from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

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from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

• from Poor Richards Almanack

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Background

• Benjamin Franklin arrived in the city of
  Philadelphia in 1723 at the age of seventeen.
• He knew no one, and he had little money and fewer
  possessions.
• However, his accomplishments shaped the city in
  ways that are still visible today.

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Franklins Accomplishments

• He helped to establish Philadelphias public
  library and fire department.
• He helped to develop the citys first college.
• Through his efforts, Philadelphia became the
  first city in the colonies to have street lights.
• While Franklin was a brilliant man, some of his
  success can be attributed to sheer
  self-discipline which we will explore in this
  excerpt from his Autobiography.

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Literary Analysis

• An autobiography is the story of a persons life.
• Autobiography was a new form of literature when
  Benjamin Franklin wrote The Autobiography.
• His work helped set the rules for this new type
  of writing.

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Autobiography

• An Autobiography presents events in a persons
  life according to how that person sees them.
• An autobiography can give personal views of
  history. Information about the politics, habits,
  ideas, and values of a society can be found in
  autobiographies.

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Reading Strategy

• Franklin tells his readers details about his
  life.
• He explains his goals and interests.
• You can draw conclusions about Franklin and his
  life.
• A conclusion is an opinion you reach by pulling
  together facts and details.

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Drawing Conclusions

• Use this pattern for drawing conclusions about
  Franklins character while you read.
• Details Franklin changes his plan when he sees
  he is not meeting his goals.
• Personal Experience You also thought of a
  different way to meet a goal that was not being
  met.
• Conclusion Franklin makes adjustments to meet
  his goals.

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Literary Focus First Person Point of View

• Benjamin Franklin writes his story using the
  pronoun I using the first person point of view.
• A first person point of view shows events from
  the narrators perspective.
• When a story is told from the first person point
  of view, two important things happen
• First, we share directly the narrators thoughts
  and feelings
• Second, we know only what the narrator knows.

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Reading Skill Making Inferences

• Making inferences is like being a detective.
• You use your own experiences and knowledge as
  well as evidence from the text to make
  inferences, or educated guesses, about what is
  happening.

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Making Inferences
Evidence Franklin gave What little money he had
to Some people on the boat.
Inference Franklin is a generous Man. He is
willing To help people Who need money
Knowledge Giving money is Always generous.
My Experience My brother Gave me the money I
needed To buy a new CD.
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Into the Autobiography

• Franklin began The Autobiography when he was
  sixty-five.
• He continued working on it off and on until his
  death, at eighty-four, leaving it unfinished.

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Summary

• Franklin is working on a plan to reach moral
  perfection.
• He will work on thirteen virtues or qualities.
• Franklin writes the virtues in a notebook to see
  how well he is doing.
• He makes a black mark beside a virtue every time
  he forgets to follow it.
• He works on a different virtue each week.
• Franklin thinks his plan is helpful but not
  completely successful.

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from Poor Richards Almanack - Summary

• Franklin gives advice about how people should
  behave.
• He presents his thoughts in aphorisms, or short
  sayings with a message.
• Many of his aphorisms come from traditional folk
  sayings.
• Sayings such as Well done is better than well
  said tell something about Franklin and what he
  values.