Benjamin Franklins' persona of a brilliant, insightful, reasonable, foreward thinking, slightly arrogant but well-meaning man is different from the narrator of the two famous stories written by Washington Irving. Prone to vivid use of adjectives and description of the stories' settings, Irving's narrator is slightly more whimsical,and if possible more down-to-earth then Franklin, in that he is even easier to understand and far more fun to read. The stiffness of Franklin in comparison to Irving's narrator can be put down to the fact that while Irving's narrator is relaying the fanciful stories of other men, Franklin is telling the story of his own life and is unfailingly straightforward.
Both Benjamin Franklin and Washington Irving are far removed from the earlier writings of the Puritans. There is not much religious context in Franklin's Autobiography, and absolutely nothing religious about either "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" or "Rip Van Winkle". However, Franklin's Autobiography often cites reason and humility, not so much other-worldly as intangible. Irving's tales deal with the supernatural, and though the subject matter of ghosts and magic was certainly not in sync with the Puritans, the Puritan writings dealt also with supernatural (if religious in context)matter. Franklins' Autobiography, like the Puritans' writings, also served as a parable for morality and humility whereas Irving's tales did not teach any sort of lesson and had no morals at the end.
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