Franklin's Autobiography will, I suspect, seem refreshing to those of you who have had quite enough of texts preoccupied with theology. Nevertheless, some of the questions that we’ll be asking about this text will be familiar. As you read, you might consider some of the following issues: How does Franklin present himself in this text, and what concerns are most important to him? Spend some time thinking about the opening pages of The Autobiography. How does Franklin explain his reasons for composing this text? How similar are the purposes that he envisions for his text to those we've seen in earlier autobiographies? To what extent do topics which we've seen treated in other texts get treated here, and how are they treated? Consider, for example, his discussion of his Puritan ancestors (475-6) and his description of Whitefield's preaching on p. 542-4. How different is Franklin's tone from what we've seen in other texts? What issues does he stress in these accounts?

Franklin is tremendously interested in the power and possibilities of language, writing, and rhetoric. How does he envision the relationship between truth and effective rhetoric? How does this relationship affect your reading of his Autobiography? What purposes does writing serve in this text?

The Autobiography is much more secular than most of the texts that we've read. But is it entirely secular? Consider Franklin's treatment of deism. How serious is Franklin's evaluation of deism? Compare his discussion of deism with Paine’s in the excerpts from The Age of Reason printed in the Norton Anthology. How serious is Franklin's project of self-reform? And how do you interpret Franklin's comments about his sect?

Consider the structure of Franklin's text. Are the various sections of Franklin's text different in their apparent audiences? Are they different in their emphases? To what extent is the development of American identity and/or civic identity central to Franklin's narrative?