Reflection Blog # Franklin and Puritan Writing

At first, when we were asked to compare the Autobiography of Ben Franklin and the Puritan writings, I thought it was going to be difficult because when I was reading Ben Franklin's work, it seemed very different from the Puritan writings, but as I thought about it some more, I realized that there are actually a few things that these writings have in common.

First off, Franklin obviously wrote an autobiography and so did Mary Rowlandson with her story of A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. . They are both talking about their lives and all the things that happened (Rowlandson 82-85) (Franklin 106-109). Although, I much more enjoyed Ben Franklin's because it was more fun to read, easier to understand, and quite frankly just not as boring. No offense to Mary Rowlandson or anything, but her story just wasn't fun to read at all, but most of the writing during that time was like that. It was also kind of difficult to read at times, I'm not sure if it was just written weirdly or if it was just because I wasn't paying attention as much as I probably should have since it wasn't that interesting. I'm not saying that Franklin's was an action-packed adventure story; it still wasn't all that great, but compared to Rowlandson's it was definitely better in my opinion.

Now time to contrast; Franklin didn't mention religion. His writing is not written for God or because of God; He didn't write it to show that God does things for a reason. He was just writing about the events in his life that was happening. "Upon the Burning of Our House" is a good example of how Puritans believed that even the worse things that happened, happened because God made it that way and that eventually good will come out of it. In that, Bradstreet was saying that even though her house burned down, it's not a big deal because God made that happen for a reason and that she should be happy (Bradstreet 91) Also, what Rowlandson wrote in A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson would be another great example because she went through some struggles, but was convinced that God was doing it for a reason just like what Bradstreet was saying (Rowlandson 82-85).


Franklin, Benjamin. "The Autobiography of Ben Franklin." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph. D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 106-109. Print.

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

Bradstreet, Anne. "Upon the Burning of Our House." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph. D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill, 2009. 91. Print.