In The Memory Police, snow symbolizes emotional numbness to tragic events. On the unnamed island where the novel takes place, the mysterious phenomenon that causes objects to disappear from people’s memories starts off gradually but increases in intensity as the story goes on. When calendars “disappear,” the weather mysteriously freezes—spring never comes, and snow falls continuously on the island. The days get grayer and darker, and the people on the island have to combat worsening conditions with inadequate clothing and resources. Eventually, snow accumulates everywhere. At the same time, larger and more meaningful items disappear (such as roses, novels, and even body parts), and the island’s inhabitants become emotionally numb to the repercussions of living without things they had once enjoyed. By the end, most people on the island are reduced to nothing—all of their body parts have “disappeared”—and snow blankets the island. The uptick in snowfall corresponds with the people’s weaking desire to fight back against the Memory Police or even to question the disappearances themselves. Though there was always a tendency for the people to accept the disappearance without “much fuss,” their resolve still weakens considerably at the same time as snowfall increases. In this way, the omnipresent snow in the later portion of the story represents the weakening of spirit from the citizens of the island and their increasing willingness to accept devastating events.
Snow Quotes in The Memory Police
The tapping of the key striking the paper was the only sound in the room. Snow had begun to fall again, covering the tracks I had made […] He continued to hold me tighter […] The bell in the clock tower began to chime. Five o’clock. The vibration came from far above, rattling the window glass and passing through our bodies, before being absorbed by the snow below. The only motion was the falling of the snowflakes. I held my breath, unable to move, as though locked inside the typewriter.
“Everything outside is completely different from when you came here. The snow has changed everything.”
“Changed how?”
“Well, it’s difficult to describe. For one thing, the world is completely buried. The snow is so deep that the sun barely starts to melt it when it does come out. It rounds everything, makes it look lumpy, and it somehow makes everything seem much smaller—the sky and sea, the hills and the forest and the river. And we all go around with our shoulders hunched over.”
Snow Symbol Timeline in The Memory Police
