Self-Esteem
The opening imagery of the Confessions presents a man utterly at east with his own remarkable qualities. This opening situates the text as the memoirs of a man who is, metaphorically speaking, unlike any other man.
“I have entered upon a performance which is without example, whose accomplishment will have no imitator. I mean to present my fellow-mortals with a man in all the integrity of nature; and this man shall be myself…whether Nature did wisely in breaking the mold with which she formed me, can only be determined after having read this work.”
Just a Man
As it turns out, Rousseau was just a man like most any other. The problem seems to be one of experience. Rousseau’s use of metaphor regarding himself could be easily applied to, well, just about anyone. He really needed to get out more and meet other people:
“A sentiment takes possession of my soul with the rapidity of lightning, but instead of illuminating, it dazzles and confounds me; I feel all, but see nothing; I am warm, but stupid; to think I must be cool.”
Sexuality
Rousseau’s command of the language is sometimes outweighed by his ability to use it for effective communication. As a result, it is often possible on some occasions to admire his prose while not having the least idea what he is talking about. What he is talking about here is sexual awakening, believe it or not:
“These prejudices of education, proper in themselves to retard the first explosions of a combustible constitution, were strengthened, as I have already hinted, by the effect the first moments of sensuality produced in me, for notwithstanding the troublesome ebullition of my blood, I was satisfied with the species of voluptuousness I had already been acquainted with, and sought no further.”
The Abyss
One of Rousseau’s favorite uses of imagery is that of the abyss. Its metaphorical flexibility is shown off throughout multiple recurrences in the text:
“In the abyss of evil into which I am plunged, I feel the blows reach me, without perceiving the hand by which they are directed or the means it employs.”
“Happy would it have been for me, had I always possessed the same wisdom; I should not be in the abyss into which I am now fallen. I was vexed at my own stupidity”
Childlike
Rousseau is, of course, the very epitome of the idea of life at its purest being lived with the innocence and curiosity and freedom of a child. Even so, it is striking just how many times the simile “like a child” or some variant upon it shows up throughout the Confessions:
“Would anyone believe that an old dotard like me, worn out with care and infirmity, should sometime surprise himself weeping like a child”
“…my heart rushed with ardor into a thousand innocent felicities; melting to tenderness, I sighed and wept like a child.”
“At the first health, at least, I expected a volley; nothing. Carrio, who read what passed within, me, laughed at hearing me grumble like a child.”
