26/9/07 - English Literature - The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was one of America's founding fathers. He was born in 1706 and died in 1790. He wrote his Autobiography on and off for eighteen years, which accounts for some of its oddities. It is a retrospective account so it is not reliable as an accurate document.

Franklin was an important man: he was a public figure, an inventor, and a generally good all-rounder. He came from humble origins; his father was a candle maker. His is a typical rags-to-riches story. European eighteenth century culture did not allow for such social mobility, but America's did. Franklin's Autobiography is addressed to his son, and is formed as a manual to young people on how to be a successful, as well as a good man in the world.

So what makes the Autobiography so important? What are its literary qualities?

'Autobiography' literally means self (auto) life (bio) writing (graphie) in Greek etymology. It is defined as the account of the self written by the self. One critic said we should first define what is not autobiography, such as a diary or journal. Autobiography is a single coherent work (note that Franklin's autobiography does not conform to this definition). Autobiography is retrospective, so a detailed diary entry on the immediate past would not conform to the autobiographical type. In certain parts of Franklin's autobiography it is likely that the narrative has been heightened or that it is completely fictional, simply for dramatic effect (e.g. the account of his wife seeing him as a young penniless boy). This is why the Autobiography is considered to be a literary work. There are in fact many contrivances in many works that are labelled 'non-fiction'.

Franklin's Autobiography amplifies and exaggerates parts of the life it relates. It plays on the ideas of the Puritan stories of the south. It is based on the idea that Puritan accounts of the self repress the personal opinions of the individual. This is known as the 'effacement of "I" in Puritan narrative.' In it, the individual's will is subservient to the will of God. Franklin, in his Autobiography, clearly believes in the sovereign self over God. He imposes his own will on all his circumstances, which is different to the Puritanical belief of suppression of the will. Franklin considered himself to be self-made; he did not attribute his success to divine intervention.

This indicates a shift in belief towards Enlightenment thought. The modern idea of the value of the individual's ability to distinguish themselves in the world is still inherent in our society. While Puritans thought that people were naturally riddled with original sin, Franklin says that individuals have the capacity to be moral or not by will. He believed that he never 'became' moral because he was already a 'tolerable' person. He tries to justify his own views in moving away from Puritanism. He has a regimented form of viewing his own actions and deeds, possibly because he felt under pressure to come up with, or justify, a new secular rationing. His is the bourgeois adaptation of the Puritan genre of spiritual narrative. Franklin celebrates industry, thrift and temperance, which benefit him in a material way rather than a religious way. His hard work helps him toward a life of material success and public recognition. This is known as the 'Protestant work ethic' and it is based on self-determination and self-advancement.

"The peculiarity of this philosophy of avarice appears to be the ideal of the honest man of recognized credit, and above all the idea of a duty of the individual toward the increase in his capital, which is assumed as an end in itself. Truly what is here preached is not simply a means of making one’s way in the world, but a peculiar ethic … Now, all Franklin’s moral attitudes are coloured with utilitarianism. Honesty is useful, because it assures credit; so are punctuality, industry, frugality, and that is the reason they are virtues … According to Franklin, those virtues, like all others, are only in so far virtues as they are actually useful to the individual, and the surrogate of mere appearance is always sufficient when it accomplishes the end in view."
[Max Weber, from ‘The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism’ in L. Lemay and P. Zall (eds) Norton Critical Edition of Ben Franklin’s Autobiography. New York, 1986. 282-83]

The philosophy of the time was about capitalism, the so-called 'philosophy of avarice', or 'utilitarianism.' In part of the Autobiography Franklin lists the virtues, ways to be good. He forms a table of temperance as a kind of governance. His scheme is formulaic, probably because he had moved away from Puritanism and wanted to set up his own rules to follow. He details, in essence, how to get on in a new capitalist economy. Eighteenth century culture underwent great social changes, recorded in his autobiography. The book is not so much about Franklin but the ways in which culture shapes an individual - the culture is most important here. It allowed Franklin to become a success. The Autobiography shows the transformation of American economy through the lens of a successful man. It is presented as a 'self-help' book; it is instructional. For Franklin, the self-determination of the individual is concurrent with the self-determination of the American nation, both aiming for individuality and independence. America is defined as a 'self-made' nation.

The book is quintessentially and uniquely 'American', with its focus on social possibility, its egalitarianism, which reflect the aspirations of the 'American dream.' The book is dynamic because it is less class-determined than Europe.

The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald, written in 1925, is a classic on the American dream. It, too, is the story of a self-made man; Gatsby. It questions how Gatsby does this. At the end, we read Gatsby's schedule and it is extraordinarily similar to Franklin's table in its rigorous self-discipline. It encompasses the idea that any humble American can rise to great material success.