Know My Name: A Memoir

In this introduction, Miller centers herself in this memoir and makes her intentions clear. She hopes to process her rape and reclaim her identity as Chanel. The title of her memoir demands the reader learn her name and recognize her humanity. She explains the meaning of her name to ensure the reader understands the meaning that she carries not as a victim but as a human separate from the details of her sexual assault.

By stating the terminology and definitions she will use, Miller takes control and guides the reader through the parameters she has set as the author and survivor. She furthers this control through the inclusion of epigraphs. The quotes she chooses introduce the major themes she will explore throughout her memoir. She alerts the reader to the greater ideas that she will return to as the author.

The epigraph from Toni Morrison serves as inspiration for Miller’s title. Morrison writes, “When you know your name, you should hang on to it.” As a symbol of one’s identity, one’s name carries with it power. For Miller, her name of Chanel is one that signifies her humanity outside of her identity as a victim or Emily Doe. She takes up Morrison’s call and asks the reader to remember her.

Mary Oliver’s epigraph highlights the value of experience Miller finds in enlightening “who [she] was, what [she] was, what [she] wanted to be.” Throughout Miller’s memoir, she documents the trauma of her sexual assault, which offers a deeper understanding of herself and her greater purpose. Oliver’s epigraph introduces this theme.

Alexander Chee’s epigraph touches upon the ideas of purpose and value. He uses the collective “our” to signify the human experience of finding purpose to life. His epigraph introduces the weight of finding one’s value in life, a burden that Miller carries throughout her story as she attempts to find meaning in her trauma and the will to keep going.