aware of the fact that the book was written for the benefit of the poor, “common people”, not for the members of upper class society who would not find the contents of Poor Richard’s Almanac very useful.
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