The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin Literary Elements

Autobiography

18th century Boston and Philadelphia

First person, from the perspective of Benjamin Franklin.

Varies. In the first part, it is matter-of-fact, plucky, arrogant, cheerful, self-aware; the mood is light-hearted, nostalgic, and optimistic. In the later parts, it is reflective, self-assured, serious, skeptical; the mood is apprehensive,

Protagonist: Benjamin Franklin. Antagonist: several, including his brother James, Keimer, the Proprietaries.

There are several. Will young Franklin make it on his own and succeed? Will he achieve moral perfection? Will he help the colony of Pennsylvania?

Franklin achieves enough success that he is sent to London as a representative of the colonies.

-Upon arriving for the first time in Philadelphia, Franklin mentions seeing Miss Read in the doorway; he says she will be his future wife (25)
-Franklin says he never expected to stand before kings, but that he will in the future (79)

-Much of what Franklin says is understated, downplaying his profound civic presence. He seems very humble about his positions, influential relationships, meetings with kings, etc.

-Cotton Mather, a prominent Puritan theologian (7)
-Sir Isaac Newton, a famous scientist, discoverer of gravity and the laws of motion (43)
-John Dryden, a famous English poet and literary critic (57)
-Plutarch's Lives, a 2nd century collection of biographies of famous men (75)
-Sancho Panza, a character from Don Quixote (133)

See Imagery section of this ClassicNote.

-This line is paradoxical: "For even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome [pride], I should probably be proud of my humility" (93). It is paradoxical that one would be proud of being humble.

N/A.

Metonymy:
"There were canoes on the shore, and we made signs, and hallow'd that they should fetch us; but they either did not understand us, or thought it impracticable, so they went away, and night coming on, we had no remedy but to wait till the wind should abate; and, in the meantime, the boatman and I concluded to sleep, if we could..." (23)

Synecdoche:
"...and the hazardous situations I was sometimes in among strangers, remote from the eye and advice of my father..." (57)

-"Most people dislike vanity in others, whatever share they have of it themselves; but I give it fair quarter wherever I meet with it, being persuaded that it is often productive of good to the possessor, and to others that are within his sphere of action..." (4)
-"Habit took advantage of inattention. Inclination was sometimes too strong for reason" (82)
-"One of our common acquaintance jocosely remark'd, that, knowing it to be the custom of the saints, when they received any favour, to shift the burden of the obligation from off their own shoulders, and place it in heaven, I had contriv'd to fix it on earth" (108)