Benjamin Franklin was a polymath. In addition to his world-renowned experiments with electricity, he was almost America's first diplomat and was responsible for France's aiding the new country in its rebellion against Great Britain. He was the American heroic figure of the eighteenth century, even if his critics didn't think so.
Who else would spend over forty years after his retirement devoted to representing the colonies, serving on committee or as a delegate, as well as many other obligations that he took on? If only politicians today would go so far to better our country, our reputation in the world would be secure.
Poor Richard's Almanac was extremely popular at the time because the encouragement it gave to ordinary people was important and truly needed at that difficult time. He stressed that one must work hard to achieve success. Franklin encouraged people to be frugal, to save their earnings and to be careful of even the smallest needless expenses. I especially enjoyed reading that he decided to wear his old coat a little longer instead of buying a new one and encouraged others to do the same in the name of frugality.
It is ironic that due to the great economic crisis that exists today worldwide, we are receiving similar advice to be frugal from financial advisers. However, no one can take Benjamin Franklin's place. He was able to make these points clear to all his readers in a direct and simple manner. His message was all the more effective because it was transmitted through aphorisms that were commonly known and easily understood.
Eva Rosengarten
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Through my eyes, Franklin’s work is brilliant and practical. His maxims, presented through Poor Richard, a made up character, are simple and applicable to daily life. I think his words of wisdom and advice speak for his character, his hard work, and diligence to succeed. In fact, his advice can still be applied to ones life today. Some of the maxims I enjoyed the most were, “the sleeping fox catches no poultry”, “laziness travels so slowly, that poverty soon overtakes him”, “the eye of a master will do more work than both his hands”, “Women and wine, game and deceit, Make the wealth small and the wants great”, “Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship”. Through his writing and through his advice, it is obvious that Franklin was a very committed person, in what ever he did. Till this day, people are trying to figure out how to succeed, numerous authors are coming out with self help books, when the answer is simple, and Franklin addressed it, work hard, don’t depend on others, and don’t spend needlessly trying to impress the people around you. He seemed like a blunt person, and it is evident he was well learned, through his writings we can see different styles of rhetoric being used.
ReplyDeleteIn “Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One”, we see his play with rhetoric. The entire work seemed to be a big satire. Franklin meticulously broke down all the areas in which he felt a King will lose his crown by clumsy actions. What I enjoyed the most was his style in addressing this issue. He wrote about decisions, as if he were the Kings advisor and concluded each section with the effect the choice mentioned will have through confident, and straight to the point diction. Besides Irving, I found Franklin’s prose the most enjoyable, in style, and diction.
I think Ben Franklin was a frustrated teacher. When he wrote “Poor Richard’s Almanac,” his goal was to amuse and enlighten at the same time. The question of how his message was received (if the reader was only amused or enlightened as well), depended on the personality of the reader. If he was closed-minded and arrogant, he was only amused. He probably thought that this information would be helpful to “the other guy.” But if the reader was open-minded and willing to learn, he could use Franklin’s sayings as a tool to improve his life. Some of the sayings are simple to comprehend: “God helps them that help themselves.” Others, however, take some thought: “Many estates are spent in the getting, Since women for tea forsook spinning and knitting, And men for punch forsook hewing and splitting.”
ReplyDeleteBut what they all have in common is that they are timeless. We are familiar with so many of them even today. One that is especially poignant in the current failing economy (which Eva brought up) is “Trusting too much to others’ care is the ruin of many.” I’m sure many of Madoff’s investors wish they had read that one.
Mindy Pigue
What made Benjamin Franklin seem so common to the common people was his life. A husband a father and son and a brother. He was a man of many titles that accomplished many things in his life time. When he delivers the messege to the people about hard work on page 453 "have you somewhat to do tomorrow, do it today". This shows the people that he is hard working and their able to take his advice because that is technically what he did. He didnt want to have his fathers occupation and he was more intelligent than his brtoher. He wanted to do bigger and better things. So he went off by himslef with a little bit of money. Besides all of his experiments with electricity he was known as a finacial advisor and much more. Poeple listened to him and took his advice as important. When he deliverd his own papers on a wheel baroow the common people saw that they can trust him. What I find amusing in Benjamin Franklin is his persistance to work hard. Even after his retirement he worked hard representing people and colonies.He was also one of the founding fathers of the constitutional convention.He was a well respected and powerful man that didnt over stess his power. He was an important herioc figure in the 18 century.Although he wasnt always liked by many critics who didnt trust him because of his eagerness to help and please other people. The poor Ricards Almanac was important to common people this was an advisory on how to survive and make it through the rough road of tough economy.
ReplyDeleteBenjamin Franklin’s “The Way to Wealth” was truly enjoyable to read. His proverbs and wordplays are cleverly phrased and simple enough for the “common man” to understand. Under the assumption of “Poor Richard” or sometimes “Poor Dick” (which makes the text amusing and easy to grasp the rhetoric) the reader is given advice which is implied that if not taken seriously may have dire consequences. Benjamin Franklin does not seem to hold the Puritan belief of Providence (like Mary Rowlandson) for example he (or rather Poor Richard) says “God helps them that helps themselves” (452). This seems to be the opposite of the Puritan belief. He seems to be advising the reader to look at life from a realistic point of view and to not use God as an excuse for not doing something. This proverb advocates the practical aspect of life, do not expect that God will do everything (there is no plan) it is up to the reader to create their own path in life.
ReplyDeleteThe writings of Benjamin Franklin reflect a man who believes in high ethical values for himself and in his society. He seems to have valued simple things in life and saw the “artificial wants of mankind” (454) as superfluous. My personal favorite of all the aphorisms is “for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost, being overtaken and slain by the enemy; all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail.” It is interesting that the proverbs are timeless; they could have been applied to life in the 18th century as well as life today. They were clearly aimed at the improvement of society then and could definitely be used our society now.
I read Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography for my English seminar class last semester. The ENTIRE class agreed that although he was a very accomplished man, he was also one of the most arrogant men ever to live on the face of the earth. I know, I know, it sounds really harsh. But, seriously! If you read his autobiography, you'd feel the same. All he did was boast about his accomplishments and boast about his accomplishments, oh, and did some more boasting about his accomplishments :) But yea, it was still an interesting read. I had no idea Benjamin Franklin contributed so many things to society.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I DO agree with Eva about why Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanac was so accepted and successful. His advice appealed to basically everyone regardless of status or class. This is advice we could definitely use in today's economic crisis. (I wonder if people actually listened to Franklin then... and I wonder if Franklin lived today and said all this stuff if we would listen to him...)
oh. little jane= jane hwang.
ReplyDeletesorry guys~
"Poor Richard's Almanac" is an ode to simple living, self-reliance, and all things that make up Franklin's idea of the American Dream. While going through the proverbs one really begins to understand why he was chosen as the face of the one hundred dollar bill: Franklin was an economist, he understood the value of money, and better yet, he respected it. His words encompass his vision of America as a nation of wealth and self-reliance. In his "Necessary Hints to Those that Would be Rich", Franklin touches upon the very American notion that "time is money", and that time gone wasted is the same as throwing money "into the sea". I liked "Poor Richard's Almanac" best out of rest of the works because it was simple enough to be understood, yet clever enough to make you think about one's own habits; it helps in sorting out what is wasteful and efficient about our own lives.
ReplyDeleteDiana Sanchez
As I was reading “The Way to Wealth” I couldn’t help but to notice how Franklin’s writing has withstand the hands of time. If someone told me that this writing was written by a current author I would believed it. “The Way to Wealth” for me was funny, straightforward and most important insightful. It made me want to wake up at 4a.m.
ReplyDelete(Of course I didn’t!). Little quotes like “A small leak will sink a great ship” were amazing, simple but with lots of information in it, it gave you something to think about. Though as a woman I did find a line that wasn’t too kind for my kind “Women and wine, game and deceit, make the wealth small and the wants great”. It is obvious why I have a problem with this line, wine is not that expensive!
Over all the writings were funny and in all seriousness it did motivate me as im sure it did with its original readers in the mid 1700s.
"...be ashamed to catch yourself idle," (453). I feel that this is an important line becasue it seems to really capture the essence of what Franklin is talking about in "The Way to Wealth." He keeps going on and on about how one should always be in the middle of something productive, otherwise valuable time is wasted and time should never be wasted. According to Franklin, leisure time should be full of productiveness as well and is created from leading a productive life whereas laziness is created from filling ones time in idle nothingness. It is the idleness that creates problems for people becasue of the lack of production. THe whole essay seems as if it were meant a a sort of inspirational speech; trying to inspire people to get out of their stop bad habits and lead more full lives.
ReplyDeleteIndeeed Benjamin Franklin was a scientist, a diplomat and a revolutionary. As a scientist he did experiments in physics, like diplomat he was involved in the negotations between England and America; he was nominated by the continental congress in order to redact the independent treaty. He counseled the people to get a good education in order to avoid being enslaved by the monarchy and religion.He was himself the better example of what he predicated. A good education provided him wealth, knowledge, and autonomy. One of his greates achievement was sponsoring Thomas Paine to come from England to America. He supported Thomas Paine during the revolutionary wars. He could be considered a one of the best American writers of his time also.
ReplyDeleteBen Franklin's reading intro reminded me a little of the Columus reading because I had one idea of Franklin and now find out his other attributes. I, too, was suprised that Benjamin Franklin's passion was science. I just thought he wrote part of the Declaration of Independance.It was interesting to learn that he inveted the stove and took an interest in electricity. The description about how he was "confident that he could profit from lessons learned and not repeat them". this is a great lesson for all of us. In fact, most of try to learn from our mistakes.I guess that is how Benjamin became so successful. As the previous commentor, I noted that him and Thomas Paine were friends and Paine used his writings as well.
ReplyDeleteBeing frugal and being able to manage money is a good thing, but very hard to accomplish. This is another example that shows the stregnth of Ben. Most of us, even with the economy going down, we spend. I know I do.
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ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading "The Way to Wealth". And considering the social and economic situations of today, this message resounds with a wisdom desperately needed to be heard. He piece touches upon the necessitous nature of frugality and the uselessness of conspicuous consumption. Not for nothing, but in the news we heard of people complaining about the unnecessary extravagance at the Oscars during a time when many are struggling to save their homes.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Luigia, those struggling with bad credit and mortgage problems should read this piece. It won't give them the technical advice on how to rectify their current situations, but it could perhaps help reign in whatever drove them into the ending they grew accustomed to.
-Umbreen
I've read Benjamin Franklin's autobiography as well, and both there and his Poor Richards Almanac are great examples of his wit in endeavoring to communicate morals and a way of life to Americans in this newly established country.
ReplyDeleteLacking a direction in terms of affairs and living -- unsure of how Americans qua Americans were supposed to comport themselves in the modern era -- Benjamin Franklin fulfilled this hole in two ways. First, as a diplomat and representative of his country to the rest of the world, he conveyed the ideas of an American economy and ideas. He demonstrated that America is a force to be reckoned with -- economically and ideologically -- and that America was important to the affairs of nations worldwide. Second, internally, he showed Americans a way of life, a method of coping and existing, via his personal comportment and his writings. These last distilled the wisdom of the ages into pithy aphorisms and easily identifiable maxims.