An ABE student is not an ABE student by accident. Every one has a history. This is formative, of course. It holds clues to much of his attitudes, aptitudes and motivation, in respect of literacy, today. It holds clues to his affect - to his doubts, fears, joys, sorrows, loves and hatreds. Where these impinge upon his literacy and learning their consideration becomes proper, perhaps necessary. The gradual production of a written, personal history, for example, particularly focussing on literacy acquisition, with associated discussion of its possible meaning, can be deeply informative and extremely cathartic. Such a personal history may not easily be accessed, buried, as it may be, under decades of protective dissimulation, but it will be worth the search. Every student has a story to tell; many have some extraordinarily bitter ghosts to lay. The ghastly phantoms of guilt and self-hatred, once the student has pinned them to paper with words, are permanently immobilised and reducible to more realistic proportions thereby. It may become obvious that ‘blame’, properly regarded, lies in a complexity of events and influences which were absolutely beyond the student’s control, even understanding, at the relevant time - probably a time when he was just an innocent infant. Some of the preposterous levels of guilt felt by students in respect of their failure to master literacy completely may thereby be shed. As a new perspective develops, the magnitude and menace of literacy on the emotional and psychological horizon will diminish. Literacy will become less intimidating, more realistically proportioned. Grappling with it will seem ever more feasible as a result.