Who is the narrator, can she or he read minds, and, more importantly, can we trust her or him?
First Person (Central Narrator)
Rousseau's not going to let anyone steal his thunder. The Confessions are all about one guy, and don't you forget it. He even puts himself in the title. Just because Rousseau's the only guy narrating, don't think he lets himself off the hook. Right away, he tells us that, "Now I have made my first and most painful step in the dark and miry maze of my confessions" (1.1.22). He has a compulsion to talk about every minor crime he commits, like stealing a stupid ribbon for Pete's sake.
We don't hear a lot about the other people in Rousseau's life, since he's generally just focusing on himself. Why did Mme de Warens mysteriously disappear to Paris? "I have never learnt the real secret of that journey," Rousseau admits (3.1.61). This is a true story about a guy's life, which means that he's bound to admit ignorance once in a while. Luckily, we have plenty of Rousseau's deepest, darkest secrets to work from.