FRANKLIN AND IRVING

The persona that Benjamin Franklin creates in his autobiography is one of almost sincere arrogance. He gives of a type of pride and confidence about himself that others may admire, while others may find it annoying. Franklin is an individual and believes in individual success, in which he set up principals and ideals for himself. Through his believes he writes to his son explaining how he became successful, and even lays out some guidelines that may help his son become successful. This guideline is called the thirteen virtues, which are temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanness, tranquility, chastity and humility. Franklin was set on attempting to be the “perfect man.”As oppose to the persona that Washington Irving gives off for the characters in “Rip Van Winkle” and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. These characters are much less prideful than Franklin. In “Rip Van Winkle,” Rip is a very nonchalant guy. He seems to live life by the day instead of having a plan for himself or his family, which is the total opposite of Franklin. Unlike Franklin, Rip seemed to be lazy in certain aspects of his life. Franklin’s character was formed by difficult task and willpower. Although Rip was a seemed to be unconcerned at times, he did serve as a purpose for Irving. This purpose may have been to let us know that we are nothing without the past. When Rip came back from his mysterious disappearance, he still could recollect aspects of the past. For that reason he was seen as a sort of historian to the new village. So in a sense Franklin and Irving’s characters may not be all that different, they all have a sort of mystery about them and serve as ally for the past.