Truly successful writers, like Benjamin Franklin, have the ability to convey their point of view and ideas of a topic through the use of complex writing modes; by using complex writing styles, it seems like he has greatly shaped the many ideals and morals of a successful like. Franklin exemplifies his capability to use different modes in his letter commonly reprinted as The Morals of Chess. In this short passage, Franklin uses three complex modes of writing to convey his ideas—analogy, definition, and example. Using these three strategies, Franklin is able to reveal his own deeper interpretation of the simple board game chess. The primary strategy Franklin uses is the mode of analogy; in paragraph two he writes, “For life is like a game …show more content…
After defining each skill of chess, Franklin gives an example of how these skills may be applied to your life. For example, for Foresight he writes, “If I move this piece, what will be the advantage of my new situation?”. This is a very useful thinking skill—one commonly used by those looking to make money or be the most efficient in terms of how they can be better. For Caution, he writes that, “the game thereby becomes more the image of…. war, in which, if you have incautiously put yourself into a bad and dangerous position, you cannot obtain your enemy’s leave to withdraw troops…but must abide all the consequences of your rashness.” This is a very logical and straightforward example—if you make a move because you assume it will work at the moment, you can easily cause turmoil and in the end hurt yourself—you can destroy all of your progress by making a rushed decision. Also, towards the end of the passage Franklin writes, “…what in chess he often sees instances of, that particular pieces of success are apt to produce presumption and its consequent inattention, by which the losses may be recovered, will not learn to be too much discouraged by the present success of his adversary, nor to despair of final good fortune upon every little check he receives in the pursuit of it….”. Here, Franklin puts all of his scrambled thoughts into one situation; he explains how his analogy of life and chess is true in a way that