Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography tends to be regarded as the typical success story of an American entrepreneur or as a simple manual on how to succeed in a capitalist world. Its fractured narrative and frequently disrupted and resumed composition, however, hint at how severely Franklin’s personalidentity was destroyed through the turbulent years surrounding the American Revolution and how eagerly he tried to reconstruct it through the narrative process.
In colonial society, Franklin rose to prominence and fame even though his origin was obscure. He became a successful businessman by building his credit and character through visible industry and frugality and by efficiently networking with fellow citizens through his communicative skills. More importantly, he knew how to mobilize ordinary citizens into various voluntary associations in order to produce mutual benefit. As a result, he led to success diverse public projects including a public subscription library, the Union FireCompany, University of Pennsylvania, and the Association, thereby improving the daily lives of his fellow middling people. Franklin’s consequent popularity among them enabled him to rise to the top in colonial politics even though hewas not a nobleman; infact, he was practically the only politician in colonial society who knew how effectively to communicate with and to gain cooperation from them.
Although Franklin was thus one of the foremost politicians in colonial society, things were different in London. His aspiration to beinvolved in imperial politics by obtaining a royal office was completely crushed; the hierarchical order of the British Empire wanted only his and the colonies’ subordination, not their cooperation as equals, simply because colonial middling eople did not belong to the exclusive social coterie of English gentlemen. Franklin’s participation in the American Revolution and his composition of the Autobiography were therefore his revenge on the unjust and inefficient aristocratic social order of both the British Empire and the newly established Federal government of the United States, which was creating a new social hierarchy following the Revolution. For the man, the American Revolution and the Autobiography were about independence and freedom from the arbitrary power of various forms of unjust social hierarchies.
Even though the Autobiography may seem to be a simple guidebook to success on its narrative surface, it actually expounds down-to-earth ways to independence in daily life. By following the detailed instructions specified in this work?e.g., be well-trained in your own trade, build your character and credit through visible industry, be religious enough to be a practically moral person, practice modest diffidence in conversation, and, finally, be a useful and cooperative member when you are involved in voluntary associations and communal projects?young Americans and youths of the world will be able not only to lead free and independent lives but also effectively to challenge diverse unjust hierarchical orders based on prejudices, Franklin affirms. Thus, his Autobiography sincerely envisions cooperative middling people’s independence as the newly defined identity of the Americans and, also, the fledgling republic of the United States as a community in which they can pursue improvement for their mutual benefit and happiness without hierarchical restraints.