TheAuthor

Marga Minco is the pen name of Sara Menco. In 1942, her parents were forced to move into the city's Jewish Quarter. The parents, her brother and sister were all deported and Marga/Sara managed to survive the war in hiding. Thus, her stories often revolve around the existential problems often faced by survivors.

The BackgroundWorld War II ran its course from 1939 -945. Most of the nations of the world divided themselves into two groups: the Allies and the Axis. The Allies initially comprised of France, Poland and UK but soon became the group led by "the big three" - USA, the British Commonwealth, the Soviet Union. Other allies were China, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and other third world nations. The axis were formed of Germany, Italy, Japan and the areas they presided over (Parts of Europe, Africa, East and South East Asia and islands of the Pacific). The Allies eventually won but in the interim, about 50-70 million lives were lost.

The most devastating aspects of this war were the Holocaust and the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Holocaust was the genocide of about six million European Jews under the Nazi reign of Adolf Hitler. The holocaust began with laws being established to remove Jews from civil society. They were sent to concentration camps and used as labour or for medical experiments unto death. Often mass shootouts took lives. Some were sent to extermination camps by freight train to be killed in the now infamous gas chambers. 

Although it is proven that Hitler was an illegitimate child, there is only speculation to a Jewish birth father. Scholars still debate whether Hitler's antisemitism (hatred for the Jews) was due to his abandonment issues or was a product of the loss of Germany in World War I due to the civilian Jewish leaders and Marxists within Germany. In any case, having lived in antisemitic areas in his youth and served in the German army, Hitler grew up hating Jews and eventually devised "the final solution to the Jewish problem".

Our story begins after the Holocaust when our narrator, a Jewish survivor who had lost her entire family, had returned to find her mother's things at 46, Marconi Street.

The Synopsis and key pointsThe 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.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.

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-coloured 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.

QUESTION BANKQ.1.  Why did the narrator,Mrs. S’s daughter ,specially made a trip to 46,Marconi street ? Did she achieveher purpose?Q.2.  Describe the second visit  of Mrs. S’s daughter to the house of Mrs. Dorling.Why did  she not wait to meet Mrs. Dorling?Q.3.  Why did the narrator say that forgetting Mrs. Dorling’s address would be easy?Q.4.   Compare the lifestyle of Mrs. S before the war with her daughter’s after the war?Q.5.   Justify the title of the story “The Address”Q.6.   Who was Mrs. Dorling? Why did  she visit Mrs. S’s house frequently?Q.7.   What were the narrator’s feelings initially about the things that had been left with Mrs. Dorling?Q.8.    Why did the narrator say ‘I was in a room I knew and did not know’?Q.9.    What is the impact of war on civilians?Q.10.   Could Mrs. S’s daughter get back to her old life after she come back to the city where she lived before the warThe AddressBy Marga Minco

Introduction

During World War II, the Germans (the Nazis under Hitler) invaded Holland where ninety percent of the people were Jews. Many of the Jews fled in fear to other countries. Thousands were imprisoned in concentration camps. A woman and her little daughter had also to leave their home. The woman left

all her things with a woman known to her. After some time, the woman died. However, her daughter remembered the place where she used to live with her mother. Long after the war, she came to the town where she used to live with her mother. She went to meet the woman with whom her mother had left all her things. But the woman refused to recognize her because she didn’t want to return the things she had taken. In this story, the daughter describes how she felt during that visit and later on another visit.

Summary

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 some time. But the woman cautiously closed the door. The narrator stopped there for some time and then left the place.

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.

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.

Short Answer Questions

Q. “The woman looked at me searchingly. She had opened the door a chink. I came closer and stood on the step.” What for did the narrator ring the doorbell?

Ans. The narrator rang the doorbell to meet Mrs. Dorling, one of her mother’s old friends. She wished to talk to her and get her household things that the lady had brought home before the war had begun.

Q. Why was Mrs. Dorling cautious while opening the door?

Ans. Mrs. Dorling had committed the crime of misappropriating the narrator’s household things a few years ago. She hoped that the war would uproot the entire family and they would never return. But she also feared one day someone from the family could turn up and claim the things that she kept at her home. Hence she was cautious in opening the door.

Q. For a while the narrator thought she had rung the wrong bell but soon her doubts vanished. Why did the narrator initially doubt that she had made an error? How did she know that she had rung the right bell?

Ans. The narrator had been absolutely certain about the address of Mrs. Dorling, Number 46, Marconi Street and she had expected the good lady waiting for her arrival to return her household things but what happened was one that was never imagined. Seeing Mrs. Dorling's hostile behavior and her admitting that she didn't recognize her visitor, Margo doubted if she had rung the wrong bell but soon her apprehensions died away and she clearly saw that she had the right address. Mrs. Dorling's asking, "Have you come back?" dispelled her doubts. Her doubts further melted away when she noticed that Mrs. Dorling had put on her mother’s cardigan. 

Q. Why did the narrator go to Number 46, Marconi Street?

Ans. This was the address of Mrs. Dorling, the woman who had carried the valuable items from the narrator’s mother to her home giving assurance to keep them in her safe custody during war time. So the narrator went there to claim the belongings of her mother.

Q.  Who is Mrs. Dorling? Do you justify her behaviour in the story?

Ans. Mrs. Dorling is an acquaintance of Mrs. S, the narrator’s mother. In the story Mrs. Dorling exploits Mrs. S’s fears and insecurity during the war. She insists Mrs. S and took away all her valuable things after giving assurance that she would keep them safe until the war was over. In fact, Mrs. Dorling had no intentions of returning the valuables as she was sure that Mrs. S and her family would not survive the war. So when the narrator, Mrs. S’s daughter, went to Mrs. Dorling’s house to claim those articles to which her mother’s precious memories were associated, she even pretended not to recognize her. Instead of returning those articles to the narrator, she shamelessly used

them which actually belonged to the narrator’s mother and also behaved rudely to the narrator. So, in the context of the above Mrs. Dorling’s behaviour cannot be justified.        

Q. Why did the author first hesitate to claim her belongings from Mrs. Dorling?

Ans. When the war was over and the narrator began to feel a little secure, she felt like missing her family belongings. On a second thought, she began to suspect that the presence of her family articles would remind her of her dear ones who were no more with her so she hesitated to claim those articles from Mrs. Dorling’s house. Besides, she lived in a poor room that looked the oddest place to accommodate her expensive possessions.

Q. What are the contrasting elements in the characters of Mrs. Dorling and Mrs. S?

Ans. The mother of the author, Mrs. S was a lady of simplicity. She didn’t seem to have seen the harsh and cruel side of this two-faced world. She could easily befriend people, and rather more easily, trust them. That’s why she trusted Mrs. Dorling, who was just an acquaintance of her, and allowed her to keep all her precious belongings for the time being. Moreover, she was so kindhearted that she was sympathetic enough for Mrs. Dorling, who had to carry all her heavy articles all alone.In contrast, Mrs. Dorling was an absolute thief, a unique combination of cunningness and betrayal. She cheated Mrs. S and seized her very precious belongings very wittingly. She can be called a perfectionist in this ‘occupation’ of hers.

Q. Why did the author decide against claiming her family possessions from Dorling?

Ans. Having been treated unpleasantly and having noticed the repulsive reaction of Mrs. Dorling in her very first visit, the author developed an awful impression of Mrs. Dorling. On her second visit, the narrator saw how dearly Dorling’s daughter loved those utensils and furniture and how proud she was of possessing them. Moreover, the author was very shocked to see the dreadful way in which her precious possessions were preserved. Also, now, when the author would adoringly look at her belongings, memories of her parents and her near ones’ death, rather than her her childhood’s happy memories, would sprout in her. This made her reluctant to claim her family possessions back from Dorling.

Q. Mrs. Dorling is a typical example of betrayal’. Discuss.

Ans. Mrs. Dorling possessed a cunning personality polished by the frequent instances of befooling people. Her character can be well defined by her practice of using people for her own benefit.Knowing the innocence of the author’s mother, she turned up at the very time when her family was facing hardship. Being into her motive of betrayal, voluntarily or accidently, she offered to carry the precious belongings to her address until the war was over. Willingly, she agreed and then Dorling ‘confiscated’ her possessions, told her children that she bought them, made them feel proud of those things and later, when the rightful owner came to acquire them, turned her down – the end of a well-planned scheme. 

Q. Justify the title of the story, “The Address”.Ans. The story revolves around the author, who, after a long period of time, has come to her former neighbour, Mrs. Dorling, to claim her possessions back - the possessions that to Mrs. Dorling had misappropriated in the pretence of extending help to the narrator’s family at a crucial juncture. Twice the narrator visited this address and returned with a heavy mind and empty hands. Though she found reasons to leave her memorable possessions, it is well expected that the address would again and again resurface in her mind, throughout her life. Like her mother had once asked her to remember, she would remember this Marconi Street address whenever reminiscence struck her.