Poor Richard's Almanack Analysis

Apprenticed to his brother, a Boston printer, a young Benjamin Franklin was writing for his brother’s newspaper. He never got anything published under his name, and he would often compare his writings to those of other published writers. Benjamin wrote a submission and slipped it under the door. Finally, his submission was published in The New England Courant under the name of Silence Dogood, a minister’s widow. Under the pseudonym he wrote satirical comments about the Boston society, politics, and religion. Silence Dogood was not very fond of Harvard. She believed that kids being sent there were only learning how to become conceited(Dogood). He wrote 14 letters under the name of Silence, but when he stopped writing his brother wanted to know …show more content…
When Ben revealed that he was Dogood, his brother was furious. His brother made sure Franklin would not be able to get hired at another printing press in town, so Franklin left his apprenticeship, and ran off to Philadelphia where he became a thriving printer. Under another pseudonym, Richard Saunders, he published Poor Richard’s Almanack. The almanac provides literary influence in many different forms: proverbs, epigrams, rhymes, and aphorisms which was spread out throughout the calendars, weather forecasts, and even astronomical charts(PoorRichard.) He uses Poor Richard to instruct the “common people.” It showed the people how to work hard and save money. Dogood and Poor Richard seem to be autobiographical, and they are based on Franklin’s views. Dogood was a minister’s widow. She loved to observe and judge others faults. She was enemies to vice but friends to virtue. She hated arbitrary government and unlimited power. Poor Richard lived in the country and had advice on how to value hard work and simple …show more content…
It did not matter what someone believed as long as their religion contributed to a better society and made the world a more civilized place. Because of religion many thought that their sins were justified. In the article “A Narrative of the Late Massacres of a Number of Indians” fifty-seven men brutally murdered six Indians in their homes. They did not care if they were senior citizens or a toddler, they were going to get killed. The fourteen remaining Indians were taken to a work house in Lancaster so that they can be safe. Well law and security failed them because the men again assembled despite the law and they barged into the work house and inhumanely murdered them. Franklin explains that the men probably think it is justified because it is nothing less than the word of God(Franklin1764). “With the scriptures in their Hands and Mouths, they can set an naught and express that command, Though shalt do no murder, and justify their wickedness, by the command given Joshua to destroy the Heathen.” Franklin also says, “ We pretend to be Christians(Franklin1764).” The Indians were not enemies, yet the frontier people killed them all. Franklin concluded the article saying “Cowards can handle arms, can strike where they are sure to meet with no return, can wound, mangle, and murder; but it belongs to brave men to spare and to