Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

Figure 4.2: Title page from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. An online version Franklin's
autobiography can be found via the OAAP website or directly through the OAAP partner Early Americas
Digital Archive3.

As a part of the early American literary tradition, Ballentine's narrative joins a long line of 19th century autobiographical and rst-person narratives, such as the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1771-1790), Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast(1840), the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845), and Henry David Thoreau's Walden (1854).Personal narratives typically have the circular shape of descent and return, meaning characters often fall by way of some experience and return to a state of ordinary, civilized life (Arac 77).

These narratives function as a way to see another form of life and travel into the past. In addition, Ballentine's narrative can be located within studies of rst-person immigrant texts, such as John Hector St. John de Crèvec÷ur's Letters from an American Farmer (1782) (an electronic version linked in the OAAP via the Early Americas Digital Archive4), Mary Antin's The Promised Land (1912), and many more. Frequently, personal narratives are appropriated into national narratives; they are used to understand the nation within a certain space and time (77).

Teachers might consider pairing Ballentine's autobiography with one of these canonical American literary narratives, helping students to see the similarities and di erences within the genre of personal narrative. For instance, teachers might have students read the rst ve pages of Ballentine's narrative and the rst ve pages of Benjamin Franklin's narrative to show the di erent ways in which authors introduce themselves and their writing. What are the  rst pieces of information that these authors reveal about themselves?

What reasons do they provide for writing their narratives? Such questions can help students understand the formula of personal narratives and how various authors deviate from it. Autobiography of an English Solider begins with a classic immigrant arrival story into the harsh streets of New York, where Ballentine quickly realizes that he is scarcely prepared to nd the scramble for the means of living so erce and incessant, as I found it in New York (9). Although he attempts to rst ndemployment as a weaver or a whaler, he eventually decides to continue his occupation as a soldier and enlist in the American army. 

Traveling from Fort Adams, Rhode Island to Pensacola, Florida to Tampico, Mexico, Ballentine eventually participates and observes the siege of Veracruz, which led to the inland march toward Jalapa during the U.S.-Mexican War (1846-1848). Ballentine's personal narrative situates his experience in the U.S.-Mexican War as part of his immigration experience, and provides a geographic outline of the U.S. during the war as well as a sense of U.S. politics. Furthermore it calls us to understand his rst person narrative as one told and interpreted by a witness.

By highlighting that his narrative is both a primary historical source and a literary form using conventions and narrative structures, teachers can help students to understand both the historical and literary nature of the personal narrative. What type of language does Ballentine use? How does he describe the battles? What features of his descriptions point to a rst person experience?