59 pages 1 hour read

Chanel Miller

Know My Name: A Memoir

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2019

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Chapters 7-8

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 7 Summary

Miller arrives back in California and awaits the call to testify in Turner’s trial. She worries “about not having enough people in the courtroom” (146). One evening, she visits the train tracks near her high school where many classmates committed suicide. She struggles with her desire to end her life; she finds it difficult to imagine a future but knows she “would always get up, turn around, and jog home, because it was the only thing [she] knew how to do” (149).

Miller meets with Alaleh to rehearse her testimony. She feels the pressure to testify perfectly. The trial begins on Monday, March 14, 2016. Miller describes what occurs each day of the trial, including the jury selection process. She meets with her childhood friend Athena, who is also a fellow survivor. She shares the truth about the assault with Athena and finds comfort and support.

Lucas returns to California to testify. Miller contemplates the effect her assault has had on him. She notes how he often chooses to go for a run after witnessing Miller “screaming, dissociating, leaving the apartment, crying under the covers, in the shower, whenever the case [is] brought up” (155). She drops Lucas off to testify the next morning.