Silence Dogood: A Brief Summary

Let us begin at his childhood. Benjamin Franklin Was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. Unlike traditional families in the present day, who usually only have around two to three children, Ben Franklin was born into a family of 17 siblings, Ben was the tenth child. When Benjamin was young his father wanted him to become a clergyman, so he sent him to school to become one. Though his father Joseph Franklin could not afford to send him to that kind of school for more than a year, and to become a clergyman you needed years of school. Instead of sending Ben to school to be a clergyman, his father made him an apprentice for his brother.His brother, James Franklin, ran a printing shop, and Ben loved to read, so his father thought it would be perfect for him.

When Ben was 15 his brother started The New England Courant, this would be “newspaper” in Boston. Ben wanted to write for the paper, but James never let him. This led to Franklin writing at night and go under the name Silence Dogood which was the name for a fictional widow. Ben would write about the world around him, give advice, and talk about how women are treated, he did this all under the Silence Dogood name. He would put his writings under the print shop's door, and they became a hit. Everyone was wondering who Silence Dogood is. It took 16 letters for Ben to confess, James’s friends thought they were quite funny, but this is when James became jealous of how much everyone liked Ben. After this James was thrown into jail after making fun of the clergy. In this time Ben took over his newspaper for several issues. Upon James release, he did not care that his brother basically kept his newspaper alive, but he was still mad at Ben. So after he was released James would harass and give Ben beatings. Ben could no longer take it and decided to run away in 1723, and he ran to