Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos

Amos’s insistence on telling the unvarnished truth reveals many of Ben’s flaws, highlighting the humanity of “Dr. Franklin,” one of the esteemed founding fathers, who is best remembered for his wisdom, patriotism, and diplomacy. Instead of foregrounding Franklin’s admirable qualities, Amos’s narrative demonstrates Ben’s pride, self-interest, and extreme vanity, drawing attention to the fact that Franklin was a real, flawed human being rather than a superhuman ideal. People often regard their cultural and national heroes as exemplars rather than as complex, often contradictory, individuals who possess many of the same faults as any other person. Amos’s portrayal of Ben highlights The Humanity of Heroes, focusing a great deal more on his realistic humanness rather than Franklin’s idealized heroism.

To be sure, Franklin lived during an extraordinary time in American history, but Amos’s portrayal of Ben paints the man as rather, well, ordinary. Amos is the innovative conceptualist who has the idea for the efficient, freestanding Franklin Stove. Amos is the keen observer who realizes that lightning is, indeed, electrical before Ben does. According to the terms of their contractual agreement, Ben will simply ensure the delivery of food to Amos’s family, while Amos must provide “advice, aid, assistance, and succor, at all times and under all conditions, and with [Ben] constantly to abide” (17).