For someone who writes under a million
or so pennames, Benjamin Franklin does a surprisingly good job connecting
himself to his text in his writings. I found this especially evident in “Information
to Those Who Would Remove to America” and “The Way to Wealth.”
Let’s start with “Way to Wealth.” Not
only is Ben using a pseudonym here (in this case, “Poor Richard”) but he’s not
writing directly as Poor Richard. He’s writing as Poor Richard writing a letter
to his readers, and Poor Richard is describing a situation in which Father
Abraham just so happened, by a crazy coincidence, to have every word of Richard’s
almanacs memorized. At least that’s the way it seems, given how proficiently he
quotes them. So, this piece is Poor Richard describing Father Abraham who is
quoting Poor Richard who is actually Benjamin Franklin. It’s like the 18th
century version of Inception! Here,
Franklin is trying to hide the fact that he’s connecting himself to his text;
he’s writing under the persona of Poor Richard, who isn’t just sharing his own
thoughts but is writing them through the guise of another person. Essentially,
Franklin is tooting his own horn without it looking like he is, the crafty guy.
Most of the things Father Abraham says Poor Richard said in this piece are
attributed to Benjamin Franklin (“Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man
healthy, wealthy, and wise,” “God helps them that help themselves”), so they
are his own thoughts; they’re just masterfully hidden Inception-style through layers of pseudonyms.
“Information to Those Who Would Remove
to America” is connecting self to text in a different way, because it is
admittedly self-penned, as opposed to the writer’s identity being shrouded.
However, he refers to himself in the third person, which adds a sense of
distance to this piece. He speaks convincingly of his own experiences, both in
and out of America, because he does genuinely care about the country and about
its global reputation.
