Revenge?

Benjamin Franklin seems to use his autobiography to seek some sort of revenge on a lot of people in his life. This especially seems to occur in the “part one” section of the book. He dislikes his brother and the authority he had over him. After leaving his family and making a “better” life for himself he shows off to his brother, seeming almost to rub it in his face. He even writes with that type of voice. This is also seen when he writes about his drunkard friend Collins. His writing style portrays Collins in a very negative and embarrassing light at the end of their friendship and he does not do much to cover for his “friend”. Another example is the way he wrote about his boss Keimer. He writes about the lack of skill in his shop and later writes about his rise above Keimer.

“The two printers I found poorly qualified for their business. Bradford had not been bred to it, and was very illiterate; and Keimer, tho’ something of a scholar, was a mere compositor, knowing nothing of presswork”.

 This just seems like a fairly rude way to write about the person who found you a job at the early stages in your working career. The whole way this autobiography is written has quite a bit of arrogance and a lot of revenge involved.