Reflection- Ben Franklin

The writing of Ben Franklin in his autobiography is very different from the writing styles of the Puritans in many ways.  Ben Franklin is very well known for being more of a rational thinker, which means that his thinking was more logical and not based on religion or God, like that of the Puritans.  In The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, he makes a few key statements that support the idea that he was more of a Rationalist thinker.  The first quote I found to be particularly interesting.  "Man is sometimes more generous when he has little money than when he has plenty; perhaps to prevent his being thought to have but little" (Franklin 108).  I think that this sentence can be contrasted to Puritan writing in one key way.  The life of the Puritans was based on their religion, and the Puritans believed in predestination.  This means that God had already decided who was going to Heaven and who was going to Hell, but the person was not aware of which they were.  To try to make sure that they were chosen to go to Heaven, the Puritans spent their life doing very good things, including charity, to try to change God's mind in a sense.  Ben Franklin's thought states that it is typical for men to be more likely to do charity when they themselves do not have much.  To the Puritans, doing charity and being generous was just a given.  You were supposed to do that all of the time.  Ben Franklin is saying that men only do that sometimes, and typically is it so other people do not suspect them of not having enough for themselves.  In a way, this type of charity would solely be based off of selfishness.  I think that Ben Franklin's point to this statement was to prove that sometimes, people only do good things to show people that they can do good things.  It kind of takes the goodness out of it, which it what the Puritans pretty much lived for.

Another part of The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin that I believe proves that his writing differs from Puritan writing is the passage when he talks about joining the Quakers in Philadelphia. 

"Thus refreshed I walked again up the street, which by this time had many clean-dressed people in it, who were all walking the same way.  I joined them, and thereby was led into the great meeting-house of the Quakers, near the market.  I sat down among them, and after looking round awhile and hearing nothing said, being very drowsy through labor and want of rest the proceding night, I fell fast asleep and continued so till the meeting broke up, when some one was kind enough to rouse me.  This, therefore, was the first house I was in, or slept in, in Philadelphia."

 This passage goes against Puritan writing style because it simply involves another religion.  The Puritans were not very open-minded people.  The act of going into another religious place, as Ben Franklin did, would have been totally out of line.  Benjamin Franklin was so comfortable he fell asleep in it.