Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau are a chronicle of his life as a struggle to realize his potential without being seduced by and succumbing to the lifestyle of wealth and fame. He seeks to explain who he is, and how he came to be the object of admiration as well as envy and abuse in the eyes of other people. At the same time, he tries to paint layer by layer, a portrait of himself, without missing any nuances, the final end product to be interpreted by the "supreme judge- - the reader. .
An autobiographical confession for Rousseau is a necessary medium through which he seeks to define himself, believing that "no one can write a man's life except himself."" (644) He says that in order to know someone properly, "one must distinguish what is natural from what is acquired."" (644) Excavating these traits, allows one to discuss how the events of one's life have formed their "self."" This "interior model- can only be known to the author writing about oneself and since he thinks that the access to the self can be immediate, it is not possible via another. Rousseau desires to show himself in "all truth of nature-, without concealing anything bad or adding anything that was good. He is critical of those people who don't reveal the whole truth in their autobiographies. In fact, he exemplifies this by Montaigne, who "lie[s] by [his] reticence:- when speaking of his defects, only mentions the "lovable ones."" Rousseau believes that every man possesses "odious defects-, and has committed odious deeds, to a point which " [one] would shrink from wanting to excuse [one] self."" (648) Nevertheless, he considers it of utmost importance to tell the "most secret history of [his] soul [his] confessions,"" (648) in all truth, without omitting any minor details. A major motivation for writing the Confessions, has been Rousseau's paranoia that his "powerful oppressors- are trying to erase the truth he has portrayed, and because of that he tries to show himself as he really was and not "as his unjust enemies work ceaselessly to portray him.