Ben Franklin

I believe that Benjamin Franklin is a lot different than the Puritan writers. He has his own individual style when he is writing. I really enjoyed reading Franklin's autobiography and I found it very easy to understand and read. I liked or it more than the puritan writings that we have read earlier in the year. There is one similarity I noticed between Franklin and the Puritans and that is that Franklin is straight to the point when he writes. He didn't really go into too much description in the story but he did inform you about a more things that the puritan's would not. For example, on page on page 108 Franklin informs you about how he saw his future father in law and wife for the first time. This is obviously and important thing but it doesn't seem like the puritan writers would include it in their stories. Such as, Mary Rowlandson . She was straight to the point when she wrote and really did not go into any detail about anything. She only told you what you needed to know to understand the story. I found that boring and I enjoy Franklin's writing style better because he adds more insight to his life and makes him sound more like a real person. While Mary just sounded like she was struggling to remember the story she was telling and as if not a lot happened during her story, but I'm sure a lot of things really happened to her. "I have been the more particular in this description of my journey, and shall be so of my first entry into that city, that you may in your mind compare such unlikely beginnings with the figures I have made since." (Franklin 108) He even admitted to going into great detail. I do think that Franklin is like the Puritan writer Jonathan Edwards, though. In Edward's "Sinners in the Hands of and Angry God" he showed a lot of emotion throughout the story and showed how he felt. Franklin did this as well in his story. Franklin admitted to feeling embarrassed, "Thus I went up Market Street as far as Fourth Street, passing by the door of Mr. Read, my future wife's father; when she, standing at the door, saw me, and thought I made, as I certainly did, a most awkward, ridiculous appearance." (Franklin 108) He admitted to how he felt when he was caring the huge rolls under his arms. This is like Edward's sermon. Edwards was not afraid to show his anger to the people in the church. He yelled at them and didn't think twice about what he was saying. Of course, Edwards is more to the extreme, but Franklin did show his emotion as well. So in a way I can consider Franklin as a little of a Puritan writer. Though I'm pretty sure he is considered a rationalist writer. I think this story is not so much rationalism because Franklin is not trying to prove a point in the story. In other rationalism stories I have read the authors are usually trying to get a point across to the reader. In this story Franklin is just giving you a play by play of events. That reminds me of the puritan writings.

Edwards, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an angry God." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration or Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 82-85. Print.

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. 106-108. Print.