In this article, the author responds to one of the articles written by the American sociologist Thomas J. Scheff regarding symbolic interactionism. He also comments on the prospects for a synthesis of symbolic interactionist and psychoanalytic concerns. He takes Thomas J. Scheff's article to be in the honorable tradition of scholarly work that tries to preserve the best of the past while anticipating and contributing to the expansion of ideas. According to him Scheff recognizes the pivotal importance of another sociologist, Erving Goffman's work to symbolic interactionism in particular and to sociology in general and wants to expand one's understanding of Goff man by revealing a poorly recognized debt. In Scheff's view, recognizing this debt deepens one's understanding of Goffman's dramaturgical approach, particularly the version of dramaturgy. This, in turn, is important because it opens the door to sociology of emotions. As the author points out, Goffman pursued the sociology of emotions in a narrow way, focusing on embarrassment. The author also comments on weaknesses in Goffman's analysis of the self.