even a disease of speech: writing consists of signs that introduce the possbaty of misunderstanding since they are read in the absence of the speaker, who is not there to explain or correct. But though Rousseau calls writing an inessential extra, his works in fact treat it as what completes or makes up for something lacking in speech writ is repeatedy brought in to compensate for the flaws in speech,such as the possibility of misunderstanding. For instance. Rousseau writes in his Confessions, which inaugurates the notion of the self as an inner reality unknown to society that he has chosen to write his Confessions and to hide himself from society because in society he would show himself 'not just at a disadvantage but as completely different from what I am. ...if were present people would never have known what was worth." For Rousseau, then, his true inner self is different from the self that appears in conversations with others. and he needs writing to supplement the misleading signs of his speech. Writing turns out to be essential because speech has qualities previously attributed to writing: like writing, it consists of signs that are not transparent. do not automatkaly convey the meaning intended by the speaker, but are open to interpretation.