House

No. 46

The Address
By- Marga Minco TThe
Address
Characters

 The narrator – Marga Minco.

 Mrs. S – mother of the narrator.
 Mrs. Dorling– an acquaintance of the narrator's mother.
 A girl of 15 – daughter of Mrs. Dorling.
Introduction of the Lesson

The story is about the human predicament that follows the pre-War
and Post-War period. Mrs. S who was a Jews was a rich lady.
Whereas, Mrs. Dorling was a non-Jews. The girl, daughter of Mrs. S,
had lost her house and her mother during the war and now she had
decided to come back to take her possessions from Mrs. Dorling, an
acquaintance whose address was given by her mother years ago.
When she reached the house, the woman treated her with a cold
reception and didn’t let her into the house. She decided to go back
anyway and then she met her daughter who let her in and told her to
wait inside. When she saw all the possessions in front of her, she
couldn’t connect with them and decided to leave the house.
Word -Meanings
chink – narrow opening
fleetingly – for a short time
musty – stale
enamel – an opaque or semi-transparent substance that is a type of glass
jamb – side post of a window, fireplace or doorway
acquaintance – stranger or social contact
lugging – carry a heavy object with great effort
pityingly – feeling sorrow
crick – cramp or spasm in muscles
reprovingly – critically
beckoned – signalled
liberation – Liberty or Freeing
endured – suffered
vain – hopeless
hanukkah – The Feast of Lights, a Hebrew festival in December
cumbersome – unmanageable
midst – middle
muggy – humid
jingling – ringing
 Summary
The Narrator comes to see Mrs. Dorling
This is a moving story of a daughter who goes in search of her
mother’s belongings after the War, in Holland. The narrator is
the daughter of Mrs S., who died during the war. The narrator
went to number 46, Marconi Street to see Mrs Dorling who
was an old acquaintance of her mother, and who had removed
almost all the belongings of her mother during the war to this
place. All this was done with Mrs S’s silent consent as Mrs
Dorling wanted to save her things, which they would lose if
they had to leave the place.
 Memory
 The narrator had seen Mrs Dorling for the first time during
the first half of the war. She had come home for a few days
and noticed the change in the rooms. She missed various
things. Her mother informed her that Mrs Dorling had
moved these things to safety and gave her the address 46,
Marconi Street. After the war, the narrator visited the
address her mother had given her. She remembered Mrs
Dorling clearly. She was a woman with a broad back. Mrs
Dorling looked at the narrator searchingly and showed no
sign of recognition. She kept staring in silence. She saw that
the narrator, who had recognised her mother’s green knitted
cardigan, was looking at it. She half hid herself behind the
door and refused to see her. She was surprised to see the
narrator who had survived from the war.
 The narrator returned to the station and boarded the train.
While in train she remembered the first time, she had seen
Mrs Dorling and how her mother had introduced her to her
old acquaintance and given the address.
 Revisit
 After the first fruitless visit to Mrs Dorling’s house, the
narrator visited the place a second time. This time, a girl of
about fifteen opened the door to her. She asked the girl if her
mother was at home. Since she was away, the narrator
decided to wait for her.
Disgusted to see her mother’s belongings
She followed the girl along the passage. The first thing that
struck her was an old-fashioned iron Hanukkah candle-holder
hung next to a mirror. Then they went into the living room. The
narrator was horrified as she was in a room she knew and did
not know. She found herself in the midst of things she had so
wanted to see again, but which oppressed her in the strange
atmosphere. The tasteless way of arrangement, ugly furniture
and the muggy smell all contributed to arouse this feeling. She
didn’t have the courage to look around her. She sat down and
stared at the woollen table-cloth. As she followed the lines of
the pattern, she remembered that it was their table-cloth, which
had a burn mark that had never been repaired. Soon she found
the hole.
The girl poured her tea from a white pot which had a
gold border on the lid. She opened the box and took out
some spoons. The narrator praised the box. Mrs
Dorling’s daughter said that it was an antique. They had
got lots more and she pointed round the room. The
narrator knew very well which things she meant. She
remarked that the cutlery-spoons, forks and knives was
silver. The girl laughed. She walked to the side board and
wanted to open a drawer.
Decide to Go Back
 The narrator fell perturbed. The objects linked
with her mother, aroused memories of her
former life. At first she was eager to see them,
but now they had lost their value since they
were severed from her mother and were stored
in strange surroundings. Moreover, they were
useless to her in her present state. She lived in a
small rented room with space for no more than
a handful of cutlery fitted in the narrow table
drawer.
 She resolved to forget the address. She wanted
to leave the memories of her mother and the
war behind her and decided to move on.
 Moral of the Story
 Not to Regret the Past
 The story clearly brings to light the fact that holding
onto the past can be an extremely painful exercise. It
goes without saying that forgetting the moments and
the experiences that torment you can be a really
daunting task, but once you accept your past
wholeheartedly, you tend to get a big weight off your
back. The author, despite being attached to memories
of her past, had the courage to leave them behind in
order to make a fresh beginning.
 “The Address” by Marga Minco is indeed an inspiring
story which sheds an adequate amount of light on the
importance of letting things go. It further reiterates that
both past and future are illusions, and all we have with
us is the present.
On her second visit, the author was welcomed by Mrs.
Dorling’s daughter, who, unlike her mother, asked the author
to come in and even offered her a cup of tea. The author, while
running her eyes around the house, saw a few things her
mother had left with Mrs. Dorling. She also observed that Mrs.
Dorling’s daughter loves those possessions quite dearly and is
proud of possessing them. In the end, the author decided
against taking her possessions along as she felt that all these
possessions would remind her of her family members who
had died during the course of the war.
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