Lots of issues...

It is quite obvious that Henry Adams had a well-rounded education. Yet, he seemed dissatisfied with all of it. Somehow, it was never enough for him. While some commented today in class that this classifies as arrogance, I regard Adams with more respect knowing that he always strives for more education. I admire him for his want to learn more and his refusal to give up.
Also today I class I was quite bothered by some of the harsh comments made about the book. I admit, this is a difficult book to get through, but it is not that bad! In fact, I am somewhat glad that this book was assigned because I surely would not have picked it up otherwise. And while Henry Adams doesn’t immediately pop into my mind when I think of major American authors, I appreciate the opportunity to learn about the mark he made in American literature. Whether we think he did or not, Henry Adams made a big contribution!
An element of the autobiography that I wrestled with was how Adam’s skips over 12 years of his life. During this time, his wife committed suicide and both of his parents died. Surely these were important events that he should include. I came to the conclusion that while Henry probably did regard these events with importance, they were too traumatic to include in his autobiography. This is perhaps why the entire work is void of any emotion. All of the emotion was sapped during the time he was dealing with all the death in his family.
One more thing I am having trouble with is why he wrote in third person. It is really confusing for me. Does anyone have any ideas?