In reading the Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography one can see the true character of a great man. But some may argue that this man, deep down inside, was not so great. Through out his book he touches on many aspects of his life. He lets the readers have a glimpse at what he was thinking and why he did things the way he did. Some critics do not agree that Franklin was such a noble man. They thought he might not have been telling his whole story, and that he was hiding a lot he had to offer. This paper will look at how one critic portrays Franklin---" Benjamin had no concern, really, for the immortal soul. He was too busy with the social man (292)." This critic is D.H. Lawrence.
In Lawrence's piece he disagrees on what Franklin believes in and what his standards are. Most of Lawrence's argument come
s from a disagreement with how Franklin expresses how he works to what he really does when he works. He thinks Franklin is more of a social man, a man of himself, more than man of the people. Lawrence has looked at how Franklin didn't come to invent things or try and help others, more than he was out to help himself.
Lawrence's argument that Franklin was a greedy and unjust man is an argument that he would never win. Lawrence, and no one else for that matter, will ever see what that man was really all about. So why persecute a man, and his legacy, to something one cannot prove? If D.H, Lawrence were to take a long look at other successful businessmen in America he might find the same virtues of Franklin. But who will persecute them?
Franklin carried himself with such dignity that he was proud of where he worked. Some nights
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