This text survives in a single copy, a papyrus now in Berlin (pBerlin 3024) and the Morgan Library and Museum, New York (pAmherst III) (Parkinson 2012, CD folder “Pap. Berlin P. 3024”). The beginning of the text, an estimated eight columns (*1–*8), is lost, and the following twenty-two (*9–1) are fragmentary. The papyrus is contemporary with Sinuhe B, but the text probably dates to early Dyn. XII (Vernus 1990, 185).

Like the story of Sinuhe, the text is put in the mouth of a first-person narrator. It becomes clear in the course of the composition that the narrator is facing a personal crisis, brought on by his own circumstances and by the times he is living in; the reason may have been given in the beginning of the text, now lost. The crisis prompts an internal debate about which is better: life, with its anguish, or death, with its uncertainties. The two sides of the debate are framed as a dialogue between the narrator and his ba, or soul (Essay 7).

When the text on the Berlin papyrus begins, the narrator's soul is speaking. The Amherst fragments indicate two previous speeches, one by the soul (ending in col. *12) and one by the man (from col. *12 to somewhere between cols. *14 and *25). Initially, the soul is arguing for death and the man is resisting. The man gives a long reply to the soul (cols. 3–55), after which the two characters reverse positions. In a speech and three parables (cols. 55–85), the soul argues for life, and the man counters by espousing death in four litanies (cols. 85–147). The soul is given the last word (cols. 147–54), in which he urges a compromise: make the best of life, and wait for death until it comes. Ultimately, the text is an affirmation of life, even in the most difficult of circumstances. Despite the arguments of both characters in favor of death, there is no indication that the man is contemplating suicide; rather, he is debating the merits of a difficult life on earth versus life after death.