Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin

Introduction

The book, 'The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin' is one of the most fascinating books in the history. The book is not organized in the manner in which most autobiographies are written; however, it includes most of the significant periods on which the book is written. The book does not cover the whole life of Benjamin Franklin and is incomplete. There are many episodes of the life of Benjamin that are missing. This paper will discuss the book as to how unified it is and the time period that it took Franklin to complete the book.

Discussion

Franklin started writing the book in the 1770s. He was in his sixties in this era when he started writing the book. This part of his book is addressed to his son. He poses as if he is writing a letter and also covers a huge section of his early life. In this part of the paper, Franklin has made sure that he introduces the readers with his early life. He has written about his life from birth till the time he got married in 1730. The discussion of his early life is very interesting. He has discussed his relation with his father and his brothers.

The book is unified in the first part as his early life is discussed. He has mentioned that he was included in the family business of his father, but he did not like it. He was much interested in going to the sea, but was discouraged by his parents. His father soon learned that Franklin does not like the family business and would run to the sea if he continues with the business. His relationship with his brothers was also not good; therefore, he had no one with whom he could share his sorrows and joys.

The second part of the book includes a couple of letters from the acquaintances who requested Franklin to finish his biography. One of them was Abel James who said, “…what will the world say if kind, humane, and benevolent Ben. Franklin should leave his friends and the world deprived of so pleasing and profitable a work; a work which would be useful and entertaining not only to a few, but millions?” (Franklin, 2008, p. 46). The second acquaintance was Vaughn and he said, “…Sir, I solicit the history of your life from the following motives: Your history is so remarkable, that if you ...