Franklin Reading Part 1

In reading Part 1 of Franklin’s autobiography, the presence of great adoration and admiration for his father is strong. “He was ingenious, could draw prettily, was skilled a little in music, and had a clear pleasing voice…very handy in the use of other tradesmen’s tools…sound understanding and solid judgment in prudential matters…”. The laundry list of praises to his father was quite extensive, most likely for him to demonstrate why he had the values he had. There was not an extensive list like this for his mother, which I found rather interesting. I suppose because of the times; women did not have much say in household matters or what the future of their sons would be. All throughout Part 1, he attributes his success and many of his character traits to his father’s words of wisdom. It seemed as if he felt an overwhelming duty to continuously praise his father for everything he did, whether good or bad. I found this pattern to be rather over the top, because it seemed as if Franklin was beating this admiration for his father on the top of his readers’ heads. “At the table he…always took care to start some ingenious or useful topic for discourse, which might tend to improve the minds of his children.” Here Franklin’s father reminded me of my own, because my father is not a fan of idle conversation, he is a believer in enriching the mind at all times. At times I felt as if Franklin sounded like a father himself. Franklin himself also reminded me of my father, when my father tells me that I should listen to him, not only because he is always right, but also because he only has my best intentions in mind. Franklin did this a considerable number of times when he was discussing all of the diversions and vices he does not engage in, because they will not benefit him.
I found a lot of things that occurred in his life to be ironic. It was ironic how as pure, driven, and determined of a person he was he always seemed to attract a lazy and drunk crowd, like Ralph, Collins, and Meredith. These were some of his closest friends, yet they seemed so opposite from him, either by their drunkenness or their lack of drive. Franklin preached so much about staying focused and doing the right thing, however the company he kept sometimes served to hold him down. With all of the advice that Franklin was giving to the reader one would have expected him to not attract such company or worse, keep it. There were many occasions when Franklin was trying to advance his business or social connections and network, yet one of his friends would have professional people of high status to be suspicious of Franklin. The entire situation is ironic, because on one hand he attracted a crowd of guys who loved to read, write, and debate and who were also fruitful in the work, however it seems his closest friends were always the ones, who were not quite as determined or destined for success as he was.