1.) Rousseau claims that he will disclose everything about himself and enumerate truly every
feeling. What signs do we find in the text that suggest he is or is not following through
the promise?
From the reading and how he described himself, never really matched up with the title
“Confessions”. Throughout the reading he never really confessed to anything but to his
inner self. He knew what he did was wrong but he could not let the outside world know
that. He was more or so caught up in his whole world and a demeaner of no one else is
like him, yes that being true, there is still other people out there who has the same aspect
and ways as he did. The wrong doings he did was put to blame on others and he just so
happened to be in the crossfires of these situations, so he wanted others to think.
2.) What are the key, apparently formative events described in Book 1 of the Confession?
List the various petty crimes that Rousseau admits to or that he is accused of. How does
he apologize for – that is, how does he account for himself – in relation to each of those
incidents? Are you convinced of his innocent motivations?
Right off the bat was his upbringing. When being born his mother died and his father had
nothing to do with him. Rousseau never had a structured lifestyle, he was basically left to
as he pleased. He did love his older brother, who left and never came back. His older
brother could have helped out at raising Rousseau but that never happened, so he was left
alone to fend for himself in a sense.
While he does admit to his actions, stealing the ribbon, having guilt towards blaming the
young girl, which shows his regret. I am not convinced of his so called innocent
motivations. After a certain point he knew he was in the wrong and could have stopped at
that point but he was comfortable and didn’t want to change his ways, of what he already