1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述包含参考文献）

Research background 1.1 Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (17 January 1706 #8211; 17 April 1790) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. For other uses of "Benjamin Franklin", "Ben Franklin", and "Franklin". Benjamin Franklin:”The First American” A renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat. As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions. He facilitated many civic organizations, including Philadelphia's fire department and a university. Franklin first as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States Ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation. Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment. He is the author and protagonist of the Autobiography; The Autobiography tells of the major events of his life and many of his important scientific and political ideas, but the work does not discuss the American Revolution, in which Franklin was a major participant. How does one characterize Benjamin Franklin? Journalist, scientist, educator, politician, writer, administer, philosopher#8212;he truly seemed to be able to do everything. His accomplishments and the talents and interests which he displayed during the course of his long life#8212;1706 to 1790#8212;have caused him to be called both ”the first American” and ”the last universal man”. 1.2 The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin is the traditional name for the unfinished record of his own life written by Benjamin Franklin from 1771 to 1790; however, Franklin himself appears to have called the work his Memoirs. Although it had a tortuous publication history after Franklin's death, this work has become one of the most famous and influential examples of an autobiography ever written. Franklin's account of his life is divided into four parts, reflecting the different periods at which he wrote them. There are actual breaks in the narrative between the first three parts, but Part Three's narrative continues into Part Four without an authorial break (only an editorial one). The work portrays a fascinating picture of life in Philadelphia, Franklin wrote the first five chapters of his autobiography in England in 1771, resumed again thirteen years later (1784-85) in Paris and later in 1788 when he returned to the United States. Franklin ends the account of his life in 1757 when he was 51 years old. It is perhaps the first real post-revolutionary American writing as well as the first real autobiography in English. First of all, it is a puritan document. The most famous section describes his scientific scheme of self-examination and self-improvement. 1.3. Need for the study Few critical works make a comment on the detail of America dream in a certain book. Articles tend to analyze the causes of protagonist#8217;s success or fail, but they don#8217;t involve the whole country. The appraisal of Comrade Mao Zedong and the exposition of the protagonist relate not only to Benjamin Franklin personally but also to the entire history of their Party and their country. In this thesis, we can have a comprehensive understanding of reasons for the protagonist#8217;s autobiography. The shape of his idea is closely related to his living environment, and has important enlightening guidance for modern cultural life. After that, we can get some inspiration which also does well to ourselves. For example, through which I believe we'll realize our "China dream" in the most rewarding direction. 2. Literature review 2.1 Previous studies on the first American Benjamin Franklin has been the subject of much discussion since its very publication. Since then, a lot of Chinese scholars have done tremendous research from various perspectives. There are about 50 academic articles published on cnki.net between 2000 and 2016 and two perspectives should deserve our attention: Characterization and America dream. A lot of scholars show great interest in the analysis of character of the first American Benjamin Franklin, especially the cause of his success. Liu Chunshui (2006) makes a comparative analysis of Benjamin Franklin and his pragmatism; he insisted that the success of Benjamin Franklin is obtained also comes from his pragmatic spirit. What#8217;s more, the success of the whole country is also comes from this spirit. Wang Yuqing (2012) attaches Benjamin Franklin#8217;s success to Gatsby#8217;s fail, which can get the conclusion that America dream isn#8217;t disappear but it has different meaning in different time. Wang further claims that the recipe for Benjamin#8217;s success which includes the great social background and his own character. Qiu Yuerong(2010) studies the rise and decline of the whole nations through different American literatures which includes The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Sister Carrie and The Great Gatsby. She gives a relatively thorough analysis of the personalities of all the protagonists in these three books. However, she doesn#8217;t study in depth the details of the relevant between America dream and the spirit of the protagonists; as a result, her interpretation seems too superficial. Also, we can do more work to study this thesis in details. In the words of historian Henry Steele Commager, "In a Franklin could be merged the virtues of Puritanism without its defects, the illumination of the Enlightenment without its heat." To Walter Isaacson, this makes Franklin "the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become.” Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies. With two partners he published the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper that was known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of the British policies. He became wealthy publishing Poor Richard's Almanack and The Pennsylvania Gazette. He played a major role in establishing the University of Pennsylvania and was elected the first president of the American Philosophical Society. Franklin became a national hero in America when as agent for several colonies he spearheaded the effort to have Parliament in London repeal the unpopular Stamp Act. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations. His efforts to secure support for the American Revolution by shipments of crucial munitions proved vital for the American war effort. For many years he was the British postmaster for the colonies, which enabled him to set up the first national communications network. He was active in community affairs, colonial and state politics, as well as national and international affairs. From 1785 to 1788, he served as governor of Pennsylvania. Toward the end of his life, he freed his own slaves and became one of the most prominent abolitionists. His colorful life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, and status as one of America's most influential Founding Fathers, have seen Franklin honored on coinage and the $100 bill; warships; the names of many towns; counties; educational institutions; corporations; and, more than two centuries after his death, countless cultural references. 2.2 America Dream 2.2.1 Definition of America dream ”The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals (Democracy, Rights, Liberty, Opportunity, and Equality) in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, and an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers.” I found this info from Wikipedia. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, " life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth. The American Dream is rooted in the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims that "all men are created equal" with the right to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Through this information, we can give a subconscious definition of America dream; it should be some pursuit of the whole country. 2.2.2 The origin of America dream America dream is used in popular discourse today, and scholars have traced its use in American literature ranging from the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, to Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), Willa Cather's My #225;ntonia, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925), Theodore Dreiser's An American Tragedy (1925) and Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon (1977). Other writers who used the American Dream theme include Hunter S. Thompson, Edward Albee, John Steinbeck, Langston Hughes and Giannina Braschi. The American Dream is also discussed in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman; the play's protagonist, Willy, is on a quest for the American Dream. As Chua (1994) shows, the American Dream is a recurring theme in other literature as well, for example, the fiction of Asian Americans.. Benjamin Franklin, who instructed his countrymen as printer, not a priest. He was a humanist; a master of diplomacy; a humanitarian who helped establish hospitals, schools, and libraries. He was a believer in the possibilities of human progress and the comfort of material success; and he was a prose stylist whose writing reflected the neoclassic ideals of clarity, restraint, simplicity, and balance. Franklin seemed to represent the age in his paradoxical faith in both social order and in natural rights, in love of stability and devotion to revolutionary change. He was symbolic even in his success in the printing trade, for the eighteenth century in American was a time of an immense expansion of publishing that fed a growing and increasingly literate colonial population. 2.3 Significance Autobiography is a story that a person writes about his or her own life. Autobiographies are written in first-person point of view, and biographies in third-person point of view. What is the purpose of the Autobiography, and how does that purpose change throughout the work? A lot of scholar has given us answer after their study. Benjamin Franklin is embodiment American cultural diversity. Through the autobiography we can know he is one person commercially successful, ever concerned and involved with the public good, a great communicator, and a remarkable man of science and technology. And, Benjamin Franklin is the embodiment of American Dream. In a word, the study and comment of these thesis will give us a comprehensive insight into Benjamin Franklin and America dream. 2.4 Deficiency in previous studies Actually, The Autobiography never has one clearly defined audience. Franklin's tone reflects the purpose of accounting for the major events of history as Franklin witnessed them and took part in them. After the study of the scholar, we can learn about the whole social background of the book, also, we can give a conclusion about what is the America dream. However, by analyzing a situation, breaking it up into pieces to see the depth of it, you will more accurately understand and comprehend the core of a situation or conflict. Trying to comprehend Benjamin Franklin#8217;s life and legacy is like trying to grab a shadow. Each time one tries to get a fix on the reflection，it darts away and grows even Larger Many people, especially the youth, know how to do, how to change their life. They are just lack of courage and persistence. We always defeated by ourselves not the difficulties. At that time we find thousands of excuses to get ourselves rid of regret. As a result, what we should do is to analyze our own dream from others#8217; dream or spirits. For our young people, it is important to sum up others#8217; dream and shape our own dream better. And I'm absolutely confident that America has no better ambassadors to offer than our young people. As a result, the most important thing is to point out the right way for our young people after the study of the thesis.

2. 研究的基本内容、问题解决措施及方案

Methods and Procedures of the Study In order to figure out what The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin tells about, I did the following steps. First of all, I read the Chinese version of this novel. In this way, I can get familiar with the content and a whole comprehension of the novel. The Internet also provides me with abundant background information and information of the Benjamin Franklin. As this book is still very popular nowadays, much attention has been paid to the analysis of Benjamin Franklin and America dream. I used traditional libraries and E-libraries to find a lot of documents which can let me understand the novel well. Through these ways, I can master the integration over. Last but not the least; my supervisor gave me a lot of suggestion. She gradually gives some critical suggestions. As a result, reading books, turning to the Internet and the libraries, and asking my supervisor for advice are the main methods of this study. The thesis consists of six parts. The first part will primarily provide the background information, including a general introduction of Benjamin Franklin (his character, personal life, living background and so on), the novel The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and the purpose of writing the thesis. The second part is the literature review. A detailed analysis will be made in Part three; it is a psychoanalytical reading of this novel. Part four analyzes America dream. The fifth part will analyze Franklin#8217;s policy career. At last, the thesis will draw a conclusion, stressing the importance of China dream.