"Franklin's Autobiography and the American Dream" reflection

This literary criticism really didn't make that much sense to me. The author starts out by commenting on Franklin's use of satire in his Autobiography, then switches tracks and starts talking about how Franklin "gave us the definitive formulation of the American Dream". The use of excerpts from Franklin's Autobiography and other works (including the well-known story of Franklin's arrival in Philadelphia), while interesting, were not very relevant to the point the author was trying to make.
One thing that I really appreciated was how he really hashed out what exactly the American Dream is. He defined its parts clearly at the beginning of each paragraph and then expounded on his definition with support from Franklin's Autobiography. He gives it as the standard cliche of "the rise from rags to riches", but then he also draws on other sources to show how the American Dream is also different things as well. I hadn't really thought about those before, and I think it will be helpful in the future to have that kind of knowledge of the American Dream. I had heard of the rags to riches theme before, but had never really thought about the other aspects to the American Dream. J. A. Leo Lemay gives the American Dream as the standard rags to riches, the rise from impotence to importance, the idea that an individual can change the world, free will versus determinism, and the idea of hope fro a better tomorrow. This take on the American Dream was really interesting, even though I thought the author didn't pick the best stories from Franklin's Autobiography to relate the American Dream to Franklin's work.
As far as the writing style for this critical analysis goes, I had expected a lot better. At the beginning, his thoughts seem scattered. When he finally does get his thoughts pinned down and starts talking about the subject mentioned in the title, he still seems lacking something. His choice of words can get repetitive, and sub-par at times. He uses the word archetypal a lot during a paragraph to describe the American Dream. I had to look up that word, and when I did, it made even less sense. The entries on Dictionary.com defined it as "1. perfect or typical as a specimen of something 2. being an original model or pattern or a prototype" ("Archetypal..."). I think he could have used a better word to get his point across. This is just one of many examples of the author's poor word choices that I noticed.
In addition to his poor word choices, the author goes off-topic numerous times, bringing up things such as the importance of a happy constitution, Franklin's thirteen Virtues, and other things that he describes as "interesting to me" (Lemay).
All in all, I thought this critical analysis was interesting, even if it was poorly written (in my opinion- others might think this was the most fantastic thing ever). It gave me new insight into the American Dream and gave some interesting excerpts from Franklin's Autobiography that I was not familiar with before reading this article.

"Archetypal Define Archetypal at Dictionary.com." Dictionary.com Find the Meanings and Definitions of Words at Dictionary.com. Web. 15 Oct. 2010. .

Lemay, J.A. Leo. "Franklin's Autobiography and the American Dream." In The Renaissance Man in the Eighteenth Century. Los Angeles: William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 1978. Quoted as "Franklin's Autobiography and the American Dream." in Bloom, Harold, ed. The American Dream, Bloom's Literary Themes. New York: Chelsea Publishing House, 2009. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=1&iPin=BLTTAD005&SingleRecord=True (accessed October 14, 2010).