39 pages • 1 hour read
Robert LawsonBen and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1992A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Foreword-Chapter 5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Foreword Summary
The foreword, signed by the book’s author, explains that the following manuscript was found beneath a hearthstone in an old Philadelphia house. Workers found a small room with tiny pieces of furniture from the Colonial Period. This handwritten text, the size of a postage stamp, was located within the desk. Scientists confirmed that the paper and ink are from the colonial era and that the writing belongs to a mouse. Lawson is aware that this account differs from other accounts of Franklin’s life, but he asserts that Ben’s intimate friend must be trustworthy.
Chapter 1 Summary: “I, Amos”
Amos claims that, since Franklin’s death, many people have written inaccurate accounts of his life, so Amos feels compelled to tell the true story. Amos takes credit for Ben’s breadth of knowledge, his decision-making skills, and his apparent insightfulness. He wishes to see “justice,” promising to tell the truth so readers can judge for themselves how significant his role in Franklin’s success was.
Amos is the oldest of 26 children born to a pair of church mice in Philadelphia. The winter of 1745 is so difficult that the family takes to eating prayer books and sermons. Amos leaves and finds a clean but cold home. There, he finds a man seated at a desk before a weak fire, the man’s frequent sneezes interrupting his work. Amos recognizes Benjamin Franklin and spots a hole in the fur cap atop Ben’s head. Amos races up his back into the cap and goes to sleep.
Chapter 2 Summary: “We Invent the Franklin Stove”
When Amos wakes, he suggests that Ben add wood to his fire. Though Ben initially resists, the prospect of doctors’ bills encourages him to comply. Amos explains that Ben’s fireplace is inefficient because most of its heat goes up the chimney. He explains how his family would warm themselves around a hot, roasted chestnut in the center of the room. When Ben says that his fire cannot be moved, Amos suggests building the fire inside something else. Ben raises the issue of smoke, and Amos suggests installing a pipe (to direct it up the chimney). Ben spends the morning planning and building the stove but grows concerned about the floor. Amos suggests using sand and bricks to protect it, as sailors do when they build fires onboard ships, and Ben does. Amos marvels at Ben’s “dull[ness]” on certain topics, though he admits Ben has some intelligence in others. The stove works well, and Ben shares the credit with Amos, who promises to remember it.
Chapter 3 Summary: “The Bargain”
Amos awakens from a nap to find Ben writing about “his” invention. Amos says he doesn’t care about fame, but he does care for his family, and he asks what Ben proposes to do to share the benefits of their collaboration. Ben employs one of his famous maxims, but Amos rejects its conventional wisdom because words won’t feed his kin. Ben agrees to send cheese, bread, and 88 grains of wheat to Amos’s family twice a week; Amos will live in his fur cap in exchange for Amos’s advice and assistance. Amos proposes to call their invention the Franklin Stove, and Ben alters his hat to make it more habitable. Riding in the hat, Amos warns Ben to avoid obstacles and gives him advice. Amos claims that Ben becomes dependent on him, and though the hat is meant for cold weather, Ben wears it everywhere.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Swimming”
Amos is horrified by Ben’s practice of swimming, which he considers to be undignified. He points out the dangers he faces alone on shore, but Ben dismisses them. One day, Amos climbs a tree when a dog appears. The dog snatches Ben’s cap, and Ben chases it, believing Amos to be inside. While he does this, two men find his clothes and watch, which is engraved with his name, and they believe Ben drowned. They run off to alert the town, taking his clothes with them, and Ben must await their return wearing only his swim trunks. The governor and mayor arrive with a crowd, and Ben must meet them in this state of undress. Men loan him some clothes, and the governor offers his hat, but Ben vows never to remove his old hat again. Amos reveals himself to Ben, and Ben rejoices at his friend’s safety.
Chapter 5 Summary: “We Do Some Printing”
Ben loves printing because it permits the dissemination of helpful information. He points to his own text, Poor Richard’s Almanack, as a source of general knowledge. Amos bemoans Ben’s lack of wisdom, a claim to which Ben acquiesces. Amos takes issue with one of Ben’s maxims, and Ben promises to remove it from the next issue. However, when the time comes, Amos notices that Ben forgot, so he removes it himself. He then changes every mention of “Poor Richard” to “Amos,” noting his interest in being honest: that “Poor Richard” does not exist while he does. Amos also makes some “corrections” to the Tide Table, neglecting to tell Ben about them before the book is printed.
The next week, the Harbor Master warns Ben that several angry shipmasters are on their way because the information in Poor Richard’s Almanack was wrong, and their ships ran aground. Ben peers at the man’s copy and realizes what Amos did. He assures the men, when they arrive that they’ve been using a “counterfeit,” and they leave—their faith in Ben restored. Ben looks for Amos, who hides from him for the next two days.
Foreword-Chapter 5 Analysis
Though this is a work of historical fiction, Lawson goes to some lengths to make it sound like a true account of Ben Franklin’s life despite it being narrated by a mouse. The believability of the account is increased by Lawson’s foreword, which reads like a work of nonfiction and similarly introduces Amos’s narrative, Amos’s flaws as a narrator, and the first-person objective perspective he employs. In the foreword, Lawson directly addresses the reader about how Amos’s manuscript was found and why it should be trusted. He cites the findings of scientists at “the Brownsonian Institute” (a fictional organization) for authenticating the ink and paper used, making the findings sound factual by attributing them to a real-sounding place. He credits the “National Museum of Natural History” (a real organization) for authenticating the handwriting as belonging to a mouse, a fanciful claim, though one supposedly underwritten by the museum’s real existence (XII).
Amos’s intimate knowledge of Franklin and obvious intelligence make him seem like a knowledgeable narrator, though his stated goal—to tell the world that he should be given credit for Ben’s achievements—characterizes Amos as being just as flawed as his friend. He is the first to tout his respect for justice, his desire to “set things right” (1) and see “credit given where credit is due” (2)—i.e., to himself—though his inability to take responsibility for the consequences of his mistakes suggests his arrogance and pride. Because he narrates events after they take place, he is a first-person objective narrator who’s had time to reflect on and synthesize events. Thus, he presents facts without the emotional tension and drama that often characterize narratives that are told as they occur, but he also has the benefit of hindsight and of knowing how biographers paint Ben after his death. Ben cannot defend himself, so Amos is essentially free to characterize the man however he desires. Amos also speaks directly to the reader, employing ethos—one of Aristotle’s three modes of persuasion—to appeal to the ethical code he assumes the reader shares and to convince his audience of his veracity. In these ways, Lawson employs several strategies to make Amos’s text seem realistic, a nod, perhaps, to the idea that a story doesn’t have to be “true” to be truthful.
The text relies on humor and irony to demonstrate one of its most important themes: The Humanity of Heroes. Amos creates several very funny visual images of Ben Franklin, a man typically revered as a sagacious leader, dynamic speaker, and insightful founder of the nation, and not an object of ridicule or laughter. When Amos first meets him, however, Ben is hunched at his desk, sneezing violently, an action that knocks his glasses off: “Reaching for these he would drop his pen; by the time he found that and got settled to write, the candle would flicker from the draught; when that calmed down, the sneezing would start again, and so it went” (5-6). Thus, the sober image of the “Founding Father” is replaced by a ridiculous, sneezing buffoon. Amos’s claim that Ben is “just plain dull” (13) supports this impression. Likewise, Ben’s unceremonious state of (un)dress after swimming, a condition in which he must greet several prominent citizens of Philadelphia, suggests a similar absurdity at odds with typical Franklin biographies. Amos claims that “few could have recognized in that ludicrous and bedraggled apparition the famous Dr. Franklin!” (25). Despite Ben’s attempts to appear “as dignified as possible” (28), he fails, creating a humorous and ironic image in which the reality of the man greatly contrasts our expectations of him. Rather than present Franklin as a wise, stolid hero of the American Revolutionary Era, Amos presents “Ben” as incredibly flawed, imprudent at best, and, at times, rather stupid. In this version of events, Ben is not a hero—one who is larger-than-life and superhuman—but, rather, just a regular human.
This impression is further demonstrated, and Franklin is further humanized, by Amos’s casual dismissal of the wisdom of many of Franklin’s most famous maxims. When Amos finds Ben shivering, he encourages the man to add more logs to the fire, but Ben says, “WASTE NOT, WANT NOT” (9). In response, Amos points out that it is not wasteful to prevent illness and avoid doctors’ bills. Shivering, Ben doesn’t waste, but he certainly wants warmth. He sees the mouse’s wisdom and adds three logs. Later, when Ben and Amos draw up their agreement, Ben says, “THE LABORER IS WORTHY OF HIS HIRE” (16). However, Amos points out he is not a laborer, so this doesn’t apply. Further, when Ben points out the wisdom contained in Poor Richard’s Almanack, Amos identifies the falsehood of maxims like “EARLY TO BED AND EARLY TO RISE MAKES A MAN HEALTHY, WEALTHY AND WISE” (31) because Ben is healthy and wealthy without doing either. Moreover, Ben “meekly” suggests that he might be wise if he lived according to these words, sheepishly conceding that he is not wise, one of the qualities for which he is best known. Thus, The Humanity of Heroes is emphasized by Ben’s obvious flaws and human errors.
Finally, two other themes begin to emerge: The Importance of Innovation and The Benefits of Collaboration. The pair’s invention of the Franklin Stove represents both an innovation important to the daily life of colonists as well as what is possible when those with different strengths work together. Amos has the idea for a freestanding stove with a pipe that runs to a chimney, but Ben is the one who plans and assembles it. Their invention will result in warmer homes that use less fuel, a real accomplishment not possible without both brains and physical ability, represented by Amos and Ben, respectively. Amos uses the collaboration to benefit his large family, securing provisions of food for them, as well as a home in Ben’s cap for himself. A mutually beneficial collaboration has been created with each participant getting something they need: Amos is able to help himself and his family, while Ben gets greater name recognition and financial benefits from the invention of his stove.
