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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What knitted object does the unnamed narrator give to the old man in Chapter 5?

2. How many people do the Memory Police take away in the back of one of their trucks after the raid at the strip mall in Chapter 4?

3. The unnamed narrator of The Memory Police states in Chapter 1 that her mother had been what type of artist?

4. The unnamed narrator's favorite story of her mother's was the one about what object?

5. What is the name of the Inuis' cat, whom the narrator claims could be easily identified by the Memory Police?

Short Essay Questions

1. What type of routine do the narrator and R fall into once R gets settled in his room in Chapter 11?

2. For what reason does the narrator visit R's office in Chapter 10?

3. For what reason do the Memory Police visit the unnamed narrator in Chapter 2?

4. In Chapter 7, what claim does the old man make about the Memory Police while trying to reassure the narrator of her safety?

5. What is the symbolism of the cabinet the unnamed narrator describes in relation to her mother in Chapter 1?

6. Discuss an instance when Ogawa uses a metaphor or simile to describe R's ability to hold onto memories of disappeared objects.

7. When the narrator makes her usual stop at the ornithology observatory in Chapter 3, what does she find there?

8. Once R agrees to accept the narrator's offer to hide him, what instructions does she give him?

9. What does the pair of light blue gloves symbolize, from the narrator's perspective?

10. What does the old man do with the page of the old ferry log on which he and the narrator have written their plans for hiding R?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Trace the characterization arc of the unnamed narrator over the course of the novel The Memory Police. Discuss whether the unnamed narrator is a round or flat character and whether she is a static or dynamic character.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss Ogawa's treatment of truth, lies, and hypocrisy within the text of The Memory Police.

Essay Topic 3

What is Ogawa’s message regarding the connection between language and thought and what tools are used within The Memory Police in order to get this message across to the reader?

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