By Any Other Name

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses antisemitism, racism, and anti-gay bias.

“‘It’s made of a baboon fibula. For years, it’s been the first calendar attributed to man. But I ask you: what man uses a twenty-nine-day calendar?’ The professor seemed to stare directly at Melina. ‘History,” she said, ‘is written by those in power.’”

The opening anecdote establishes the novel’s perspectives on gender, power, and artistic recognition. For Melina, the anecdote is moving but does not embolden her to claim her power and recognition. Her intellectual understanding of gender bias is not enough to make her enact changes until she has matured much later in the novel.

“She studied Molière and Mamet, Marlowe and Miller. She took apart the language and the structure of their plays with the intensity of a grandmaster chess champion whose understanding of the game determined success.”

While Emilia imagines herself as a pawn moved across the chess board, Melina sees herself as a “grandmaster chess champion.” The difference between their self-perception has to do with the periods they live in. For Emilia, women have little agency whereas Melina believes she can succeed.

“Emilia took the memories out regularly, like silver that had to be polished, lest you become unable to see the intricacies of its pattern.”

Separated from her family and orphaned at a young age, Emilia envisions her memories as old household silver. They must be “polished,” or it will cloud, and the memories will be forgotten. These memories, like silver brought out on special occasions, are not a part of her daily life, but something she cherishes as her only inheritance from her parents.