Benjamin Franklins Autobiography

These writing that I have composed are all stories of my ability to be aware or unaware of my surroundings. They are tales about interaction with other people and places. Through this process, I have been able to examine myself. I began to investigate how others might perceive me and how I perceive others.

I find myself typical, falling into common stereotypes. I am the typical girl who loves to shop. I paint my nails pink and carry designer bags while I am out on the town. I am the typical writer, constantly over analyzing things, asking myself questions like “why does the world work this way?”

I am also the typical college student who is broke with hardly any money. I am tired from working a late shift the night before. I also wish this day was over already so I could go to bed.

I am the typical Italian who eats pasta on Sundays at 4 in the afternoon. I vacation in Italy during the summer to visit family and I know what homemade sauce really tastes like.

Camara Laye addresses the awareness of boundaries between people and language. His story discusses the boundaries between the traditional customs he grew up with and the new customs that he has been exposed to. Also, his autobiography stresses the importance to language. He wrote his life story in French to traverse limits. By doing this, he has access to a larger audience. It also shows how he well educated he is and how well he has mastered the language.

One might say “that girl drives a Mercedes so she must be a snob” or “he is dirty so he must be poor.” These are characteristics are assume a person carries just by the way they present themselves. As sad as this sounds, it is very true. I believe at one point or another everyone is guilty of committing this crime. This is especially true in America. This is a country obsessed with labels. We do not hesitate to crave designer labels, and even personal labels. In this country, a person is either rich, poor, straight, gay, pretty, ugly, republican, democrat, white, black, etc…

My stories can be referenced to those of Benjamin Franklin and Camara Laye. The autobiographies of these two writers tell stories of awareness and interaction with all kinds of people. Franklin identifies where he calls himself “ordinary” or typical and where he considers himself as “great.” He also glories the importance of appearing modest and conservative.

Boundaries can be set by language and they can also be broken by language. My first major awareness of language was when I traveled to Italy this summer. My whole life Ive been exposed to the Italian language but it didn’t affect me until I spent three wee

Some topics in this essay:
, Camara Laye, Italy Italian, camara laye, ability aware, various types, kinds people, italian language, italy summer, person sound,