#02 02 15

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Sayer say what?

I think it's really interesting that Sayer talked about how autobiographies were one of the oldest forms of literature in America. It just makes me wonder what motivated all these people to write about themselves and their lives here over all the other things that could be talked about. I certainly would be so caught up in the fact that I made to America to begin with because boat journeys were so sketchy that I would feel like a kid at Disney World for the first time. I would be more excited to write about all the things that are new like flowers and animals and natives. But that's just me.

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Sayer

I found it interesting that the autobiography is the first form of literature that comes out of the Americas. Before any novel or play, there were autobiographies or colonial accounts of life in the new world. I had never thought of the autobiography as a distinction of American literature, but Sayer’s point about the autobiography being “one of the oldest forms of American writing” does seem to be true as he lists a number of important text in American literature that are all autobiographies.

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Ford's Franklin

I found Ford’s point about Franklin being “neither a classical hero nor a saint” to be interesting because many of the criticisms Franklin gets are due to his hypocrisy or questionable moral character. Ford asserts that the purpose of the autobiography is to be less about the intricate details of Franklin’s life and more to be instructive to those reading so that they may know how to lead a virtuous and productive life in a new, democratic society that Franklin helped form.