Benjamin Franklin - Some Important Points
Benjamin Franklin, whose life spanned almost all of the eighteenth century, is a person of whom almost all people worldwide have heard from the time they are very young.
What is your earliest image of Franklin?
While Franklin was from Boston, he never was a Puritan Bostonian. He learned five or six languages and was widely traveled. Franklin is responsible for a number of important modern inventions and discoveries: bifocals, the Franklin stove, paving streets, the lightening rod, volunteer fire departments, subscription libraries, the magazine, the odometer, and fire insurance.
His Autobiography, which has never been out of print since 1791, begins as a family document, but by the time it was completed, he knew it would become public, so there are two voices in it: that of a concerned father and that of an international celebrity (or as one of my professors put it, a KBS -- Known Big Shot).
As you read the Autobiography, look for examples of the private and public voices.
Back to syllabus.