从富兰克林自传看美国梦18100字.docx

    从富兰克林自传看美国梦18100字    The First American--Influence from Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography and “ThirteenVirtues” on the Forming of American DreamIntroductionBorn in 1706, Benjamin Franklin was brought up in a poor and obscure family, as he says in his Autobiography. His father is a candle—maker, his mother is a pious Calvinist. When he was 16 years old, he began to serve as an apprentice to his older half-brother, a printer. It was also in that year when Ben tried to publish his essays under his pseudonym, Silence Dogood. At 17, Ben ran to Philadelphia to make his own fortune. His entrance into this city marked the beginning of a long story of success or American Dream. In 1730, at the age of 24, Franklin acknowledged that he has an illegitimate son named William, despite that his mother’s identity is still unknown. The famous Autobiography is written to William as it began: My dear son. Franklin was also known as a prodigious inventor, one of his abundant inventions, the most famous one is electricity. Besides, he helped to found the Pennsylvania hospital, an academy which led to the University of Pennsylvania, and the American Philosophical Society. Among those things which he started and for which he was still remembered today were volunteer fire departments, effective street lighting, the Franklin stove, bifocal glasses, and efficient heating devices.The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin was probably the first autobiography in American literature. After its publication, millions kinds of similar works were imitated day and night. Autobiography generally recorded a man who grew from an unknown boy to a man of wealth and prosperity. It was written in the form of letter and divided into four parts, completed at different times. Franklin was 65 years old when he began to write it, but he died before he could finished the whole book, which was a great pity for readers who were fascinated with his works. In Autobiography, Franklin asked the question of how a man should live his life, and he offered the best 1answer he could do by himself, which provided the mould of American life and influenced American spirit in a long period.In Autobiography, the most famous part is the Thirteen Virtues of Temperance, Silence, Order, Resolution, Frugality, Industry, Sincerity, Justice, Moderation, Cleanness, Tranquility, Chastity, and Humility. Franklin is not a man who gave up something which is difficult to achieve. He is a man who made his dream become reality once he made up his mind to do it. For example, he recorded how he achieved the thirteen virtues step by step.I made a little book, in which I allotted a page for each of thevirtues. I ruled each page with red ink, so as to have sevencolumns, one for each day of the week, marking the beginning ofeach line with a letter for the day. I crossed these columns with13 red lines, marking the beginning of each line with the firstletter of one of the virtues, on which line , and in its propercolumn I might mark, by a little black spot, every fault I foundupon examination to have committed respecting that virtue uponthat day.(常耀信，1996:126)All these illustrated how Franklin tries to restrain himself and realize his dream in his time. How he becomes a great man in American history and how he influences the forming of American Dream in the following time.Chapter One Franklin and the “Thirteen Virtues” in His Autobiography1.1 Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography and the “Thirteen Virtues” in It2In a day and age when few men are thinking about their own or anyone else’s character development, thoughtful men must look to the past to gain inspiration. Benjamin Franklin, one of the American Revolution’s most notable figures is such an inspiration. He was a Founding Father of the United States, a polymath, author, printer, inventor, postmaster, Rosicrucian and Freemason. He invented the lightening rod, bifocal lenses, the Franklin stove, the carriage odometer, the glass harmonica. He founded the first lending library and the first Fire Department in Pennsylvania.The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is a record of self- examination and self-improvement. When we read the Autobiography，we can see an old man who was sitting there and told us an old story about his own life and his experience of his past life. He told us how to perfect ourselves by reading, working and learning. He taught us with pen in hand, drawing out the form of how he combated with his evil shortcomings step by step, day by day, how he succeed at last. According to his own story, he seemed to tell us that nothing is impossible; we can become somebody sooner or later once we do it. Franklin believed that everyone could communicate with god, which is also part of his religious belief. The Autobiography was Franklin’s life long work that he dedicated to expressing his every thought and belief. Arriving in New England at about 1682, Benjamin Franklin’s father, Jo。