What went wrong when the king rode under the arch?

It was too low and knocked off his crown

How does the chain of blame unfold in the poem?

Each accused person blames another, ending with the king's own changes

Who wrote "The Address" and where is it set?

Marga Minco; it is set in Holland after the Second World War.

What clue does the line "I thought that no one had come back" give?

It hints that the narrator's family, like many in the war, were persecuted and presumed dead, so survivors were unexpected.

Why had Mrs Dorling taken the family's belongings?

Ostensibly to "save" the valuables during the war, removing them suitcase by suitcase from the narrator's mother's home.

How did Mrs Dorling treat the narrator on her first visit?

She refused to recognise her and shut the door, though she was wearing the narrator's mother's green cardigan.

How did the narrator recognise her family's possessions in the room?

By familiar objects like the burn-marked woollen tablecloth, the silver cutlery and the gold-rimmed teapot.

Why did the narrator feel oppressed in Mrs Dorling's living room?

The familiar things were tastelessly arranged amid an ugly, muggy atmosphere, robbing them of their old warmth.

Why did the objects lose their value for the narrator?

Severed from the people and life they belonged to, and seen in strange surroundings, they no longer held meaning or memory.

Why did the narrator decide to forget the address?

She did not want to recover possessions emptied of meaning, and chose to move on from a past the war had destroyed.

What hardships do you think the girl underwent during the war?

Persecution, the loss of her family and home, displacement, and life in a small rented room with few belongings.

How is "The Address" a story of the human predicament that follows war?

It shows the grief, loss, dispossession and emotional severance ordinary people suffer in war's aftermath.

The Address

Class 11 English · Snapshots · Chapter 2

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CBSE Class 11 · English Core

All 5 Snapshots texts for the 13 marks

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CBSE Class 11 · English Core

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The story in short

Marga Minco's poignant story, set in post-war Holland, explores the human predicament left by the Second World War. The narrator returns after the war to the address her mother had given her — Number 46, Marconi Street — where Mrs Dorling, an old acquaintance, had taken away the family's valuables during the war "to save" them, removing silver, plates, vases and crockery suitcase by suitcase. On her first visit, Mrs Dorling refuses to recognise the narrator and shuts the door, though she is wearing the narrator's mother's green cardigan. On a second visit, Mrs Dorling's teenaged daughter lets the narrator in, and she finds herself in a room crowded with her family's familiar possessions — the woollen tablecloth with its burn mark, the silver cutlery, the gold-rimmed teapot, the box of spoons — but arranged in a tasteless, oppressive way amid a muggy smell. The objects, severed from the life and people they once belonged to, have lost their meaning and value for her. Realising this, the narrator decides she does not want them back; in their strange surroundings they are emptied of the warmth of memory. She resolves to forget the address, choosing to move on from a past that the war has destroyed. The story powerfully conveys grief, loss, dispossession and the way war shatters ordinary lives, while showing the human will to leave the painful past behind.

The Address

Characters & key ideas

Mrs Dorlingthe acquaintance who took the family's belongings during the war.

Number 46the address in Marconi Street where the possessions are stored.

The narratorthe daughter who returns after the war to find her mother's things.

Possessionssilver, plates, vases and cutlery that, once severed from memory, lose value.

Post-war predicamentthe grief, loss and dispossession the war leaves behind.

Moving onthe narrator's resolve to forget the address and the painful past.

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Who wrote the story "The Address"?

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The Address

Visual story

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The story in short

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Practice quiz · The Address

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