Chapter 5 Of Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography
Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography was written to inform his son of the marvelous adventures he partook in, that his son knew nothing of. It didn’t matter to Franklin if his son were to publish his autobiography or not.Through this account of his life, Franklin indirectly showed the gender imbalance of the time period. It’s most likely Franklin didn’t think women were inferior, he just went with the time period. During his autobiography he mainly talked of the male characters in his life. The female characters, minus a short few, were left uncharacterized or left out entirely.
Chapter one starts with Franklin explaining why he writing to his son,William Franklin, “Imagining it may be equally agreeable to you to know the circumstances of my …show more content…
He likely did so because he was lonely and envious of his friend’s happy marriage because he could not carry through with his marriage. He does want the companionship of a woman, though he doesn’t directly say it.
Chapter 7 informs us of a club Franklin had started with his friends, “ I had form'd most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual improvement, which was called the Junto.” Franklin then proceeds to describe all these characters in the club. If a woman were to have found her way into the club, she probably would have gotten a description similar to the rest of the boys.
Franklin eventually comes back to the Colonies,in chapter 8, and marries Mrs Read, in which he gives a more detailed explanation of her. He tells us several good qualities of his new wife, which few other women got detailed so much. Franklin most likely chose to describe his wife because he loved her and wanted his son to know about her.
If you compare the total women and the women Franklin has described to the total amount of men and characterized men you would see a huge disproportion in characterized women. This most likely isn’t due to Franklin intentionally leaving the women out, it’s most likely due to Franklin not having much relation to them, because they choose to not get involved in “men”
Chapter one starts with Franklin explaining why he writing to his son,William Franklin, “Imagining it may be equally agreeable to you to know the circumstances of my …show more content…
He likely did so because he was lonely and envious of his friend’s happy marriage because he could not carry through with his marriage. He does want the companionship of a woman, though he doesn’t directly say it.
Chapter 7 informs us of a club Franklin had started with his friends, “ I had form'd most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual improvement, which was called the Junto.” Franklin then proceeds to describe all these characters in the club. If a woman were to have found her way into the club, she probably would have gotten a description similar to the rest of the boys.
Franklin eventually comes back to the Colonies,in chapter 8, and marries Mrs Read, in which he gives a more detailed explanation of her. He tells us several good qualities of his new wife, which few other women got detailed so much. Franklin most likely chose to describe his wife because he loved her and wanted his son to know about her.
If you compare the total women and the women Franklin has described to the total amount of men and characterized men you would see a huge disproportion in characterized women. This most likely isn’t due to Franklin intentionally leaving the women out, it’s most likely due to Franklin not having much relation to them, because they choose to not get involved in “men”