Ben+Franklin

**The Whistle** by Benjamin Franklin
Summary: In the story, the beginning paragraphs talk about a childhood event in Ben's life. Little Franklin was seven years old when he and his friends went to the toy store with their pennies. When he arrived, he was fascinated with this one boy's whistle, and offered all his pennies for the whistle. He loved his whistle but when he showed his family, they laughed at him and told him that he spent four times the amount that the whistle was worth. He was embarrassed more than he was happy about his new whistle. Then the story fast forwards to Franklin's adulthood when he examines people based on his idea of "giving too much for his whistle". He talks about many people and what they have, like: a lawyer that would do anything to win his case, one that ruins his romances to add to his popularity, someone that just wants to save his money not worrying about what people think of him, a person who only wants to have fun, and a beautiful girl that marries a man just for his money and status. He explains that they all have false estimates on the things that they value. He ends with saying that somethings are worth spending extra for.

Correlation: "//When I saw another fond of popularity, constantly employing himself in political bustles,neglecting his own affairs, and ruining them by that neglect, He pays indeed, said I, too much for his whistle."// This is just one of the parables that Ben Franklin analyzes in this piece. He talks about a person who wants Paragraphs 6-11 Correlation:This is the section of the story where Ben Franklin talks about the different type of people and the reasons why they are paying too much for their whistle, or caring too much about one thing. He talks about people he has seen around and tells what he sees and how it relates to his early childhood memory with the whistle. I could be totally off here, but when I read this section, for some reason my mindset compared it similarly to //The Beatitudes// in the gospel, Matthew 5: 3-10//.// With the beatitudes, Jesus spreads his word about how to go to heaven. It is the opposite idea of Ben Franklin's story, but it says quotes like these: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" They both show characteristics about people, but then state the opposite from what you think of them.

Reflection: I agree to the idea that Benjamin Franklin is trying to spread in this passage. In The Whistle, he is explaining that you do not want to spend to much time or effort on certain things because at the same time you are not worrying about other things just as important. In the story, he describes how the lawyer, popular man, rich man, happy-go-lucky man, and spoiled woman all have something similar in common: they gave too much for the whistle. This means that they are so focused at keep doing what they are doing, when really they are giving up too much to do so. This idea still goes on in today's society. Many people try to do one thing so much that they are missing out on other opportunities, or paying too much for the whistle. An example of this is Donald Trump. The man focuses solely on his business and will do anything to make more money and show it off. But he is always finding new women that are attracted to his popularity and money and he treats them like crap. He does not care about anyone but himself making him, plus his ex-wives, pay too much for his whistle.