In the 8th part of Franklin’s autobiography, he speaks on religion and the way he practices it, and the way I believe he wants us to follow. He states, “…I found them more or less mix’d with other articles, which, without any tendency to inspire, promote, or confirm morality, serv’d principally to divide us, and make us unfriendly to one another.” This was one of the things that turned him off about attending public sessions, because it seemed all in charge were motivated by their own prosperity and who was “better,” and not about the faith itself. He also said, “Tho’ I seldom attended any public worship, I had still an opinion of its propriety, and of its utility when rightly conducted, and I regularly paid my annual subscription for the support of the only Presbyterian minister or meeting we had in Philadelphia.” Here he’s talking about how important he saw giving back to the community even if others views didn’t align with yours. Sure, they were the same faith, but he was motivated by good will, rather than to increase the amount of wealth he had to his name.
In his writings, Franklin likes to supplement the points he makes by alluding to it through a quick story or an anecdote, often involving people he interacted with. For example, when he talks about rarely going to church services, he uses it as an opportunity to further hammer home his point by saying, “These might be all good things; but, as they were not the kind of good things that I expected from that text, I despaired of ever meeting with them from any other, was disgusted, and attended his preaching no more.” By using words of emotion, such as disgusted, he changes the attitude of the reader towards what he’s talking about, and thus swaying them towards what he’s trying to convey.
Great use and explanations of your quotations here. I believe you did a good job of explaining his use of emotion and its appeal to his audience in your second paragraph. Maybe next time try to blatantly write out which quality you are talking about in the first paragraph. Interesting paragraphs!
I agree with you points for the most part. For example the church argument you use, I completely agree with what Franklin is trying to do there. Overall great analysis of the text on your part.
I really liked how you talked about Ben Franklins motivation in your first paragraph and then furthered that idea in the second paragraph by talking about Ben Franklin’s use of emotion. I also like your commentary on how Ben Franklin was self-motivated and did not need religion to guide his views.
Neat.
The quotes used in this blog connected perfectly with what you were trying to get across. I agree with the statement that he was “motivated by goodwill, rather than to increase the amount of wealth he had to his name” because throughout both texts he mentions these virtues and being frugal with money instead of trying to become more wealthy. Great blog post!
I like your points about how he is using stories or anecdotes to support his points or persuade his readers. It’s not surprising that he does so in the *Autobiography* — it is a narrative about his life, after all. But I think you’re right to point to the interplay between stories and arguments he’s making.