This might be the first time I've actually read The Autobiography all the way through. I've read sections here and there (mostly the virtues, since that gets reprinted/assigned constantly), but the only time I maybe read the whole thing was an American Lit class in undergrad.
I found the front half a lot more interesting. I think this is a combination of two things:
1. The stakes are higher, or at least more relevant/personal. Ben maybe not getting a horse for some general isn't exciting. Ben maybe starving because his printing business is having issues is.
2. The stories there are a lot more to the point, and usually tie in with some kind of interesting philosophy/personal development. More of the later stories are just there for their own sake. (I admit that this is me flipping my usual rage against didactic stores.)
3. I imagine these parts are probably more edited by Franklin. At the very least, the final few sections seem to have been unfinished at the time of his death, while the first few had been at least drafted over a decade earlier.
Overall, interesting story combined with some very digestible philosophy. I still think this was a great first pick for 15MAD and a logical starting point for a modern American trying to dip their toe into the classics. 4/5 on the obnoxiously hard to ace classics scale.
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