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

“I am aware that his account of Franklin’s career differs in many respects from the accounts of later historians. This I cannot explain but it seems reasonable to believe that statements made by one who lived on terms of such intimacy with this great man should be more trustworthy than those written by later scholars.”

The author, Robert Lawson, or at least Lawson’s persona, endorses Amos’s narrative and argues for its likely truthfulness and reliability. By writing and signing his name to the foreword, Lawson adds to the novel’s realism; it’s as though a real person’s belief in the validity of a text penned by a mouse about his friendship with Benjamin Franklin makes it more apt to be real. It suggests that texts can be truthful without being true and that the narrative is as truthful as any biography of a “hero” can be.

“Since the recent death of my lamented friend and patron Ben Franklin, many so-called historians have attempted to write accounts of his life and his achievements. Most of these are wrong in so many respects that I feel the time has now come for me to take pen in paw and set things right.”

This line helps to establish the success of the public persona Ben builds as well as characterize Amos. Earlier in his life, Amos told Ben that “fame and honors are nothing” (16) to him and permitted Ben to take full credit for the Franklin Stove. Years later, however, when Amos writes this narrative, he wants to “set things right,” as he says. Perhaps he is tired of receiving no credit, and his pride compels him to “see justice done” (2), though Ben is not alive to refute these claims. This line establishes an ambiguity in Amos’s character because his desire to tell the truth contradicts his earlier complacency regarding who gets “credit” for Ben’s achievements.