Ben+Franklin

The Whistle
Benjamin Franklin's short story, __The Whistle__, is a story of observations that the author makes through the course of his lifetime that lead him and the reader to believe that people don't see recognize the important things in life. In the beginning he tells a story of his childhood. When he was seven years old his pockets had been filled with coppers from family members over the holidays. He then went to a toy store where he became interested in a whistle. He used all of his coppers to pay for this whistle. Then he went home and whistled all around the house annoying the rest of his family. He told them what he had paid for his whistle and they told him he paid four times more than what it was worth. Ben then started to think of the others things he could have purchased; now the whistle became more of a problem than a pleasure.

Correlation:
=== The theme of this short story is that many people don’t appreciate the things they already have in life and instead search for something new, usually for the wrong reasons. Most the paragraphs in the story are examples of the theme but I will choose one specific example. He noticed one man liked to impress others with his appearance, he was so obsessed with his appearance that he didn’t care how much money he spent. So the man goes into debt and spends his life in prison, thus he has paid too much for his whistle. The man should have respected the possessions he already had instead of trying to wear new things he could not afford because in the end it was not worth it and chances are he did not make a big impression anyway. I think this story really shows what kind person Ben Franklin had been. The way he took the time to observe other people and think deeply about what they were doing wrong with their lives is very unique. Even as a kid he could stop and think what he had done wrong and think of it as a lesson learned. He then went on to use it throughout his life every time he felt the need to spend too much for the whistle. Ben Franklin seems like a very wise man. ===

Reflection:
After reading this story I found it very interesting that even though this story was written over 300 years ago the problems that he observed are still problems in today’s society. There are countless examples of people that have paid too much for their whistle. I think the example of ambition that Franklin wrote of suits today’s world best. The example was about blinding ambition, by that I mean that people strive so much to be better that they are blind to the problems they are creating. For example a man was in search for flattery and praise, and in doing so he sacrificed his freedom, his morals, and most importantly his family and friends to achieve it. The example I used in the correlation about the man who cared too much of his appearance is in the same boat as this last man, they care too much of what others think of them instead of being someone that they themselves can like and respect. I think the reason this occurs is do to competition. People strive to be better than what they are so they can impress their friends, family and their competition. They think that if they do something worth remembering that they will be loved more by those people they are trying to impress which was not the case at all; they should appreciate the things they already have and know that they do not need to impress to be admired.