The Address
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The document discusses a story about a Jewish girl whose mother entrusted their belongings to Mrs. Dorling during World War II, but after her mother dies, the girl returns to retrieve them. When she visits Mrs. Dorling's home, she is met with indifference and ultimately decides to leave the belongings behind, realizing they evoke painful memories of her past. The narrative reflects on the impact of war, loss, and the struggle to reclaim personal history amidst the trauma of the Holocaust.
The Address
- 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
- 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
- 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.)