Chapter 2

The Address

Page No. 15
1. "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?
Ans. Yes, it does give some clue about the story.
The statement indicates that the two families knew
each other. When the Second World War was
going on, the narrator's family, being Jews, left
their home to take refuge in places far away to
escape persecution by the Nazis. Some people who
remained there thought that those people who had
left their homes would never come back. That is
why the woman felt surprised to see one of them
back. The narrator and her mother were trusting
and loving human beings. Her mother trusted Mrs
Dorling with her precious belongings when she
fled her home. But Mrs Dorling abused her trust
and did not want to return them now. That is why
she made this statement.
 2. The story is divided into pre-war and post-war
times. What hardships do you think the girl
underwent during these times?
Ans. The narrator has gone through much hardship, as
implied or specifically mentioned at various places in the
chapter. First, her mother has died, as implied by her
statement near the end, 'Afraid of being confronted with
things that had belonged to a connection that no longer
existed'. Then she also says, 'But gradually everything
became more normal again. Bread was getting to be a
lighter colour, there was a bed you could sleep in
unthreatened, a room with a view you were more used to
glancing at each day.'
This implies that, during the war, they were forced to eat
bread which was black, they were always afraid of being
caught and sent to a concentration camp like other Jews
and they could not even look out of the window, as it was
covered with black-out paper.
She also says near the end, 'what should I have done with
them in a small rented room where the shreds of black-out
paper still hung along the windows and no more than a
handful of cutlery fitted in the narrow table drawer?' This
means that even after the war she is living almost in
poverty in the same small room in which she sheltered
during the war, the windows of which were having black-
out paper still remaining. Thus she has suffered and is still
suffering much hardship, besides being deprived of her
rightful possessions by Mrs Dorling.

3. Why did the narrator of the story want to forget the

address?
Ans. The narrator went to the house of the lady who had
safely kept many valuable items of her mother during the
war days. The address of the lady given by her dead
mother in those days helped her in searching out the
house of the lady. But, after finding the belongings of her
mother being kept and used in an improper way, she lost
all her emotional attachment to them.
Everything was arranged in a tasteless way. The ugly
furniture and the unpleasant smell evoked the memory of
the war again and reminded her again of her dead mother.
So she justified her action of not wanting to take the
belongings by saying to herself that she lived in a small
rented room. She had no place to keep all these things.
That's why she wanted to forget that address.

4. 'The Address' is a story of human predicament that

follows war. Comment.
Ans. Marga Minco's short story, 'The Address', describes
the human predicament that follows war. War had caused
a big change in the lives of the people of Holland, as they
lost their lives and homes. Mrs S was also a victim of the
war.
When the narrator, Mrs S' daughter, went to Mrs Dorling's
house to claim those articles with which her mother's
precious memories were associated, Mrs Dorling was
surprised to see the narrator at her door and even
pretended not to recognise her.
Later, the narrator was shocked to see the nice
belongings of her mother lying in Mrs Dorling's house.
She felt sad and the things appeared to have lost their
worth in the absence of their true owner. Therefore, she
decided to leave those things and forget the address
forever.
Thus, the story presents the big change in the lives of the
narrator and her mother caused by the war. The story
shows how war brings a dehumanising effect on human
beings. It kills the feelings of love and sympathy. It makes
persons cruel and selfish.
Homework
Give a brief note on Mrs. Dorling.