The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - Reflection

Benjamin Franklin's writing style is most definitely different from the previous writing styles we have looked at this year. Compared to other writers like Anne Bradstreet and William Bradford, Ben Franklin's writing style takes a more rational approach. For example, going back to Anne Bradstreet's Upon the Burning of Our House, Bradstreet talks a lot about God and how material things mean nothing to her anymore. "There's wealth enough, I need no more," and "My hope and treasure lies above," are two great examples of how she portrays this (Bradstreet 91). Anne Bradstreet has great faith in God and believes that life on earth is not a permanent thing, but that she will one day go to heaven and it will not matter how much money she has, etc. You can tell that this was written in the Puritan/Pilgrim time period for many reasons. First of all, in this time period, everything pretty much revolved around God and the church. That is why Bradstreet makes so many references to God and is not near as rational as Ben Franklin. Rationalism had not yet come during this time. Also, this was before the time of Enlightenment. Enlightenment changed the way that people thought about nature, God, and society. It was a time in which knowledge and rationalism became more important, rather than just thinking about God and the church. Another writer that reflected the Puritan/Pilgrim time was William Bradford. Like Anne Bradstreet, Bradford also makes many references to God in the passage, Of Plymouth Plantation. For example, the statement "as by God's good providence, they did"(Bradford 64). These are just two writers that wrote during this time period. Another difference that I noticed is that Ben Franklin noted things like the places and times. He wrote down details whereas the other writers did not note things like that. "Then one of the company knew the place to be Cooper's Creek,"(Franklin 108) is an example of how Franklin adds these little details in the passage. Another thing that I believe changed drastically during the rationalism period is the fact that you could go to different churches and not be criticized for it. In The Autobiography of Ben Franklin, there is a paragraph in which Ben Franklin walks into a Quaker meeting and just falls asleep."I joined them, and was thereby was led into a great meeting-house of Quakers"(Franklin 108). Back in the time of Puritan styles you had to go to your church and your church only. That is why it is really interesting and kind of cool that Ben Franklin just went in and sat down. That is kind of a big deal and shows a great difference between the two time periods. As you can see, there are many differences between Ben Franklin's writing style and other writers that wrote in the time of Puritan practice. However, with those differences comes many similarities as well. Rationalism was a big change in society because it changed the way people thought and it also changed the way that we wrote as well.

Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 104- 108. Print.

Bradstreet, Anne. Upon the Burning of our House. Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 91. Print.

Bradford, William. Of Plymouth Plantation. Comp. Jefferey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw- Hill Companies,2009. 64-67. Print.