Sensation is a highly vital component of human life and survival. We use our senses to detect danger, pain, to find balance, to know where our bodies are in space, and it doesn’t end there. Furthermore, sensation is fundamental to humans emotionally, as well. It’s a huge contributor to social bonding, such as how touch releases hormones that drive early childhood development, emotional health, and group cooperation. Yesterday in my Sensory Neurobiology course, we even talked about how the loss/damage of smell can cause depression. All of this to say, I was stricken by The Memory Police, as the systematic erasure of sensation is a niche, dystopian, and terrifyingly authoritarian concept that is so inhumane and cruel, in a way that strongly reminds me of George Orwell’s 1984. This also may be due to the concept of “Memory Police”, but the style of oppression taking place in the story felt eerily familiar. As birds, perfume, and ribbons “disappeared” from the island, the population suffers a sort of sensory atrophy, not just forgetting the items themselves, but the experiences and emotions attached to them, losing a large part of who they are and how they live or move in the world. The power in this world lies within the physical objects that remain, such as the weight of an emerald. With this piece, Ogawa has made a haunting allegory about the importance of art, tangible keepsakes, and sensory recall, both physically and emotionally. It was deeply engaging and troubling at the same time, which is one of my favorite forms of art/literature.
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