Summary

The narrator opens this section by recounting “you’s” advice to “write about what you see” (53). She then describes the graffiti she sees on a wall, reading, “The examined life ain’t worth it either” (54). The narrator then remembers a series of quotes by various authors, including Natalia Ginzburg, who says, “You cannot hope to console yourself for your grief by writing” (56). The narrator then reveals she runs a writing workshop at a treatment center for victims of human trafficking, using writing to help victims come to terms with their past. “You” would respond to these kinds of workshops by saying they were “the death of literature” (61), because writing should be for those who are “gifted” rather than everyone (61).

Still, the narrator teaches at the writing workshop and encourages the women to keep journals. The narrator asks the women what they think would...