Entry 6 Final reflection

My personal reaction was satisfaction the book met most of my expectations the book’s writing style was very unique and intrigued me the book was written as an outline of Franklin’s life that is based off of a collection of his writings that tell the story of his life this was a completely new way of writing to me and I really didn’t expect the book to be written this way really at all but the book delivered it provided most of all I wanted it gave me much more insight on the life of Benjamin Franklin and it provided more information on what he did for America the book also provided a great deal of history which I enjoyed very much.  One complaint I did have with the book is that it didn’t talk a great deal about his life it doesn’t tell you where he went to school or what university he attended it mostly discussed his early adult life to his death which makes some sense as this was really the time in his life in which he achieved the most and actually did the most.  The book actually met most of my initial expectations and it actually provided most of what I wanted to learn about Benjamin Franklin.  Compared to many of the other memoirs we have read in class such as Night by Elie Wiesel both of these books tell a story and also provide a great deal of history.  This book was a very intellectual and interesting learning experience that I would recommend to any fan of history.

Entry 5 connections.

The autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and the auto biography of Thomas Jefferson.

These two books are both very similar because they are both written in almost the same ways they are both collections of memoirs that tell the man’s life but Jefferson’s tells more of his childhood than Franklin’s does otherwise the books are set in the same era of us history and talk about most of the same important events such as the signing of the declaration of independence and the American revolution these books also discuss the new philosophical ideas of the era as both men based much of their works off of these ideals while they were in power.  The theme of both of these books is a collection of writings that set up a life story for these two men in an interesting way.  Both of these autobiographies talk about the relation that America had with France at this time which would eventually come back to help America during the revolution and eventually lead to the alliance America has with France which was formed in 1778.  The figurative connection between these books is very similar they use a mix of the same symbols and both men show great deals of ambition that they use to help them change the country for the better there is also a bit of elitism that both men share this is demonstrated when the men compare themselves to other people they seem to show that they think they’re better than them.  Both men also demonstrate national elitism in the sense that when they talk about the British they make the British seem like they are just spoiled children who can’t handle loosing something which in a sense is true the British really couldn’t accept the declaration of independence but from the other perspective you can see why the British would be mad about the declaration of independence because they would be losing a colony in the new world where all these new resources are, also having a colony in the new world meant that that country was very powerful and to lose something like that sowed weakness which could lead to potential invasion by other countries.

Entry 4 title significance

“The Kite experiment”

The literal meaning of this title relates to his famous experiment in which Benjamin Franklin was trying to prove that lightning was in fact electricity.  Benjamin franklin proposed that if he were to fly a kite during a thunderstorm with a key at the end that, when lightning struck the kite the key would gather an electrical charge thus proving his theory that lightning is really just static electricity on a much larger scale.  This experiment was never actually preformed due to safety reasons it was and still is one of the most well-known scientific experiments in America’s history.  This is such a well-known experiment because it was Benjamin franklin who proposed the idea and because it made a great deal of sense and had much information to back it up which is why so many people believed it would work and why it is so popular throughout America’s history.

The figurative meaning of this title is it talks about “the kite experiment” which is a very famous experiment performed by Benjamin Franklin that is known worldwide as a very iconic experiment from which many famous sayings have been created such as “go fly a kite” which is an allusion to Benjamin Franklin’s kite experiment although it does not share the same meaning it is still derived from the title and relates to it.  This tile is also talking about the idea of how even if something is just a theory it should still be worked at and researched this relates to the title.  Even though the experiment itself was never actually preformed later on other people looked into his theory and created new ideas, on how to prove this theory some of these worked and some failed but now everyone knows that Benjamin Franklin was correct that lightning is in fact electricity, the theory eventually became a fact and then from that many things came from it an example is the idea of how to power things using the charge lightning gives off by gathering it with a similar experiment.  This was another theory created later by other scientists this idea had lots of support and it seemed plausible in theory but every time it was attempted it seemed to fail so eventually it lost support and the idea was abandoned.  Other similar ideas were thought of but none ever really came into fruition and so the idea of power by electricity was essentially abandoned.

Entry 3 emotional reaction

The writing in the second part of the book titled “the Elysian Fields” is a writing that talks about the sort of ending of his days and his internal sadness. This had a strong effect on me, because it talks about how even though he is saddened he can still find happiness in his dreams. “I went home, fell on my bed believing myself dead, and found myself in the Elysian Fields” (211). Is an example of how he feels and how he can still find happiness in his dreams he says he believes himself dead this is referring to his sadness and his sense of failure but then he says he finds himself in the Elysian Fields which is like heaven for him.  This brings me to my reaction which is that I’m very moved, that even after he has been through such sadness and he is still able to find happiness in his dreams this really speaks to me and tells me that no matter how bad a situation is you can always find peace from it and you can always make something better out of it.  Which helps me believe that life can always get better even when I am sad about something and that nothing is always as bad as it seems and can be made better.  This writing also brings up the idea which is to never give up hope in any situation no matter how dire that situation might be it can be made better so long as you have hope.

Entry 2 passage analysis

“But such mistakes are not new; History is full of errors of states and princes.” Ben Franklin (132).

This quote is discussing how throughout history there have been many examples of a country or a ruler making mistakes that have affected a country, or its people in many ways.  Franklin says this while referring to the mistakes the English made while dealing with America that lead to the revolution in which England lost, he talks about this because he is trying to say a situation in which the government or a ruler has made a mistake that caused a revolution.  When he says “errors of states and princes.”(132) Franklin doesn’t meant states like the unites states he means the government or body of leadership for example parliament in England and when he says princes he really means just the actual ruler not just the prince for example in this case he means king George the third.

Benjamin Franklin talks about this because it leads to his discussion about how the revolutionary war could have been avoided, this is important because it relates to him personally in the sense that the war is one of the most important parts of his life.  It allowed for him to make many European connections as he was dispatched to France as the first U.S. ambassador this allowed him to meet many French scientists, and also have access to many of the great works of the French philosophers such as Voltaire or Rousseau which assisted him in his discoveries later in life, also with these connections and his diplomatic experience he was able to establish good relations with the French which would be one of the many reasons why France came to America’s aid in our revolution, this would be a key factor in our victory.  Another part of this quote’s significance is that it serves as a lesson for him and his collogues so they know not to make the same mistakes England made to cause a revolution.