The Address is about the human plight that follows pre-war and post-war times where Mrs.S was a Jews and was affluent whereas Mrs. Dorling was non-jews. The daughter of S had lost her house and now she decided to come back and take her possessions from Mrs. Dorling who has been living at her, mother’s address.
At her mother’s house Mrs. Dorling welcomed her in a cold way and didn’t let her in but Dorling’s daughter let her in. and as soon she goes inside and saw all the possessions, she couldn’t connect with them and left the house immediately.
Lets us go further in the story and see how possessions connectivity changes with people’s movement.
About The Author Summary of The Address
Marga Minco, her real name was menco and she is a Dutch journalist and writer. She has written and published her first book in 1957, ‘the bitter herb’. She was the only member left to survive the second world war in her family and all her cousins and family died brutally.
Through this lesson, she tried to explain that feelings also changed with person and places. How a daughter after the war ends goes n search of the belongings of her mother but return empty-handed. The possessions acquire feelings and emotions from the person which keeps them.
The Address Characters Sketch
1. Daughter
The daughter(Marga Minco) was a Jewish girl whose family has been sent to the concentration camps and killed. She has suffered a lot and to cover those losses she thought to go to the address to get back all those valuables to cherish her mother’s memories.
She goes to Dorling’s house and found that the valuables have turned sour for her. So she made up her mind to leave all those things along with those bad memories attached to it here itself and move on.
2. Mrs. Dorling
She was an old acquaintance of Mrs. S and lived in Macroni Street 46. When she came to meet her to get her mother’s things. But Dorling behaved in a cold manner and thought she would have died during the war. She was not the same as her mother told and with her daughter’s wish she entered the house. Dorling flaunted the things and explained that these all are antique. She was cold and a pestered woman who tries to fulfill her greed through her friend’s valuables.
The Address Class 11 Summary
The Narrator of the story is the daughter of Mrs. S who went to her native place in times of war and after that, she returns to collect her belongings after her death. She rang the doorbell of Mrs. Dorling and felt bad when she welcomed her in cold response. She was an old acquaintance of hers and even wearing her green cardigan.
When she asked about her mother though she nit d3enied but didn’t want to talk to her. The narrator left the place and remembers something thing about the past. When her mother was alive she only gave her this address and when she went home for few days she learns that her few things were missing.
Mother only told her about Mrs.Dorling that she had taken all these kinds of stuff and promised her to keep them safely and neatly. Every time she takes some or the other thing with her. The girl visited her the second time and this time, a girl about 15 opened the door to her. The daughter asked about her mother whether she is at home or not.
She followed her and the first thing that struck her was an old candlestand next to the mirror. When she went to the living room, she was surrounded by the stuff she wanted to take a glimpse of. She found herself in a room where all the stuff was arranged in a haphazard manner which she did not like.
She didn’t have the strength to look around and sat down and kept staring at the woolen table cover. She remembered that burn mark on the cover that could never be repaired and soon she found the hole. Dorling’s daughter was very nice by nature and poured tea from a white pot that had a golden border on the lid and took out some spoons. The daughter praised the box and the spoons and to her surprise, Dorling told her that it is an antique piece.
Mrs. Dorling then told her that they had many such things and the daughter knew w all this about. Then she moved towards the side drawer to open it. The narrator felt emotional while linking the objects with her mother’s memories. Initially, she was eager to and long to see and feel those things as they had an attachment with them. Through these, she can connect with her mother.
But now she lost interest in the valuables and it seems useless to her as she lives in a small rented room where these will not be fitted but kept somewhere else. She tried hard to forget that address and dong so she wanted to forget and leave those memories and decided to move on.
Conclusion
To conclude, the summary of the address focuses on the ill effects of the war and the aftermath that causes humans to never rely on the words like faith, hope, and other emotions.
