Freire (1987) insists that literacy development must involve texts (and he argues radically that the whole world is a text) with “representations of typical existential situations of the group with which one is working” (p. 51). Nevertheless, if women at the Center for Nonviolence have learning difficulties associated with the physiological aftereffects of PTSD, then what kinds of texts and what kinds of writing might be appropriate for them to use in developing both their critical consciousness and literacy skills? Despite their perhaps less sophisticated written command of language than Ellen’s, the emotional energy with which she writes the reader response suggests that, rather than reading and writing her own life, reading the ideas and arguments of others can motivate a personal connection sufficient to elicit the need to “speak back.” Working from the premise that these texts must in some way represent their lives, I suggest that, while many other kinds of writing might elicit emotional connection among the women at the Center for Nonviolence, the women might choose to read, might want to read fictional narratives involving situations of abuse and loss they find familiar. Again, noting how articulately Ellen identified and criticized the arguments made by the author and her teacher, I suggest that women at the Center for Nonviolence can respond with the same critical eye to texts as sites of cultural communication which, from the safety of talking about the choices and circumstances of fictional characters^{Endnote 23}, they can interrogate and criticize situations of abuse. In other words, instead of their own lived choices and circumstances becoming focal points for understanding the dynamics of personal and institutional violence and abuse, their embodied experiences become evidence substantiating the arguments they make about the truths (or lack of truth) embedded in the context, plot, character development, and resolution of the novels they analyze. Their lived experiences, then, despite their shameful origins, can become something of value as well.