Reflection: Franklin's Writing

Anne Bradstreet wrote "Upon the Burning of a House," which was written in the Puritan writing style. This means it was based on God. Puritans lived by a strict set of rules with their religion. They had many morals and principles that were mandatory to follow. They wrote about them, making a Puritan writing style. God was the focus of a Puritan's writing. Anne Bradstreet used God in an uplifting way. She talked about how she was losing so much, but she was still content because she knew God had a plan. For example, "and to my God my heart did cry to strengthen me in my distress and leave me not to succorless" and "...a price so vast as unknown yet by His gift is made thine own; there's wealth enough, I need no more..." (Bradstreet 91). In these passages, Bradstreet is in despair. The house is burning down as well as all of her belongings. Everything she had is now burning away forever, yet she is still leaning to God and thanking him for everything he has given her. She believes that he will take care of her and none of this matters. To have that much faith seems impossible, but she seems to portray it.

Ben Franklin is not a Puritan writer. He does not talk about God. He does not blame God on anything. He does not say that his listeners have to do what he says because God told them to do so. Instead of taking the easy way out and using God as an excuse, he used reason to get his point across. He was a rational writer.

Another writing was "From a Narrative of Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. " This writing was also another Puritan writing. It used God as reason. Instead of an actual reason for something, the blame and the gratefulness automatically went to God. I did not have my textbook with me, so I used an article from the Department of History. In this writing, Mary states that "I have seen the extreme vanity of this world: One hour I have been in health, and wealthy, wanting nothing. But the next hour in sickness and wounds, and death, having nothing but sorrow and affliction" (Rowlandson). She blamed and thanked God for everything that has happened to her. This woman lost her child and was held captive. When most people would hate God for putting him or her in that kind of position, she prayed to him and loved him. It was pretty amazing. She had so much faith. There was no way that I would be able to do what she did in that situation. She also learned how to forgive. She realized they were not such bad people. She realized that her old, horrible thoughts were not true and these people were not too bad. In the beginning of the story, she said that "...if the Indians should come, I should choose rather to be killed by them than taken alive" (Rowlandson). This is how much she hated them and how bad she thought of them.

Works Cited

Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 104- 108. Print.

Bradstreet, Anne. Upon the Burning of our House. Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 91. Print.

Rowlandson, Mary.. "The Narrative of the Captivity and the Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." Department of History. The College of the State of Island, 2000. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.