The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Paper Summary:

In this report the author centers on the positive aspects of Benjamin Franklin's autobiography. He describes how Franklin overcame early challenges, such as poor math and grammar and how he presented the idea that a combination of constitution and through the sheer force of will, any disability or disadvantage can be overcome. The author describes that for Benjamin Franklin there was but one definition of success, that, of course, was his definition. He highlights that perhaps more important than this single-mindedness is the idea that with enough work, enough study and enough sacrifice anybody can reach his ideal of what it is to be a successful American. The author concludes that Benjamin Franklin was the epitome of the neoclassical age of reason and his thoughts were both liberating and prohibitory.

From the Paper:

"First, a man whose works he read and respected was a vegetarian. Obviously, if so am great a person is a vegetarian, than there must be something about being a vegetarian that was good, and Franklin decided he wanted to be great like Toyon. A simple case of "monkey see_monkey do." The second reason he did it appears to be to save money. This was a good way for the curious, young Franklin to get more money to buy books. Thirdly, it seems like an attempt to improve his constitutions. He clearly implies in the last sentence that sacrificing meat, or anything else, makes for a better person. He believed that giving up meat made him smarter. An added bonus was that the time not spent eating with his family, or going out, gave him more time to study his math and his grammar."

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