Benjamin Franklin: Autobiographies are often written with a specific readership in mind. The author imagines that people want to know about his or her life, and they write to a group of readers who have a certain amount of curiosity about who they are and what they've experienced. Benjamin Franklin, however, addresses his autobiography to his son, which throws a monkey wrench into this set-up. A few questions to consider: 1) Do you think he is REALLY writing his autobiography only to his son? Why or why not? If he's writing to a larger audience, why make a show of addressing the autobiography to his son? 2) What do you think about his "bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection"? Do you think he saw this as a realistic pursuit at the time? Do you get the sense that he sees it as a realistic pursuit now? (Think about reading old journals or notes you wrote to friends ten years ago. Would you take yourself seriously?) What do you think is Franklin's purpose behind including this section in his autobiography?

Benjamin Franklin: Autobiographies are often written with a specific readership in mind. The author imagines that people want to know about his or her life, and they write to a group of readers who have a certain amount of curiosity about who they are and what they've experienced. Benjamin Franklin, however, addresses his autobiography to his son, which throws a monkey wrench into this set-up. A few questions to consider: 1) Do you think he is REALLY writing his autobiography only to his son? Why or why not? If he's writing to a larger audience, why make a show of addressing the autobiography to his son? 2) What do you think about his "bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection"? Do you think he saw this as a realistic pursuit at the time? Do you get the sense that he sees it as a realistic pursuit now? (Think about reading old journals or notes you wrote to friends ten years ago. Would you take yourself seriously?) What do you think is Franklin's purpose behind including this section in his autobiography?