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1. The Address
Group 2
Anushri , Digvijay , Diksha , Diksha ,
Gaurav, Hunny

2. About The Writer
Marga Minco
Marga Minco in 1981
Born Sara Menco
31 March
1920 (age 95)
Ginneken, Netherlands
Pen name Marga Minco
Occupation Journalist, writer
Language Dutch

3. Some Idea About The Chapter
• It’s a story of a girl whose mother(Mrs. S.) gave their belonging to a lady called
Mrs. Dorling during the world war II .Unfortunately during the war Mrs. S dies
but her daughter survives. Her daughter first thinks to leave the belonging of her
mother as she thought it will make her remember the good old times and she
will then regret it. But later she becomes curious to see her mother belonging
.But then Mrs. Dorling acts like she don’t know her and avoid the Mrs. S’s
daughter and the girl tries to get her belonging back but when she finds them
,the object evokes memories of her old life. She decides to leave them all behind
and resolves to move

4. War in Holland

6. • Mrs. S is dead but her daughter survives.
After the war

7. Mrs. S daughter decided to bring back her
mother belonging from Mrs.Dorling.
Dorling
House No .46,Marconi
Street

8. • Mrs. Dorling acts like she don’t know her and avoid the Mrs. S’s daughter and
the girl tries to get her belonging back but when she finds them ,the object
evokes memories of her old life. She decides to leave them all behind and
resolves to move

9. And she left.

10. Part 1-The First Meeting
• In the beginning of the story it is narrated how the protagonist was given a cold
reception when she went to her native place after the war in search of her
mother's belongings. After ringing the bell of
• House Number 46 in Marconi Street, a woman opened the door. On being
introduced, the woman kept staring at her in silence. There was no sign of
recognition on her face. The woman was wearing
• her mother's green knitted cardigan. The narrator could understand that she
had made no mistake. She asked the woman whether she knew her mother. The
woman could not deny this. The narrator wanted to talk to her for sometime.
But the woman cautiously closed the door. The narrator stopped there for
sometime and then left the place.

11. Part 2- Remembering The Past
• In the subsequent sections, the memories of the narrator's bygone days come to
light. Her mother had provided the address years ago during the war. She went
to home for few days. She could find that various things were missing. At that
time her mother told her about Mrs. Dorling. She happened to be an old
acquaintance of the narrator's mother. Lately she had renewed contact with her
and had been coming there regularly. Every time she left their house she took
something home with her. She told that she wanted to save all their nice
possessions. The next day the narrator saw Mrs. Dorling going out of their house
with a heavy suitcase. She had a fleeting glimpse of Mrs. Dorling's face. She
asked her mother whether the woman lived far away. At that time the narrator's
mother told about the address: Number 46,Marconi Street. After many days the
after the war, the narrator was curious to take record of the possessions that
must still be at Number 46, Marconi Street. With this intention she went to the
given address.

12. Part 3-The Second Visit
• The concluding part of the story describes the second visit of the narrator. As
the narrator's first visit yielded no result so she planned to go once again.
Interestingly, a girl of fifteen opened the door to her. Her mother was not at
home. The narrator expressed her wish to wait for her. The girl accompanied
her to the passage. The narrator saw an old fashioned iron candle holder
hanging next to a mirror. The girl made her sit in the living room and went
inside. The narrator was horrified to find herself in a room she knew and did not
know. She found herself in the midst of familiar things which she longed to see
again but which troubled her in the strange atmosphere. She had no courage to
look around her. But she no longer had desire to possess them. She got up,
walked to the door, and left the room. She resolved to forget the address and
moved on.

13. Important Questions
• Short Answer Questions
• 1. “I was in a room I knew and did not know.” Why does the narrator say that she
was in a room which she knew and yet she did not know?
• Answer: The second time the narrator went to Mrs. Dorling’s house she was
taken inside the house by Mrs. Dorling’s daughter. When the door of the living
room was opened to her, she went inside and she was immediately horrified by
whatever she saw inside the room. The room was full of all their belongings
which had been taken away by Mrs. Dorling at the beginning of the war. She felt
she ‘knew’ the room because it was full of all her belongings and as the room
was not theirs but was a different room and the things were kept in a different
manner she felt she ‘did not’ know the room.

14. • 2. Why does the narrator come back without claiming her belongings?
• Answer: The narrator came back without claiming her belongings. She says that
the objects which are linked in our memory immediately lose their value when
those objects are seen after some time in strange surroundings. All her
belongings, the silver cutlery, the clothes etc. had lost their charm when they
were seen in Mrs. Dorling’s house. She knew that if taken back they would again
seem strange in her new small rented room.
• 3. Why did the narrator resolve to forget the address, No 46, Marconi Street?
• Answer: Narrator turns up to collect the belongings – they aroused nostalgic
feeling – true owner no more – the ‘stored’ things reminded the uncharitable
Mrs. Dorling and her own tragic past – better to forget.
• 4. Justification of the title
• Answer: Short story revolved around the No 46, Marconi Street – starts with the
address where the Jewish family suffer – ends with the narrator forgetting the
address.

15. • Long Answer Questions
• ‘Have you come back?’ said the woman. ‘I thought that no one had come back.’ Does this
statement give some clue about the story? If yes, what is it?
• Answer: The sentence uttered by the cruel woman Mrs. Dorling gives us clinching clues about
the story.
• The story has been set on the aftermath of the destructive Second World War. By the end of the
war in 1945, some 60 lac Jews who were staying in Germany and other territories occupied by
the German Nazi forces, had been killed systematically by the German Nazi forces led by
Adolph Hitler, something which is known as the Holocaust. Hitler and the other likeminded
Germans had considered the Jews along with some other races of people as people of inferior
racial quality and as enemies and threats to the German society and nation and that is why
they targeted the Jews and robbed them of all human rights and first put them in confinement
centers known as ghettoes and from the ghettoes they took them to the concentration camps
which were built in many places in Germany and other occupied territories and killed them in
millions by putting them in gas chambers and also by other all types of cruel methods. When
the war ended in the year 1945, some of the Jews got liberated from the concentration camps
by the Allied Armies.
• The narrator in the story is unmistakably such a survivor of the concentration camps. While
others from her family had died she survived the war and came back in search of her
belongings which had been taken away by Mrs. Dorling from her mother at the start of the war.
By the quoted sentence Mrs. Dorling refers to the holocaust saying that she had thought that
none of the narrator’s family members had been lucky enough to come back.

16. • 2. The story “The Address” is divided into Pre-War and Post-War times. What
hardships do you think the girl underwent during these times?
• Answer: Value Points:
• War affects the fortunes of many
• Mrs. S and her family left their town for safety purpose
– she died – the daughter returned
• told the tragic story.
• Before the War the narrator returns home – finds things missing
• Mrs. Dorling takes things away
• the narrator doubts Mrs. Dorling. After War narrator returns to take her belongings
• the uncharitable Mrs. Dorling’s behavior and ‘stored’ things unsettles her – things
reminds her mother’s memories
• Becomes nostalgic – wants to forget tragic past – resolves to forget the address and
does not take things.

17. • 3. “The Address” is a story of human predicament that follows war. Comment.
• Answer: Value Points: Wars always bring death and destruction. Wars cannot
end conflict. In Holland a Jew family suffered – disrupted the life of Mrs. S and
her family before War left town for safety – Mrs. Dorling took chance – grabbed
her costly things. Mrs. S died – the daughter returns – visits Mrs. Dorling, No. 46,
Marconi Street – she shows her uncharitable character – denies recognition
– in her second visit the narrator found the daughter of Mrs. Dorling
– found her belongings – became nostalgic – recalled mother – felt sorry for her
tragic death
– – ‘things’ reminded the tragedy she had to undergo – resolved to leave things
and forgot the address –
– War changed narrator’s life – lost mother and costly things.

18. Key Points
• The narrator arrives at 46, Marconi Street, a house owned by a certain Ms.
Dorling. The door is opened a mere inch by a woman who seems not to know
the narrator and treats her with cool incivility. However, during the course of the
interaction, three important realisations occur:
•
• 1) The narrator realises that she is at the correct address as Mrs. Dorling is
wearing her mother's sweater. From the faded buttons, it is evident that the
sweater has been worn fairly often.
• 2) The narrator knows she is unwelcome as Mrs. Dorling does not even let the
narrator come into the house. The narrator goes away disappointed and
unsuccessful in collecting her things.

19. • 3) The narrator hears a door open and close within the house behind Mrs. Dorling.
The readers know then that there is another person in the house, someone whom
Mrs. Dorling is anxious to keep away from the narrator.
• As the narrator walks back to the train station, she recalls how once on returning
home from the university during the first half of World War II, she had found several
of their household items missing. Her mother had then informed her that Mrs.
Dorling, an old acquaintance of her mother's, had renewed their contact and insisted
that she (Mrs. Dorling) keep their things safe during the war. The narrator also
recalls another incident when she had seen Mrs. Dorling for an instant in a brown
coat and shapeless hat, before the woman left with yet another instalment of the
narrator's things.
• The narrator's mother, an apparently gullible woman, did not seem to suspect Mrs.
Dorling of any ulterior motive. Mrs. S, the narrator's woman was more worried
about Mrs. Dorling hurting herself or being attacked by someone while carrying
their things back to Marconi street for safekeeping. She asked her daughter to
remember Mrs. Dorling's address in case the narrator was the only one who
survived the war.
• After the first unsuccessful visit, the narrator ruminates about why she took so
long to return for her mother's things. The war and the loss of her family had
settled heavily on the narrator's heart. She only felt fear and hesitation when she
thought about the things kept at Mrs. Dorling's house. Each of those things carried
memories of her life before the war. The pain of loss stopped her from returning for
her things sooner.

20. • The impact of war on civilians has been portrayed in several books and
movies including 'The Diary of a Young Girl: Anne Frank', 'Sarah's Key' by
Tatiana de Rosnay, 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' by John Boyne and movies
such as 'Schindler's List'. The torture of the concentration camps, the loss of
loved ones left a painful ever-lasting impact. The narrator's observation of the
light-colored bread, familiar views and unthreatened sleep implies the coarse
stale food of the camps, the view of barren land and barbed wires and a sleep
forever threatened with pain and death.
After the first failed attempt, the narrator tried to visit Mrs. Dorling again. This
time, the woman was not at home and she was greeted by her fifteen year old
daughter. The girl showed off the antiques in her house to the narrator oblivious
to the fact that they had once belonged to the narrator's own home. When the
narrator finds that her things had now become part of someone else's life and
memories, she decides not to take her things after all. The memories
associated with her things were overwhelming, there was no space for such
fancy items in the small room where she lived now, everything was now a part of
someone else's home and life creating new memories each day. The visit was
actually successful in the sense that the narrator was finally able to find the
strength to move on and felt that of all the memories left behind by the war, the
address with her mother's old things would be the easiest to forget.

21. Question Bank
• Long Questions: 1. What picture of corrupt human mind you find portrayed in the
character of Mrs. Dorling. What is your idea about her daughter?
• 2. What are the character traits of the narrator? Why is that she has been given no
name in the story?
• Short Questions
• 1. Highlight the pain of loss and frustrations and helplessness in the mind of the
narrator.
• 2. Is the story able to paint the horrible pictures of the inhuman Nazi atrocities on
the European Jews during the Second World War?
• 3. You find out that the narrator managed to come back from somewhere. Where has
she managed to come back from? (From the Nazi concentration camps, the death
camps, gas chambers, from the jaws of death)
• 4. Why does the narrator say she knew and did not know the things? What does that
mean?
• 5. What changes of normalcy does the story speak about? (bread of a lighter color,
which was of a darker color for Jews during the War etc.)

22. Now A Quick
Quiz.