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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. When the couple next door is taken away by the Memory Police, what kind of pet do they leave behind?

2. What is NOT a task the narrator gives to R in Chapter 12?

3. How many times does the narrator repeat the old man's name before the officer at the desk says, "I'm afraid he's not here" (102)?

4. What two items does the narrator try to leave for the old man when she visits the headquarters of the Memory Police in Chapter 13?

5. On whose behalf does the narrator go out walking at the start of Chapter 22?

Short Essay Questions

1. What alarming event happens to the old man in Chapter 13?

2. What special event do R, the narrator, and the old man decide to celebrate in R's room in Chapter 16?

3. In Chapter 14, the old man reports to the narrator that the Memory Police had been interested in what subject?

4. In what way is the theme of altruism demonstrated in Chapter 21 when an earthquake rocks the island?

5. What rare event occurs on the island in Chapter 12 and what plotline develops from it?

6. What new job does the narrator take in Chapter 20 and why?

7. In what way is the motif of sound used to inspire feelings of horror and suspense in the reader at the end of Chapter 16?

8. Which of the novel's symbols is revisited again within Chapter 22, echoing its earlier appearance in Chapter 5?

9. In what way does the theme of surveillance appear within Chapter 18, in relation to the bond between R and the narrator?

10. Who comes to stay with the narrator in Chapter 19 and why?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the ways in which the themes of eccentricity and conformity appear within Ogawa’s novel The Memory Police. What message is Ogawa sending about these two themes over the course of the narrative?

Essay Topic 2

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?

Essay Topic 3

Analyze Ogawa's novel from an Existential perspective. What elements of life does it suggest hold the most meaning and why?

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