The Memory Police

The protagonist encounters an old woman selling vegetables on the side of the road who asks if she knows a safe house. Fearing that telling the woman will put R in danger, the protagonist refuses. Shortly thereafter, her neighbor—a former hatmaker—and his family ask to stay with her while their house is being painted. She feels she must agree and is especially cautious with R, keeping their secret hidden from the visitors.

The narrator reveals she has been taking care of the dog the Memory Police left behind in Chapter 17, and she finds out the dog’s name from his doghouse: Don.

Soon after, novels disappear. R offers to hide the narrator’s books in the secret room and begs her to continue writing her manuscript. She replies, “Even if we keep the manuscripts and the books, they’re nothing more than empty boxes. Boxes with nothing inside. You can peer into them, listen carefully, sniff the contents, but they signify nothing,” and her “soul seems to be breaking down” (176). Eventually, she agrees to keep the manuscript and a dozen of her books with R, but she brings the rest of her books to be burned in large, public fires.