Ben Franklin takes on the pseudonym of “Richard Saunders” in the publishing of the Poor Richard’s Almanac. Upon reading the article the first time, I was struck at the overly complicated nature of the writing. What would be considered misspellings today created barriers in the flow of the piece. It was clearly the writing from another generation. The writing style is very different from what would be acceptable today. Franklin’s sentences have an extensive array of commas and semi-colons. One single sentence in the writing has a combination of ten commas and semi-colons.
The article is also laced with sarcasm. It opens with a sarcastic sentence about first stating that he could argue that he writes almanacs with the sole intention of providing the public with a good deed. In the sentence, he tells the reader that he could in fact do this, but he does not. Humor is the second trait of the writing that is recognizable. While sarcasm is inherently funny to some people, a direct joke was made in the second sentence. Richard Saunders writes that his wife threatens him with his literature and his “gazing at the stars” with the notion that she will burn all his books.
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This implies a sense of laziness within the character, at least in the eyes of his wife, who would prefer his to work harder at something she sees as more productive. The sarcasm reaches epic proportions when Saunders writes about the conflict between him and another man. The conflict is about who has calculated the time of death for the other man correctly as Saunders will apparently be taking over the writing in the almanac at that time. Saunders states that the conflict was a hot debate for the course of nine years. In the end, he noted that as the day approached, they will both know who was right and who was wrong.
Ben Franklin has likely chosen a character for his writing as an outlet for his creativity. In the public’s eye Ben Franklin must behave a certain way as a politician. Behind the scenes, Ben Franklin could use this character as an expressive outlet that is different than him as a person expected to act a given way in the public’s eye. The character allowed for the protection of his character under political environments as well as created an outlet for his sarcastic and humorous inner soul.
