Ben Franklin Bio

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Matt Sutherland Hius 221 Essay Assignment – Ben Franklin’s Auto Biography Question: One of the over-arching themes in Franklin’s Autobiography is that of self-improvement. Franklin intends for his own experience to serve as a model for others. Discuss key ways that Franklin presents his story as an illustration of self-improvement. Is he successful in the attempt? What motivates him toward this attempt? Does he strike you as a self-promoter or a genuinely benevolent man desirous of helping others? In your answer, use specific examples from the book to illustrate your points. Ben Franklin, one of the founding fathers of America, was a man who lived his life to its full potential. As he grew older and wiser, Ben Franklin became a role model for government officials, early colonists, and future citizens of the United States of America. The theme throughout the auto biography of Ben Franklin is Ben Franklin’s progression of self improvement, and the model he left behind for people to follow. Ben Franklin helped build the foundation of America, and in return his impact on early America has withstood the test of time. Ben Franklin’s childhood could be described as a normal one. Ben Franklin was the youngest of seventeen children, and his father was a tallow chandler. At an early age, Franklin began working as an apprentice at his brother’s printing shop. Franklin began to help his brother print newspapers for the “New England Courant” until he and his brother began to fight, and Franklin moved to Pennsylvania to begin printing his own newspaper “The Pennsylvania Gazette”. This part of Ben Franklin’s life may seem insignificant to his later accomplishments, but I think this experience working with his brother, and how their relationship unfolded shows the reader how Franklin showed determination to continuously search for opportunities to improve himself. I
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