Preachin' To The Choir
In my first post on Yoko Ogawa’s The Memory Police, I mentioned that the book was tagged as being science fiction, dystopian fiction and psychological fiction and that these actions were largely marketing tools. Yes, I believe so. The idea, on Amazon, is that busy shoppers will, if they want a science fiction book, click on the site’s Science Fiction tab and one of the book’s they’ll see is The Memory Police. Well, I don’t want to be grumpy about this; it may work perfectly well, and result in many happy readers. But I do think it’s an act of mis-justice to reduce the book to categories. Is Memory Police science fiction?
According to Wikipedia: “Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is the genre of speculative fiction that imagines advanced and futuristic changes in technology, scientific knowledge, or biological systems.”
‘Kay, yes, Memory Police fits this definition. However, I believe it is more successfully classified as allegory or parable. Let’s discuss.
“An allegory is a story, picture, or piece of art that uses characters and events to symbolize hidden moral, political, or abstract ideas.
Key Features of an Allegory
Two Meanings: Works on a literal level (what happens in the plot) and a symbolic level (the deeper hidden message).
Extended Metaphor: Functions like a long metaphor spanning an entire narrative or artwork rather than a single sentence.
Abstract Concepts: Uses people, animals, or objects to represent traits like greed, freedom, or reason.”
We’ve talked about how Memory Police shows a largely undefined place, the island, set in an undefined time period. The characters are largely unnamed.
Seems to be a pattern here.
Not naming characters and places and times leaves the story open to more interpretation. Because of this a reader might think: “Hey! this story could apply to my own situation—not just the one described in the book.”
The literal story is that the protagonist lives in a society where whole classes of objects and ideas are arbitrarily “disappeared” —removed from reality and also people’s memory. The reasons for these disappearances are not mentioned; they are done by a mysterious and anonymous secret police-like force, the Memory Police. These police have their own agenda and act in an arrogant and destructive way that intimidates the citizenry. The protagonist chooses to fight this system but ultimately, is destroyed by it.
Attentive readers will certainly see how this story is similar to a number of real situations—Germany in the Nazi period, the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin. The brain-washing and mind control aspects may lead some to associations with our own society where it is said there are several versions of the truth.
The key feature of an allegory—as I understand it—is that a whole story, rather than a much shorter symbol or metaphor, can be seen as symbolic of another order of things. In medieval times, books were written that referred to various parts of the Bible and of Christian belief—not directly, but by presenting a story with similar theme and features.
Perhaps fine-tuning this idea even more leads us to the question: is The Memory Police a parable?
“A parable is a short, simple story that teaches a moral, spiritual, or religious lesson.
Characteristics of a Parable
Human Characters: They feature real people and everyday situations, unlike fables which use talking animals or objects.
Deep Meaning: They use simple comparisons to explain complex or hidden spiritual truths.
Call to Reflection: They force the listener to think deeply and change how they view the world.”
Huh. Memory Police is relatively short and simple, in terms of plot and character—meaning the characters are satisfying but somewhat one-dimensional. They don’t change their minds a lot as the story progresses. The story lacks traditional story structure—a transforming protagonist whose journey follows an arc—although we’ll look at this more closely next time. Does the book teach a moral or religious lesson? Religious, I don’t think so. Moral—kinda. The story’s moral is that it’s good to help your friends and neighbors and that authoritarianism is bad. We read about the protagonist helping R and her neighbors, and about the kindliness inherent in her relationship with the old man. We note the menace and arbitrary nature of the Memory Police, particularly in the scene where the protagonist is detained and questioned by them. These scenes and features make us reflect on the parallels with our own world.
However, the story is never preachy, best B.
Let’s stop here for today.
Till next time.
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