The dystopian novel The Memory Police is reminiscent of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and 1984 by George Orwell, in the ways that it describes the burning of items, the government’s hand in surveillance, and the everyday lives of citizens. There are aspects, as well, of the “Disappearance of Elaine Coleman” by Steven Millhauser, the ways that things like roses and music boxes disappeared from the lives of the people, the memory of them also went, like the memory or recollection of Elaine Coleman did.
However, it also draws inspiration from The Diary of Anne Frank, in times of the Holocaust that strike emotions and morals. Furthermore, the ways that this dystopia relates to Nazi Germany, these officers believing they are doing the world justice by targeting groups of people (those who remember) and taking them away, where they too disappear, simply because they are part of a specific population.
Nevertheless, as most works of the fantastic do, The Memory Police does not explain why the objects are disappearing. Alternatively, how this dystopia works, why the memory police operate, and what is the point of it all. This book would be in the fantastic section of dystopia, abrupt disappearance, and possibly an imagined totalitarian regime?
The Memory Police asks readers to interact and exist quietly as the people in this civilization do. However, what we do learn about are the repercussions of the things that disappear and how they impact the lives of the civilians. Indeed, it is less about the environment (people and things that disappear) but the reactions and whom it affects.
The idea of things disappearing from their world elicits the terrifying response. This notion of disappearance is something that is happening in our reality, as well. All the animals we have forced into extinction, the loss of a large chunk of Australia, the North Pole melting, and the fires in the Amazon.