View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Which character gives a music box as a birthday gift in Chapter 16?

2. What is NOT one of the foods to which the narrator has access in her new job?

3. When it snows on the island in Chapter 12, the narrator states that it has been at least how many years since snow has fallen there?

4. What word is used to describe the sound made by a particular object at the end of Chapter 16?

5. The music box featured in Chapter 16 is lined with what material?

Short Essay Questions

1. What objects in the narrator's sink nearly result in disaster when the Memory Police see them in Chapter 17?

2. To what object is the narrator referring when she states in Chapter 19, "Never had I seen anything burn as brightly" (183)?

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

4. 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?

5. What objects are covering "every available space" (101) within the old theater now used as the Memory Police headquarters?

6. For what reason does the narrator get particularly nervous when the Memory Police are searching her writing desk?

7. Which objects are disappeared in Chapter 19 and in what way does the disappearance personally affect the narrator?

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

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay that discusses the symbolism of the cover art chosen for The Memory Police.

Essay Topic 2

How do the themes of deception and secrecy function within The Memory Police and what is Ogawa’s message regarding these themes?

Essay Topic 3

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

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,187 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample