1. What is the narrator’s purpose in writing these “confessions”? How do you know?
2. For Rousseau, what is the relationship between feeling and thinking?
3. How does Rousseau describe his childhood? What significance can we draw from this description
4. Why do you think Rousseau chooses to include the anecdote about stealing from his employer?
5. Using your own language, how would you describe the narrator, given his self-presentation in The Confessions?
1. What is the narrator’s purpose in writing these “confessions”? How do you know?
I believe the narrator’s purpose in writing these “confessions” was to finally say everything what for years was bothering him. His conscience was tormenting him for how, for example, he stole a ribbon and blamed it on an innocent girl. Also, for his fantasies with an older woman, Mlle Lambercier. After a long time hiding what his sexual fantasies are he says it all in this writing, without caring about any judgement. Writing can be an essential tool when it comes to express ourselves and say whatever it is we couldn’t say speaking in person. Rousseau used his writing skills to write his confessions and peace his conscience.
3. How does Rousseau describe his childhood? What significance can we draw from this description?
Rousseau describes his childhood as a “wonderful” childhood even though it wasn’t at all- wonderful. Maybe he was optimistic and as children, we all think that life is all great and fun because we don’t really know what’s going on. Perhaps Rousseau didn’t want to feel burdened of everything that has happened to him. Rousseau lost his mother and his father hated him for “taking away his lover.” His brother ran away and and his father ended up leaving Geneva. This left Rousseau alone to find work and also to realize who he was as his upbringing was being molded.
What is the narrator’s purpose in writing these “confessions”? How do you know?
Narrator’s purpose in writing these confessions was to put him self out there in the world painting a naked picture and let the world decide for themselves if he was a honorable person or not. He says in one of his writings that he might not be better but he is different from the rest. This is because he takes not just the positives but also the negative aspects of his life and embraces them into his writing. He also write this as his response to fall back he relieved after it was made public the he abandoned his children. His response was to publish this, and it is only after thy have read this and really know that they have the right to judge me.
2. For Rousseau, what is the relationship between feeling and thinking?
Rousseau romanticizes life so he would rely on feelings for decision making rather than thinking. He grew up reading romance novels which are based on going after what you feel over everything else. This can be seen when he stole the ribbon from his employer and blamed the girl he liked for it. He knew he could’ve confessed privately to what he did and make the situation go away, but instead he panicked and blamed the girl. He did this because he couldn’t control his emotions and acted impulsively. This is something most people do, but the difference between most people and Rousseau is that he believed his outburst was justified.
3. How does Rousseau describe his childhood? What significance can we draw from this description
Rousseau describes his childhood in an admiring way, where he appreciates his environment and the people who are next to him. Although in reality his mother passed way and his relationship with his father and brother, was not close, Rousseau still puts his childhood on a positive pedestal. This is significant because it shows the period of Romanticism where people idealized their childhood because of how innocent and perfect everything seemed to be compared to people’s lives as adults. Rousseau also put a lot of feelings into his descriptions , which shows that he began to place a lot of emphasis on emotion rather than intellect.
1. The Narrator’s Purpose for writing these Confessions was to tell us about the things happened or the experiences that he had in his whole life. Rousseau told us about the circumstances or the situations that he has to go through from childhood like he did not get the love of parents and the hard work that he did but did not get the fruit from his hard work. We can say that he learned a lot of things from his life.
What was the narrators purpose in writing these confessions? How do you know?
I think that the narrators purpose of writing confessions was to clean his burden for all those things that he done from his childhood and how these things shaped him as adult. I also think that he was trying to state the importance of childhood. We know this because in the book he explain that why he is writing this. From this things he learned how the life is and now he was confessing all the things because he felt guilty for them.
What is the narrator’s purpose in writing these “confessions”? How do you know?
The Narrator’s purpose for writing these Confessions is to tell us about the things that happened that to him during his life and about the experiences that he had in his whole life. By confessing some of the things he had to experience and endure to the public he is putting himself out there in the world to have his life judged thoroughly by the public.
What is the narrator’s purpose in writing these “confessions”? How do you know?
This is Rousseau’s auto-biography. However, this is one of the first modern auto-biographies. The reason why Rousseau’s auto-biography is different from others is that is barely talks about his accomplishments. It doesn’t hold Rousseau in high esteem. The reason why Rousseau decided to write this is to do exactly what the title says, “Confess”. Rousseau was a successful author during his time. He was pretty much a celebrity. Many wanted to know about him and his personal life. Rousseau wrote his biography in this way to show that even though he is a well accomplished author, a celebrity who is held in high esteem, he is still a human. “Confessions” show how Rousseau is like any other human being with desires, mistakes, and flaws.
1. What is the narrator’s purpose in writing these “confessions”? How do you know?
Rousseau’s purpose in writing the confessions was to simply tell all about the things that happened in his childhood that had some sort of significance. He is ‘confessing’ all the things that he has done or felt and probably thinks that the readers will find his confessions shocking as if they were all illegal or forbidden. We know this for sure because, in the first two paragraphs, he explains the reason for writing and telling all the things he goes on to talk about later.
1. What is the narrator’s purpose in writing these “confessions”? How do you know?
For many people, saying their deep secrets can be difficult. Putting it into writing may be just as difficult but for some, its a way to cope and get rid of any sense of guilt or lingering emotions they may have left in them. The narrator has been through a lot and we can see it from his emphasis on stealing the ribbon.