In this excerpt from "All My Puny Sorrows" by Miriam Toews, the author explores the complex role of shame in human life. They argue that shame serves important functions, such as preventing destructive behaviors, encouraging remorse and forgiveness, and fostering empathy. The author also suggests that shame motivates some people to write as a way of seeking atonement, highlighting its paradoxical nature.

"it was ludicrous to think that we could just talk our way out of shame, that shame was necessary, that it prevented us from repeating shameful actions and that it motivated us to say we were sorry and to seek forgiveness and to empathize with our fellow humans and to feel the pain of self-loathing which motivated some of us to write books as a futile attempt at atonement, and shame also helped, I told my friend, to fuck up relationships and fucked-up relationships are the life force of books and movies and theatre so sure, let's get rid of shame but then we can kiss art goodbye too."