Benjamin Franklin's somewhat arrogant persona in his autobiography is filled with his obsession of the "perfect man". He has this way of explaining that everything he did made him successful, and he now wants it to go the same way for his own son. Just as your parents always want you to have a better life than they did, Franklin is paving the road for his son ahead of time with his 13 virtues. Franklin says that if you utilize the 13 virtues of temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity and humility. Just as successful men and women write books about their accomplishments and how they grew as a person because of their lessons learned in life, Benjamin Franklin makes these same connections.
Washington Irving's depiction of the towns in "Rip Van Winkle" and "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" are described much more conservatively compared to the overall tone of Ben Franklin's Autobiography. Irving's way of explaining the mystery of the "other-worldly" towns keeps everything separated from the practicality of Franklin's primary focus. Irving uses humor in his political explanations with the narrator, Diedrich Knickerbocker, as a way to explain the historical perspective as well as political stance of the time period.
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