Compare Douglass Narrative to Franklins Autobiography, narratives about self-creation and about the possibilities open to the individual man or...

The
key connection between Douglass' narrative and Franklin's autobiography is the emphasis placed
on self-reliance and a particularly American spirit of ingenuity and independence. Franklin's
story is characterized by a pioneering sense of adventure, as he strikes out on his own and
makes his own way in the world through hard work. While he is born into some measure of
privilege--certainly in comparison to the bondage Douglass was born into--Franklin emphasizes
the degree to which his success hinges upon his own focused efforts to develop not only a career
plan but a whole life plan in which his day is rigorously structured around the most efficient
route to edification and self-improvement.

Douglass' story has a lot in
common with Franklin's despite the profound difference that Douglass was born into slavery. As
Douglass' narrative is also a political appeal for abolition and an argument for the manifest
humanity of black people, one rhetorical strategy is to connect to the American ideals posited
by the founding fathers (like Franklin). So throughout his narrative, Douglass emphasizes how
his condition called for an even more robust do-it-yourself spirit. For instance, when he
realizes his master wants to keep him from learning to read, he becomes determined to achieve
literacy by any means possible. He ultimately teaches himself to read and write in part through
tricking neighborhood boys into teaching him. Douglass' literacy allows him to "write his
own pass" by forging his master's signature. Ultimately, while Franklin and Douglass'
narratives are written by men in vastly different circumstances, they are united by an
investment in the American ideal of self-invention.