Whitman's difficulties in expressing the deepest layers of his personality can be viewed from a variety of perspectives. The author addresses the question of whether something in written language itself inhibited or frustrated Whitman's sometimes desperate efforts to describe himself as completely as he wished. In support of his viewpoint, Bauerlein quotes William Carlos William's statement, "Now I am not what I was when the word was forming to say what I am." Whitman attempted to delineate his identity by self-glorification which sometimes toppled into self-attack. He alternately identified with all mankind and assumed the posture of a variety of individual characters. In Bauerlein's view, an essential character of Whitman's self remains inaccessible to the reader.