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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. Which objects are disappeared in Chapter 12 almost immediately after all photographs are disappeared?

2. Chapter 12 begins with what type of feature?

3. What object seems to the narrator in Chapter 18 to be her "only ticket" for "admittance to the hidden room below [her]" (170)?

4. Which character gives a shaving kit as a birthday gift in Chapter 16?

5. Which character first notices that there are disappeared objects inside sculptures created by the narrator's mother?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does the narrator acquire the dog named Don in Chapter 19 and what is the significance of her acquisition?

2. What gift does R bestow upon the old man in Chapter 16 and what hopes does R have for the present?

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 motif of sound used to inspire feelings of horror and suspense in the reader at the end of Chapter 16?

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

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

7. In what way do the narrator and R become more intimate over the course of his period of hiding?

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. What object does R beg the narrator not to burn in Chapter 12 and what is her reaction?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Would Ogawa’s novel The Memory Police be classified as a dystopian novel? Why or why not?

Essay Topic 2

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

Essay Topic 3

Write a critical essay about The Memory Police while using the critical power theory lens of feminist theory. Use textual evidence to back up your strong, specific claim regarding the novel's treatment of gender roles, the objectification of women, female empowerment, misogyny's role within society, or any other issues related to feminist theory that can be found in the novel.

(see the answer keys)

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