Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Part 2 summary

What happens

1. Benjamin becomes James’s apprentice at twelve and uses borrowed books to pursue reading outside working hours.
2. His father criticizes his prose, prompting exercises based on the Spectator, while a vegetable diet saves money and study time.
3. He practices questioning instead of blunt contradiction, then favors cautious language over argumentative victories.
4. His anonymous newspaper essays win praise, but revealing his authorship accompanies growing conflict with James.
5. After James’s imprisonment, the newspaper appears under Benjamin’s name through an arrangement involving public discharge and secret indentures.
6. Benjamin claims freedom, finds Boston printers closed to him, and secretly sails to New York with Collins’s help.

In this part

What to notice

Benjamin Franklin’s response to his father’s criticism turns dissatisfaction into deliberate practice. It introduces the exercises through which he develops his prose.

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