Franklin Reflection

Benjamin Franklin writing style reflects that of the rationalism period, which involves logical and analytical thinking compared to the writing style of Puritans who wrote more religious and believed God controlled everything. "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" explains the life of one of the biggest creators of the time. Ben Franklin created many important historical documents including helping to write the Constitution and also he invented glasses, a stove, daylight saving time, and a lightening rod (Divine). These ideas would have confused the Puritans because the believed that God had a part in everything and that he would provide everything they needed. Franklin's new inventions were made to get an answer to the question why. The question why was a big difference between the rationalism period and the Puritan era.

The Puritans did not ask the questions and believed that God was the reason for everything but the rationalism period was the start of exploring with experiments and God was not the entire focus of the people.

"He had some letters, and was ingenious, but he was an infidel, and wickedly undertook, some years after, to turn the Bible into doggerel verse, as Cotton had formerly done with Virgil. By this means he set many facts in ridiculous light, and might have done mischief with weak minds if his work had been published; but it was never" (Franklin 106).

This statement showed that the people living in the area were using there brains some maybe not for the right reason like Dr. Brown. Dr. Brown was a smart man in his practice most likely but he was involved with some poking fun at the Bible which would be unheard of during the Puritan time.

The two pieces are alike in the way they are presented because in the Puritan writing such as Mary Rowlandson's "A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson" where the story is presented in a diary format. Both these pieces are written in that format but the contents of them are completely different. Mary Rowlandson believes that God knows what He is doing and will provide what she needs to survive. "I repaired under these thoughts to my Bible (my great comforter in that time) and that scripture came to my hand, Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee" (Rowlandson 85). She refers to God as the provide and would never think that their was a power greater than His. The people during Franklin's time have God as a backdrop in their life and you can tell because the focus of the document is not completely on religion but instead the facts and reasoning is what really interested the people. "Then one of the company knew the place to be Cooper's Creek, a little above Philadelphia, which we saw as soon as we got out of the creek, and arrived there about eight or nine o'clock on the Sunday morning and landed at Market Street wharf"( Franklin 108). "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin" has a lot of details which is not common in the simple sentences and structure of the Puritan writing style. The Puritans did not use a lot of detail they were straight forward this is how it is where the rationalism period left grey areas that required more description.

Rowlandson, Mary. "from A Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 82-85. Print.

Franklin, Benjamin. "From The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 106-108. Print.

Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, R. Hal Williams, H. W. Brands, and Ariela J. Gross. America Past and Present AP Edition. Boston: Longman, 2011. Print.