The Personality of Benjamin Franklin

The Personality of Benjamin Franklin

The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is the story of his life written in

the first person. All experiences in the book are told from Ben"s point of

view. There is a slight possibility that not all of this information is exactly

true, or if all of the events in his life are accounted for. When writing this

autobiography, Franklin had the power to choose what he wanted the readers to

know and what he wanted to keep to himself. Although he admits to some mistakes

that he has made, and usually tells how he corrected them, there is no definite

way to ever know if these accounts of his personal life are necessarily true.

There is historical evidence to many of his inventions and ideas, but some of

the events that Ben writes about his life could all be sugarcoated coincidences

or strokes of luck that he happened to come across through his many traveling

excursions.

In knowing this before reading the autobiography, my mind was set on the fact

that the truth of this book could possibly be stretched a little. Even though

that was the case, I was intrigued by the wit and humor of Benjamin Franklin"s

personality. Just by reading his story, I could tell that his personality was

fueled by an extremely intelligent and creative mind. He seemed to be a type of

person who would not let anyone take advantage of him and, if they happened to,

he knew exactly how to handle himself in any situation. He knew the right person

to help him for any problem that should arise and he knew who to keep distant

and who to keep near. Franklin quotes an old Maxim that he learned which says,

"He that has once done you Kindness will be more ready to do you another, than

whom you yourself have obliged" (105). This means that someone you have

thanked and shown appreciation to for a favor they have done for you will be

more likely to do another one for you rather than someone that you just say a

quick "thanks" to and do not show them appreciation for the favor. Franklin

never wanted to burn any bridges, so it seemed. He never knew when he might run

into a problem and may need some help again.

In the beginning of Franklin"s life, it seemed that he was somewhat

self-centered and tried to do things so that they would eventually benefit him

somehow in the long-run. It is apparent that he was very goal-oriented. He

focused on the future of his work as a printer so diligently that eventually,

after years and years of practice and determination, he mastered the art of

printing. He eventually could write articles without writing them down on paper

first. Ben could see the sentences in his mind and just line up the letters with

out taking a second to think. Everything came naturally to him. Reading was one

of his favorite pastimes. Reading could possibly be one of the roots to his

advanced intelligence. Another root to his creative mind is how observant he

was. Franklin was a person who knew how to read people and enjoyed doing it. He

seemed to be constantly observing his surroundings and this led him to be able

to adapt to all of what life had to give him. Franklin could take things in

stride, learn from his mistakes and know how to operate correctly the next time.