Know My Name: A Memoir

Miller chooses the symbol of a jar to represent the dissociation that she relies on to survive. Miller explains how she places traumatic memories in a metaphorical jar that she carries “down, down, down, flights and flights of stairs, placing it inside a cabinet, locking it away, and walking briskly back up the stairs to continue with the life [she] had built” (28). These jars serve as physical representations of the memories she struggles to navigate in the aftermath of her rape. The act of placing distressing thoughts in a jar comforts Miller and allows her to feel a sense of control over her heightened emotions. Eventually, Miller becomes overwhelmed by the number of jars that fill “every inch of [her] mind” and she soon has “nowhere to put them” (32). The physical nature of the jars and the space they take up force Miller to confront her reliance on dissociation and begin to seek out other ways to cope.

Names serve as tools of empowerment. As her introduction to the world at large, Miller centers her memoir around her titular command for readers to “know her name.” Previously only known as Emily Doe, Miller steps away from her shield of anonymity to take ownership of her story and identity.