Class 11 English Literature 8 June 2021
The Address
Marga Minco
• Objectives
• To find meanings of new words through contextual clues
• To make character analysis and write character sketches
• To learn the elements of biography and autobiography
• To inculcate reading and writing skills
• Marga Minco (pseudonym of Sara Menco( 1920 - ) is a Dutch journalist and writer.
Minco began work as a trainee journalist in 1938. Following the German invasion of
the Netherlands in May 1940, and even before proclamation by the occupying forces
of anti-Jewish measures, she was fired by order of the newspaper's German-
sympathizing board. In the early part of World War II Minco lived Amsterdam. She
contracted a mild form of tuberculosis. In the autumn of 1942 she returned to
Amsterdam and her parents, who were forced by the German occupiers to move
into the city's Jewish Quarter. Later in the war, Minco's parents, her brother, and her
sister were all deported, but having escaped arrest herself she spent the rest of the
war in hiding and was the family's only survivor. She also received a new name,
Marga Faes, the first part of which she continued to use. Minco married the poet
and translator Bert Voeten (who died in 1992) whom she had met in 1938 and with
whom she hid during the war. After the war, they worked on a number of
newspapers and magazines. They have two daughters, one of whom is the writer
Jessica Voeten. She turned 100 in March 2020.
• This short story is a poignant account of a daughter who goes in search of her
mother’s belongings after the War, in Holland. When she finds them, the objects
evoke memories of her earlier life. However, she decides to leave them all behind
and resolves to move on.
TOPIC EXPLANATION
• The story begins with a conversation between the narrator and a
woman who seems to not know her.
• The narrator tries to reveal her identity, but the woman seems bent
upon not recollecting or opening her door to let her in the house.
• The narrator is confused if she had come to the right address, then
she noticed the woman was wearing her mother’s dress. The woman
tried to hide herself when she found the narrator had noticed the
dress.
• The woman said she thought no one would return after the war. The
narrator told her only she had returned.
• She tells her she has come specially on train there - the woman still
voices her inconvenience to talk with her.
• The narrator comes out of the unfriendly compound. She looks at the name-plate
and house number once more to make sure she did not make a mistake.
• As she walks to the station, she remembers her mother who gave her the address
years ago. It was during the first half of the war, when one day she came to her
home, she noticed the rooms looked different.
• She noticed various things missing. Then her mother told her about Mrs. Dorling,
an old acquaintance, who had renewed contacts after many years and was a
regular visitor .
• HARD WORDS
• Chink : narrow opening; fleetingly : briefly, momentarily; cardigan : a full sleeved
sweater; musty : dump unpleasant smell, apparently : seemingly, actually;
acquaintance : an associate, a connection.
• Her mother thought Mrs. Dorling was helping them out of the way by saving all the nice things in the house.
Mother felt asking Mrs. Dorling to keep everything for them was not necessary as it would be an insult to the poor
woman who took so much pain for them.
• By this time the narrator reaches the station – she was immersed in her thoughts that she didn’t notice the
familiar neighbourhood of her mother’s house.
• While in the train narrator recollects the morning after her coming to her mother’s house, Mrs. Dorling had come
there to pick her usual round of luggage.
• She had met Mrs. Dorling and mother told the narrator the address clearly and reminded her to remember it.
• But she waited long to return to Mrs. Dorling and claim her things. After the war and liberation of the war
prisoners, she was not interested in going for that stored things, she was rather afraid of it because it gave her
painful memories of a connection that no longer existed.
• She thought the stored up things will be waiting to be put up again on shelves – and they had lasted all these
years because they were ‘thing.
• The narrator recollects her mother telling her that Mrs. Dorling was very helpful and that every time she comes,
she would take things like antique crockeries, silver cutleries, large vases, etc., to her home.
• HARD WORDS
• Antique : old fashioned, vintage; lugging : carrying, pulling; vases : containers, bowls; crick : a sudden pain;
convinced : sure; reprovingly : rebuking, disapprovingly; beckoned : signaled; confronted : threatened; in vain :
uselessly; endured : withstood
• The narrator recollects her post-war days. After the liberation, she was relocated in a new place
with literarily nothing. She had to start from the scratches.
• Bread was getting to be a lighter colour – figuratively indicates life was slowly returning to
normalcy after the war. She tried to feel content with the little comforts she had until one day she
noticed she was curious to know about the possessions left at that address.
• She makes a second visit to the address. This time Mrs. Dorling was not there, her daughter let her
in. She noticed one by one her mother’s things all over the house. The author was horrified when
she entered the living room-she saw their things in a strange atmosphere, arranged tastelessly.
When she sat down near the table, she recognized the woolen spread which was too familiar to
her.
• The daughter informs that her mother would be soon back and invites her for tea. She pours out
tea from the same tea pot into their cups. Then she takes out the silver spoons very proudly
before the visitor.
• The author notices herself commenting that ‘it was a nice box’. She felt even her voice seemed
strange in that house. The girl again proudly claims that they have more antique things in the
house.
• HARD WORDS
• Errand : a job of going out; gradually : slowly; cumbersome : large and heavy, difficult to carry;
horrified : frightened; oppressed : troubled, worried; muggy :damp and warm;
The narrator was too familiar with what the girl was referring to, she didn’t have to
follow her hands to look at them. She recollects how she had fancied the apple on
the pewter plate.
Narrator’s mother used the antique plates as showpieces whereas the girl said they
use it for everything, even eating.
The narrator locates the burnt mark on the woollen table cloth and the girl was
surprised to note she knew about it. She tells the girl one gets so used to touching
all such lovely things in the house that one notices its value only after missing it.
The narrator again hears her strange voice speaking loudly. It was a recollection of
her mother asking her to polish the silver in the house during one holiday. It was
only then she realized that they were eating everyday using silver cutlery.
• The girl became interested in what the narrator said and she wanted to show their cutlery
which was also silver. She goes to the sideboard to take them, but by then it was time for
the author’s train and she decides to leave.
• As the author goes by herself to the door she hears the jingling of the cutlery. She sees the
address one last time. She decides to wipe out her past.
• The objects that are associated with one’s past with the familiar life instantly lose their
value when separated from that surroundings.
• Now living in a small rented one room, where her windows that are covered with shreds
of black-out paper, she didn’t need any of them. She has learnt to live with a handful of
cutlery that would fit into a small drawer. She resolves to forget her past.
• HARD WORDS
• Pewter : a grey alloy of tin & copper; intently : closely, fixedly; severed : separated;
jingling : ringing
Bay - window
Cardigan
Number plate on the
Jamb
Pewter plates
A Sideboard
• Where had the narrator come from?
• Why did she desire to meet the woman?
• What kind of a welcome did she receive from Mrs. Dorling?
• Who was Mrs. Dorling?
• Why did the narrator think she was mistaken?
• How did the narrator finally understand she had come to the right address?
• What did the narrator notice when she went to her mother’s house?
• When and where was the narrator’s first meeting with Mrs. Dorling?
• What was the narrator’s mother’s opinion about Mrs. Dorling?
• Why did the narrator return to Marconi street after a long time?
• How did the narrator and Mrs. Dorling recognize each other?
• How did Mrs. Dorling rob Mrs. S of her valuables?
• Why did Mrs. S allow Mrs. Dorling to take away all her precious things to the latter’s house?
• Why couldn’t the narrator object to this move?
• What impression do you form about the narrator’s mother ?
• What opinion have you formed about Mrs. Dorling?
• How does the woman avoid the narrator?
• When did the narrator first learn about the existence of Mrs. Dorling?
• ASSIGNMENTs.
• Describe the narrator’s visit to Marconi Street, 46 and her experience
there.
• Mrs. S was not able to see through the cunningness of Mrs. Dorling. Do
you agree? Write a character sketch of Mrs. Dorling in 100 words.
• Highlight the pain of loss, frustrations and helplessness in the mind of the
narrator in your own words in a paragraph of 120 words.
