Credibility and Evidence - Benjamin Franklin

Journal 5

After Franklin gets into another fight with his brother James, he breaks his contracts and quits his job. James instructs all the other printers in Boston not to hire his brother, so Franklin realizes that he has to leave the city to find another job. Franklin secretly leaves home and travels to New York City, but is unsuccessful at finding a job there. He then discovers that he could get an employment in Philadelphia and therefore decides to travel there. In his Autobiography, Franklin describes his hectic arrival to Philadelphia in such a way that he not only provokes sympathy, pity and amusement from his audience towards him, but also establishes credibility and evidence in his diction.

Franklin gently starts the paragraph by explicating that this is in fact, his first entry into the city. Subsequently, he explains the concept of ‘‘rags to riches’’: ‘‘…compare such unlikely beginnings with the figure I have since made there’’ (Pg. 19). He then sketches his appearance and condition. He wears a ‘working dress’ which clearly signifies that he is part of the working class. He is dirty, fatigue, hungry and his pockets are full of other clothing. He arrives in Philadelphia and has no idea where to go, for he doesn’t know anyone there: “… I knew no soul nor where to look for lodging”. The only cash he carries with him is a Dutch dollar which is useless since the currency in Philadelphia differentiates from the one in New York due to the diversity of the colonies in North America. Franklin continues to illustrate his situation in Philadelphia but this time gives a slight touch of humor to his words: ‘‘A man being sometimes more generous when he has but a little money than when he has plenty, perhaps thro’ fear of being thought to have but little.’’ In other words, he donates money to the passengers boarding on the boat in order to hide his poverty from the public. This whole passage is indeed, a sensitive image which attempts to instigate a feeling of...