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Franklin points out the importance of appearance takes place in Philadelphia. Upon arrival, Franklin offers to give his shilling away to the people who owned the boat that brought him to his destination. First, they refuse to accept the payment on grounds that he contributed in rowing the boat. However, Franklin “insisted in their taking it, a man being more generous when he has but a little money that when he has plenty through fear of being thought to have but little   (19).” It is odd that Franklin uses the word “fear” in describing how he would feel if people believed that he was poor. Again, in this incident, similar to the one before, Franklin expresses his desire for people to have a favorable image of him. A highly esteemed reputation is critical of one’s advancement in society and the appearance of being financially secure is the surest way of becoming one. Therefore, people should not only be aware of how others view them, but also be conscious of creating the image that they want for themselves.

Yet, when making this character of oneself, it is also important to stay humble in fear that one’s image will not be shattered by arrogance and pride. When Franklin first drafted his list of virtues, it contained only twelve. But a friend informed him that he would be viewed as being too proud and insolent. So Franklin added humility to the list. However, having reached a certain level of celebrity status for all his accomplishments, he could   not bring himself to be humble. Franklin honestly states that   he “cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue, but I had a good deal with regard to the appearance of it (35).”

In order to appear humble, though he confesses that pride is “still alive,”   Franklin gets rid of all “positive assertion (45)” in his speech.   He drops in his vocabulary such words as “certainly” and “undoubtedly’ and adopts a more open minded,