de Crevecoeur vs. Franklin

Both St. Jean de Crevecoeur and Benjamin Franklin seemed to have similair goals when writing "Letters from an American Farmer" and "The Autobiography"; which would be similiar to today's "self-help" writing

de Crevecoeur gave Europeans hope for wealth, peace, and pride for becoming an American.  He painted a picture of who an American truely was:

"What then is the American, this new man? He is either a European, or the descendant of a European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country. I could point out to you a family whose grandfather was an Englishman, whose wife was Dutch, whose son married a French woman, and whose present four sons have now four wives of different nations....Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause changes in the world. [...] The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas, and form new opinions.  From involuntary idleness, servile dependence, penury, and useless labour, he has passed to toils of a very different nature, rewarded by ample subsistence.--This is an American" (p.222-223).

Franklin's "The Autobiography" (meant to look like a letter to his son) has self-help aspects to it for American's as well.  Probably the most memorable section in which Franklin sets out for self-improvement is where he lists out the 13 virtues that he wants to work on weekly.  However, even through his experiement to achieve "moral perfection" he still found difficulties in certain virtues. Franklin states:

"I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue [humility], but had a good deal with regard to the appearance of it" (p.310).

I think Franklin's intentions for this list of Virtues, was not necessarily for American's to perfect each one, but to be aware of them and strive for them in order to improve their own lives.

Differences I saw were in their writing styles.  Franklin's "Autobiography", was just what the name states: a record of his own life (although as stated earlier, can be used to help American's with their own lives).  de Crevecoeur however was writing directly to his audience, stating what they would experience in the New World and how their lives would be improved by becoming an American.

Overall, I like de Crevecoueur's "Letters from an American Farmer" more.  I found Franklin's writing (although technically very good--as I do not want to "bash" on one of our Founding Fathers) to be somewhat boring.  Whereas, I thought de Crevecoueur's writing to be a little more inspirational. 

Works Cited:

1. American Tradition in Literature, Twelfth Edition. George and Barbara Perkins. McGraw- Hill, 2009. Print.