Benjamin Franklin's Letter To Happiness

Words: 498
Pages: 2

A very funny little letter written by Benjamin Franklin, however I believe that even though this was written as a joke, there is some truth and seriousness behind it. He addresses the sexuality of man and says the best way to “remedy” it is through marriage. This implies that sexuality can be viewed as a disease, a point of view I agree with.. Sexuality make people less productive, since that makes men spend time on chasing women, time which could be spent working, or being productive. Unalterably it is necessary in order to preserve the human race.

Franklin claims marriage is necessary to “Form a complete human being”. Since alone he can only be as half as productive. I think this is for the same reasons previously stated, however when a
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We don’t know who Benjamin Is addressing but he mentions that the reasons the person the letter is being addressed to for avoiding marriage to be weak. This is were he begins to list the reasons of why he believes older women to be a superior choice instead of a young woman. All of this reasons, I find them to be true, though cynical. Men are naturally attracted to younger women since they are more likely to bear children, and either subconsciously or consciously this is the purpose of sexuality. He calls them wiser, lesser sinners, and grateful, all of which is true is his 5th argument. In this argument he says that it is true that older women begin to loose their beauty, although this is only in their higher parts, while the lower part of her body continues to be “as plump as ever.” This specific argument I find to be less serious than the rest, and a way to interpret it is “It is true older women are not as beautiful, but they are alright”. This is what lets know that the whole letter is mostly a joke and his true intentions are to convince his friend to look for