Some authors wrote for their works' entertainment value, others for their educational value, and some authors merged the two goals. The majority of the written work produced by different authors was done in the 18th century in this manner. We'll examine a few literary works from this time period as examples and examine the authors' intentions, including whether they wanted to amuse and entertain the audience or inform and lecture to them. We'll look at Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography to get things started. From the first autobiography which Franklin did in 1771, he dedicated it to his son William Franklin. He did write this work because he believed his son didn't know the life of his own father especially his past. In the autobiography, Benjamin showed how he had had fun and lived his life and how he wished to recycle it again. However, he wished to correct his past small mistakes if he ever relived again. Franklin knew it was impossible to repeat his life maybe recollect it and pass it to his son William. He believed that it was the right time for his son to set his life to literature work since William had already had enough time with pleasure. Benjamin did write about the part of his life where he went from being an esoteric tradesman to a renowned statesman, which was something unheard of and uncommon. Franklin's past was much of imitating (Franklin, 36). From the first example of the father to son bond, it can be incurred that Franklin motive was more of instructive one, he learned to advise his son and yearned William to learn from him.
Franklin admitted that one of the motives why he wrote the autobiography was to give in his vanity. Recollecting his past in the literature writings to him was like recycling his life again. His admission for vanity which mainly involves excessive loving of oneself more than others and having the excessive pride was enough to think of others will gain pleasure and learn from reading about it. Probably, because of the allegations which were made against him in his life of being atheist, Franklin was quick to thank God and said that everything good that had ever happened to him he owed to God's providence. This clearly shows Franklin's motive of writing was advising his readers.
In his autobiography, Franklin continues to describe his lineage. He mentioned one of his uncles from whom he learnt much especially through his family and past. From his uncle's notes, Franklin discovered that he was the youngest son going back five generations, hinting that it was lucky for him being born of all. This was an evidence of what Franklin had said about William being more than just the stated audience in his first section of his work (Franklin, 12). He continues to talk about his family by introducing a key male member of his father's family. Thomas the senior who had 4 sons; John, Benjamin, Josiah and Thomas junior. Thomas junior was an innate scribe who later became esteemed by the community. Franklin relates how his son had perceived Thomas' life and character trait as something similar to that of Benjamin. Benjamin association with members of his father's family is an indication of the strong character trait of borough achievements that continue in the family (Franklin, 34).
In addition, Franklin shows that not only did the civic character trait ran in the family but also the literacy character was portrayed. He mentioned another son of his great-grandfather Thomas the senior, John who had developed his unique technique of writing in shorthand. He piled and assembled various sermons something which was political. Franklin was proud to show off some of the achievements and works of his lineage, mostly which flattered his own vanity. In his autobiography, we also see Benjamin's sense of humor, especially when he mentioned that since he was the tenth son of his father, Josiah tried to set him as the tithe.
On a light note, Franklin suggested that his father wanted to do the same practice of giving thanks to the church by using his children instead of money. In his autobiography, Franklin used this kind humor repeatedly in which he expressed in subtle fashion form of style. Another example is seen when Franklin joked that was he becoming very humble that ended up being proud of humility. However, such expressions were not be taken seriously as Franklin had a lightly sarcastic humor character in his work.
We will also look into the interesting life of Olaudah Equiano and whether he represented his work with an entertainment or instruction motive. Equiano narrates his tale by first mentioning the district he was born; Eboe. In his narrative, he enlightens the readers about the legal system that was in his homeland, the importance of marriage, the roles and duties of both gender, the composition of the kingdom which mostly comprised of various dancers, singers and poets and lastly the religious practices. Equiano's use of various examples to illustrate the economic activity that was practiced in the kingdom i.e. agriculture, shows a motive of being informative. In the first chapter, he lets the readers know about his origins. He is simply motivated to instruct the readers to grasp much of his past which sounds very important to him and he is proud of it. He even further mentions the specific crops that his people grew such as fruits and vegetables.
He later changes the tone of his narrative to explain how his life was. His account of what happened to him in West Indies is moving and touching as it evocates a great grief of violence, dismay, horror, and fear. Equiano utterance on terror is emotionally moving as he tries to show how the other enslaved Africans felt when they were taken from their homes to foreign places. Equiano tries to give a distinction between the cruelty and inhumanity of the civilized (white) and their African counterparts. He had a different experience while he was moved from one place to another. His experience was nowhere close to the sense of dehumanization he experienced as he was shipped to Europe countries.
What mostly marked the white slave traders was what he observed while at sea (Equiano, 47). He was surprised by the context of many starving people who were on the deck. Their way of behaving to their captives was violent and depraved. Equiano even pointed out that his fellow Africans at the sea were the most immoral and corrupt due to their close relationships with the Europeans. He pictured the unclean women who disrespected their own bodies by making alterations. In this context, he is using the element of being instructive to show the readers what really happened from the time he was taken from his homeland to time he was taken to Europe.
In the next event, we see that Equiano was taken to Europe where he was purchased by Henry Pascal. During this period Equiano narrates how he witnessed various dramatic sea battles, a significant force during the hostilities. He was able to receive a new name (Gustavus Vassa) which he would later be known for the rest of his life. During this period Equiano was able to develop a habit of reading. Quite unfortunately, his legs were almost amputated from sickness he had. He grew more used to his enslavement to the extent that he began longing for violence (Equiano, 51). In this event, we see a transformative Equiano thirsty for literacy knowledge. He then continues to show his adaptation with the slavery life that he was living in. He has simply been informative and instruction motivated of the changes he was undergoing through.
Equiano continues to explore the effect of slavery. He explains how he was severed from his home district and sold to Barbados, an island known for brutality for blacks in Africa. At Barbados, the life expectancy of slaves declined significantly as the slaves were underwent cruel treatment from the white slave traders. For example, he mentions that the female slaves who included small children were often raped, their bodies mutilated and brutalized most of the time. In addition, Equiano sums up that most slaves experienced a death of respect for their own belonging, all their possessions were taken from them by the whites and if they attempted to buy out it was of no use as they had no legal rights (Equiano, 58). This kind of treatment was the same on all the islands. From the above incidences, Equiano uses the same technique in his writing to educate and inform the readers about his own personal experience on slavery. There are almost no cases where he intended to bring in any humor in this topic of discussion unlike the case of Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
The third example will be based on the novel "The Coquette" by Hannah Webster Foster. This is a tale which was based on the death of a character called Elizabeth Whitman. She had left her home after a drama scandal of an affair with a married man and died in the wayside after giving birth to a stillborn son. Foster accounts some events in his fiction tale by use of epistles or epistolary which were mostly used in the 18th Century. This is clearly a good example of Foster's motive of writing his novel; to be informative or instructive. In the Novel, the writer continues to educate the readers on various issues. Foster shows that both friendship and marriage were equally important (Foster, 24). She portrays this through Eliza who despite lacking the affectionate relationship with her parents, still relied on her friends for advice, consolation and even entertainment. Eliza is portrayed to be aware of how friendship evolves. Foster also continues to show us the complexity of friendship. She uses some of Eliza's friends who were mostly judgmental and irrational than understanding friends.
Foster wanted his readers especially the future generation to sympathize with Eliza's desire to get married later with somebody she loved. The novel creates a situation which is relatable when reading. This scenario is at the start of the novel when Eliza was to choose between reason and emotion. Eliza did not want to get married and if she did, she had to aviate her status and search for someone who would have engaged her fully. Eliza was caught between two men; Mr. Boyer who is portrayed to be have been the best choice since he is a simple clergyman, open on his devotion, and the wealthy and charming Mr. Sanford.
On the same note, Foster tries to show that during the 18th century, young women were supposed to be satisfied with social class and instead pursue an appropriate lifestyle (Foster, 30). She uses the element of being informative by showing how Eliza spent most of her time to discuss the benefits and detractions of her two suitors. Though she was so focused on Sanford's wit and charm, she rarely aired her feelings about Sanford's money. However, the cash was one of the reasons she was attracted to him. She desired to climb her social class and join the ranks of the summers.
Foster also brings the theme of virtue in the 18 century. She explains to the readers the importance it had during this time where young women were expected to protect their virtue by stopping the libertines who tried to seduce them. Instead, they were to pursue gentlemen of sense and discretion. However, women were often excessively observed since the focus on the virtue was very punishing. Eliza experienced this intense fixation in her own community on her virtue. They labeled her a coquette and subjected her to constant critics. They couldn't also hide their hostility towards her. In the same vein, Foster wanted to inform the future generation about the gender issue in the 18th century. Women were supposed to be beautiful, bright and of virtue. However, they were not allowed to cross any boundaries by appearing to enjoy the company of men. They were also supposed to see their duties and roles as mothers and wives. Men were judged for their bad behavior (Foster, 27). For instance, Sanford the Major was deemed a rake and received hostility from the society. Nonetheless, men still had many options available for them in the society compared to women. They had much of freedom to act. It took an extreme loss to exile a man from the community as with the case of Sanford at end of the book.
The last example is based on "The Algerine Captive" by Royall Tyler. This writer represented his work both in humor as well as in a serious theme. In the book, he used Updike Underhill as the protagonist. Updike was an American doctor whose freedom was taken from him when was prisoned by pirates from Algeria, Africa and sold into slavery. In the novel, Underhill is portrayed to encounter and experience various cultures, where the writer wrote about the character life in America and his life after the captive and the return journey back home.
Royall tried to be informative to the readers. However, he wrote his work in a satirical form. Because the main character Updike underwent the various multicultural exploits, readers studied how an American can be similar to an Algerian. He wrote about the challenges the doctor faced with the freedom that America had (Tyler, 15).
A good example of satire is shown when the doctor was under conflict due to his nation's freedom. It was depicted in an issue where the doctor had an encounter with one of his students earlier in the book. When he had requested the student to bequeath his chair that was near a fireplace, the student replied that he could remove the chair after he was done warming. This was a clear example of a young youth who did not respect the teacher. Just like the way the government was usurped by the mob; the student represented the mob, the chair represented the government and the position by the fire represented the economic gain. The doctor was just a victim of the abundance America's freedom.
Finally, Tyler, through Underhill, warned against vague literature books among the Americans. Just because they are of English manufacture, they tend to teach a reader to admire levity. Tyler's incipient nationalism was evident in the argument in that most English novels present an erroneous idea of the world in which the reader is to live. In this incident, the author used more of an instructive motive.
Works Cited
Equiano, Olaudah. The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano. Broadview Press, 2001: 40-65
Foster, Hannah Webster, and Jane Ermina Locke. The Coquette: Or, The History of Eliza Wharton. A Novel: Founded on Fact. WP Fetridge, 1855: 21-35
Franklin, Benjamin. "Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, ed. JA Leo Lemay and PM Zall." (1986): 10-37.
Tyler, Royall. The Algerine Captive: or, The Life and Adventures of Doctor Updike Underhill. Modern Library, 2007: 15-20
