More on Ben Franklin

     I thought I'd say a little bit more about Ben Franklin after discussing him a little bit on Monday in sections.  A lot of people in class didn't seem to like his autobiography at all because of his tone of arrogance and pride.  I agree that there definitely is some arrogance in the ways he talks about things and tells of all his accomplishments.  However, I didn't notice too much of this until Part 2, when he talks about trying to be morally perfect, his position as postmaster general, etc.  I think one of the strangest things, like Athena mentioned in her blog, is how he talks about the death of his four year old son due to smallpox for about 3 sentences and immediately afterwards, goes on about his Junto club.  Maybe he doesn't dwell on his son's death for long because it is so painful to him and he doesn't want to emphasize this in his autobiography, but I felt that he unintentionally makes the reader feel like this was a minor event in his life compared to these other large, lofty accomplishments that he goes on to talk about.  I do think that he is a great embodiment of the American Dream, though, in how he constantly is pursuing learning, inventing new things, looking for ways to make Philadelphia better, and striving to better himself as a person.  Instead of waiting for things to happen and make life easier, he finds solutions on his own, and his actions end up benefiting a lot of people.  I like how he isn't hesitant to do things and go places.  He's willing to experience as much as possible in life.  One part of the American Dream he doesn't seem as concerned with is the materialistic part.  He seems like he values knowledge and learning more than having fancy things.  However, he was writing an autobiography, not a journal.  As a whole, though, I thought Benjamin Franklin's writing was interesting for the most part, even if he was arrogant.  His autobiography gives a really good sense of what life was like around the time of the Revolution.