Real life
The imagery that defines this book most is the aesthetical quality of its realism. Jean-Jacques Rousseau is not creating the narrative that he is sharing; he is merely summoning it from his memory. The fact that the narrative has obvious features of narrative, like archetypal significance and surprisingly uncanny symbolism—that is the absurd nature of memoir, because Rousseau would not be writing about the narrative arc of his life unless he were convinced that within these real stories, there were some sort of artistic quality to his blooming consciousness. The reader starts this book with Rousseau in his youth, and by the end, he has evolved to his true artistic self, because of the seemingly random events of his life.
The warlock/shaman imagery
Rousseau is an extreme genius, such that his experience of self often verges on insanity. He is extremely insightful, and privately, he understands his mind is far above and beyond what other people experience. Rousseau is obviously religious, as we see from his conviction about going to church and experiencing the ultimate cult-religious experience of Catholicism. But, he is not obedient to tradition. To borrow Jung and Campbell's language, he is experiencing not the priestly experience of religious obedience—he is experiencing the imagery of shamanism and witchcraft, which do indeed define the imagery of his stories. He is constantly up to some religious mysticism, and he is often cast out as a heretic.
Art and philosophy
On could liken Rousseau to a Messiah figure in his art and philosophy. Although the imagery of art and philosophy clearly dominate his stories, the simultaneous description of those artworks and the stories of their creation help show the reader that Rousseau's art only comes from one place. Through the imagery of his art theory and the imagery of his actual art and philosophy, together they show a narrative understanding of self that is supremely dignified. This imagery is what makes the book feel pretentious to people who are not sophisticated. The art theory is incredibly precise and rooted in Rousseau's feelings of divinity and importance.
Exile and rejection
Rousseau's story is punctuated by this very important imagery. His sometimes pretentious opinions are betrayed in the memoir by his constant participation in community. Look at his first opera—it is not the story of a Soothsayer out in the wilderness practicing witchcraft to unite themselves to the pantheistic gods of nature. It is a "Village Soothsayer." That is to say, Rousseau is bringing the religious mysticism of nature and wilderness and introducing that truth to a community who does not have an appetite for that yet. His reward is that he gets kicked out of communities eventually. This imagery tests his belief in his own truth, because symbolically, the shame of exile is an ultimate test of one's philosophy.
