22 pages • 44 minutes read
Benjamin FranklinThe Way To Wealth
Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1758A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Key FiguresCharacter Analysis
Father Abraham
Poor Richard observes Father Abraham in a crowd of people waiting outside the merchant’s storefront, and he appears to have the appearance of a reliable and old wise man with white hair. The crowd seems to know and recognize Father Abraham, so they ask him what he thinks about the woeful state of their finances and the pressures they experience as a result of heavy taxes. Father Abraham, a devotee of Poor Richard’s Almanack, quotes Poor Richard at length while responding to the crowd’s invitation to comment on the difficulty of the times and to offer advice.
Poor Richard
Poor Richard is Benjamin Franklin’s fictional alter ego. Under this pseudonym, Franklin wrote and published Poor Richard’s Almanack once a year from 1732 to 1758. The simple, unsophisticated voice of Poor Richard makes Franklin’s advice and life lessons accessible to all readers, and Poor Richard’s aphorisms are the most well-remembered piece of the publication.
Poor Richard was also known as Richard Saunders during the early years of publication. Through Poor Richard, Franklin was able to comment on growing businesses and scientific advancements of his age, as well as offer practical household tips and light amusing pieces of writing. By the last year of the almanac’s publication, Poor Richard’s voice had largely been replaced by that of Father Abraham, who quotes Poor Richard extensively.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was an exceptionally multitalented man, one of the seven Founding Fathers of the United States, and a scientist, philosopher and writer who led the American colonists in the Revolutionary War that took place between 1765 and 1783. He worked with the other Founding Fathers to write the Declaration of Independence. Franklin was also an inventor, and among his most important inventions are the lightning rod, which resulted from his famous experiments with electricity, bifocals, the Franklin stove, and the harmonica.
Franklin was born in Boston, in the British colony of Massachusetts, in 1706, the 10th of 17 children to a soap and candlemaker. Some scholars say he had no formal education, while others say he attended school for two years between the ages of 8 and 10. No matter his educational background, Franklin’s early appetite for reading and writing poetry led eventually to his career as a publisher and writer. As a 16-year-old, Franklin wrote humorous and witty contributions to his brother’s newspaper under the pseudonym of Silence Dogood, setting the stage for Poor Richard later in Franklin’s writing career.
Franklin’s common-law marriage to Deborah Read endured until she died, 14 years after their agreement to live together as husband and wife. Their daughter Sarah lived to have a family of her own, so Franklin had a total of eight grandchildren; seven from his daughter Sarah, and one from his son William, whose mother was known to Franklin before he settled down with Deborah.
Benjamin Franklin is one of the most popular and celebrated individuals in American history thanks to tales of his various inventions as well as his contributions to the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Every time Americans check a book out of a library, call the fire brigade, or voice a controversial opinion, they are commemorating Benjamin Franklin, a visionary and autodidact without whom the United States would not exist.
Related Titles
By Benjamin Franklin
