The Address Class 11: Summary, Characters, Themes and Answers
Updated 15 October 2026 · Fact-checked
The Address by Marga Minco, a Snapshots story, follows a young Jewish woman in Holland who, after the Second World War, visits 46 Marconi Street, where Mrs Dorling had taken her mother's belongings for 'safekeeping'. Unwelcome and unsettled by seeing the familiar things in a stranger's house, she leaves and resolves to forget the address and move on.
What The Address is about
The Address by the Dutch writer Marga Minco is a quiet, moving story of loss after the Second World War. The narrator, the daughter of Mrs S, a Jewish woman, returns to the town of her childhood after the Liberation. During the war, an old acquaintance, Mrs Dorling, had been taking her mother's valuables home 'to save' them in case the family had to leave. The mother gave the daughter the address: Marconi Street, Number 46.
The story moves between the present and memories:
- the first visit: Mrs Dorling, wearing her mother's green cardigan, pretends not to know her and shuts the door
- flashback: how Mrs Dorling took away the silver, plates and vases, and how her mother trusted her
- the second visit: Mrs Dorling's daughter lets her in; the narrator sees her mother's tablecloth, tea set, still life and cutlery, used carelessly in an ugly room
- the decision: she leaves without waiting, resolving to forget the address
The hint 'I thought that no one had come back' tells us the narrator's family did not survive. Snapshots is tested through a prose extract (4 x 1), a short answer (40-50 words, 3 marks) and a long answer (120-150 words, 6 marks).
Weightage: Section C (Literature) carries 31 of the 80 theory marks in the school annual exam; Snapshots is tested through one prose extract of two (4 x 1), one of two short answers of 40-50 words (3) and one of two long answers of 120-150 words (6).Source: CBSE English Core (301) syllabus 2026-27, Class XI question paper design
The Address: summary
In our own words, in the order of the text. Read the NCERT text itself too: the board quotes from it.
The narrator rings the bell at Number 46, Marconi Street. The woman who opens the door, Mrs Dorling, says she does not know her, even when the narrator says she is Mrs S's daughter. But she is wearing the narrator's mother's green knitted cardigan, so the narrator knows she has the right house. Mrs Dorling asks, 'Have you come back?' and adds, 'I thought that no one had come back.' She then says it is not convenient to talk and closes the door.
Walking back to the station, the narrator remembers how she learnt of Mrs Dorling. Early in the war, home for a few days, she noticed things missing. Her mother explained that an old acquaintance, Mrs Dorling, had renewed contact and was taking their valuables, the table silver, antique plates and vases, to keep them safe in case the family had to leave. The mother trusted her completely, though the daughter had doubts. The next morning she saw Mrs Dorling, a woman with a broad back, carrying a heavy suitcase out; her mother told her the address and asked her to remember it.
After the Liberation she was at first not interested in the stored things, and afraid of them. But as life became normal again she grew curious and wanted to see and touch them. On a second visit, Mrs Dorling's fifteen-year-old daughter lets her in. The living room is full of her mother's possessions: the woollen tablecloth with its old burn mark, the white teapot with a gold border, the antique box of spoons, the still life with the apple on a pewter plate. Arranged in strange, tasteless surroundings, they oppress her. When the girl goes to check whether their cutlery is silver, the narrator abruptly leaves.
At the corner she decides never to return. Objects linked to a lost life lose their value when seen in strange surroundings, and she has no room for them anyway. She resolves to forget the address; of all she must forget, that will be the easiest.
Themes and message
Loss and the aftermath of war
The war has destroyed the narrator's family and home; she returns alone ('Only me') to a world where her past no longer exists.
From the text: 'I thought that no one had come back.'
Betrayal and greed
Mrs Dorling took the family's belongings under the pretence of saving them, then denied knowing the daughter and kept everything for herself.
From the text: She wears the mother's cardigan yet says, 'No, I don't know you.'
Memory and objects
Things carry memories, but cut off from the life they belonged to, they lose their meaning.
From the text: The narrator says such objects 'instantly lose their value' in strange surroundings.
Moving on
The narrator chooses to let go of the past and begin again rather than fight for things.
From the text: 'I resolved to forget the address.'
Characters
The narrator
Mrs S's daughter, a survivor returning after the war.
- Sensitive and observant
- Doubtful of Mrs Dorling from the start
- Dignified and self-controlled
- Realistic: decides to move on
She recognises the cardigan and burn mark at once, never accuses anyone, and leaves quietly, resolving to forget.
Mrs Dorling
An old acquaintance of the narrator's mother who took the family's valuables.
- Greedy and opportunistic
- Dishonest and cold
- Unwelcoming
She took the silver, plates and vases, then pretended not to know the daughter and shut the door.
Mrs S (the mother)
The narrator's mother, seen in flashback.
- Trusting and generous
- Grateful to Mrs Dorling for the 'risk' she took
She found it an insult even to ask Mrs Dorling to agree to return the things.
Mrs Dorling's daughter
A girl of about fifteen.
- Innocent and friendly
- Unaware of the objects' history
She serves tea from the narrator's family teapot and says that eating off the wall plates 'wasn't anything special'.
How it is written
| Device | Example | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Flashback | Walking to the station, the narrator recalls how her mother first spoke of Mrs Dorling. | Reveals the past gradually and builds tension. |
| Symbolism | The green cardigan; the burn mark on the tablecloth; the silver cutlery | Familiar objects stand for the lost family and home. |
| Irony | Mrs Dorling claimed to 'save' the things but kept them; the girl thinks the plates are nothing special. | Exposes greed and the loss of meaning. |
| Understatement | 'Only me.' | Two words convey the death of the whole family. |
Key quotations
Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.
I thought that no one had come back.
Mrs Dorling: On the doorstep.
Reveals that the family was persecuted and that she did not expect anyone to claim the things.
Every time she leaves here she takes something home with her
The mother: Telling her daughter about Mrs Dorling.
Shows how the belongings were taken away.
I was in a room I knew and did not know.
Narrator: On entering the living room.
Familiar objects in a strange setting.
I resolved to forget the address.
Narrator: Final decision.
She chooses to move on.
Of all the things I had to forget, that would be the easiest.
Narrator: Last line.
Hints at the far greater losses she must bear.
The Address in real life
Each concept, met in an everyday situation. Read the situation, answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.
Letting go
Suppose your family has to move to another city and cannot take most of the furniture from your old home.
How does the narrator's decision help you think about this? Answer in 40-50 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Objects carry memories but lose meaning without the life around them.
- Keep the memories and a few small things; move on.
Answer: The narrator realised that things matter because of the life they belonged to. Like her, we can keep our memories and perhaps a few small keepsakes, and let the rest go. A new home will gather new memories; clinging to every object would only cause pain.
Memory hook: Keep the memory, release the thing.
Trust and agreements
Imagine your neighbour offers to keep your valuables while your family travels for a year.
What lesson does the mother's story teach?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The mother trusted without any record or agreement.
- Keep a written list and clear agreement, even with friends.
Answer: Trust is good, but keep a written record of what is handed over, so that misunderstandings or misuse can be avoided.
Memory hook: Trust, but keep a list.
Refugees and survivors
Suppose you read about families returning home after a conflict to find their houses occupied.
How does 'The Address' help you understand their feelings?
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The narrator returns to find her things in a stranger's home and is turned away.
- Loss, anger, grief and the struggle to restart.
Answer: It shows the pain of seeing one's home taken over and the courage needed to rebuild life.
Memory hook: War steals more than things.
Topics in this chapter
How the school exam asks The Address
The question patterns to expect, and the method that works for each.
| Question type | How it is asked | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Snapshots prose extract (Q12, 4 x 1) | The doorstep scene, the flashback, the living room, or the final decision. | Notice objects and what they reveal; infer feelings from understatement. |
| Short answer (Q14, 40-50 words, 3 marks) | The clue in 'I thought that no one had come back'; why she wanted to forget the address; Mrs Dorling's character; the mother's trust. | Give the reason with two details. |
| Long answer (Q16, 120-150 words, 6 marks) | The human predicament after war; the meaning of objects and memory; character contrast; hardships the narrator faced. | Use incidents from both visits and the flashback; reflect on war's human cost. |
Tricks to remember The Address
Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.
Two visits, one flashback
Visit 1: cardigan and closed door; flashback: suitcases; visit 2: tablecloth, teapot, cutlery.
Use it when: Story structure.
Objects to remember
Cardigan, silver, plates, vases, tablecloth burn mark, white teapot with gold border, still life with apple, Hanukkah candle-holder.
Use it when: Detail questions.
Address
Marconi Street, Number 46.
Use it when: Factual questions.
The Address: extract-based questions
Read the extract, answer every part on paper, then open the answers.
Extract 1: The green cardigan
She was wearing my mother’s green knitted cardigan. The wooden buttons were rather pale from washing. She saw that I was looking at the cardigan and half hid herself again behind the door. But I knew now that I was right.
(1) · 1 mark · MCQ
How did the narrator know she had come to the right house?
(a) she recognised the house number only (b) the woman was wearing her mother's cardigan (c) the woman greeted her by name (d) she saw her mother's furniture through the window(2) · 1 mark · Very short answer
Why did the woman 'half hide' herself behind the door?
(3) · 1 mark · Very short answer
What do the pale buttons suggest?
(4) · 1 mark · Very short answer
Who is the woman ('She') in the extract?
Show the answersAnswers
- (b) the woman was wearing her mother's cardigan
- She realised the narrator had recognised the cardigan and felt guilty or exposed.
- That the cardigan had been worn and washed many times; Mrs Dorling had been using it as her own for years.
- Mrs Dorling, the acquaintance who had taken the narrator's mother's belongings.
Extract 2: Forgetting the address
I wouldn’t go back there because the objects that are linked in your memory with the familiar life of former times instantly lose their value when, severed from them, you see them again in strange surroundings.
(1) · 1 mark · MCQ
Just before this, the narrator looks up at the name-plate at the corner: it says Marconi Street, and she had been at Number 46. What was the address?
(a) 64 Marconi Street (b) 46 Marconi Street (c) 46 Dorling Street (d) 16 Marconi Street(2) · 1 mark · Very short answer
The narrator says that now she 'didn’t want to remember it any more'. Why did the narrator no longer want to remember the address?
(3) · 1 mark · Very short answer
What does 'severed from them' refer to?
(4) · 1 mark · Very short answer
What does this decision show about the narrator?
Show the answersAnswers
- (b) 46 Marconi Street
- Because the objects there had lost their value for her once she saw them cut off from her family's life.
- The objects being cut off from the familiar life and people they once belonged to.
- Her maturity and courage to let go of the past and move on.
The Address: exam-level solved questions
Ordered from exam level to HOTS. Cover the solution, write your own, then compare step by step.
Example 1: The clue on the doorstep · 3 marks · Short answerExam level
On the doorstep Mrs Dorling asks, 'Have you come back?', and the narrator answers, 'Only me.' What does this brief exchange reveal about the narrator's family and about Mrs Dorling? Answer in 40-50 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The family had been taken away during the war (they were Jewish).
- Mrs Dorling believed they had all died.
- She expected to keep their belongings; the narrator is the sole survivor.
Answer: It reveals that the narrator's family had been taken away during the war and that Mrs Dorling believed none of them had survived. She had expected to keep their belongings for ever. The narrator's reply, 'Only me', shows she is the only survivor.
Example 2: The mother's trust · 3 marks · Short answerExam level
How did Mrs Dorling come to have the family's belongings, and how did the narrator's mother see her? Answer in 40-50 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Renewed contact early in the war; offered to save things.
- Took silver, plates, vases, crockery each visit.
- Mother trusted her, thought her brave, refused to ask for any agreement.
Answer: Early in the war Mrs Dorling, an old acquaintance, offered to save the family's valuables and carried away silver, plates, vases and crockery on each visit. The mother trusted her completely, admired the risk she took and felt it would be an insult to ask her to promise to return them.
Example 3: The living room · 3 marks · Short answerHarder exam level
Why did the narrator feel 'horrified' and oppressed in Mrs Dorling's living room? Answer in 40-50 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Saw her mother's things: tablecloth, teapot, box, still life.
- Arranged tastelessly among ugly furniture; musty smell.
- Familiar yet strange; reminded her of a life now lost.
Answer: The room was full of her mother's possessions, the tablecloth, teapot, antique box and still life, but they were arranged tastelessly among ugly furniture in a musty smell. Familiar things in strange surroundings painfully reminded her of the home and family she had lost for ever.
Example 4: War without battles · 6 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
Minco never describes a battle, a soldier or a camp. How, then, does 'The Address' make the reader feel the cost of the war? Answer in 120-150 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- The narrator: family gone ('Only me'); hardships of war; life slowly normal.
- Greed and betrayal by people like Mrs Dorling.
- Objects lose meaning; memory is painful.
- Moving on as survival.
Answer: Marga Minco never describes battles, yet the story shows war's cruelty clearly. The narrator returns alone; when Mrs Dorling says she thought no one had come back, the narrator answers simply, 'Only me'. Her whole family has been lost.
War also brought out greed. Mrs Dorling took the family's silver, plates and vases on the pretext of saving them, then wore the mother's cardigan and denied knowing the daughter.
The narrator's own life had been reduced to survival. Only slowly did bread become lighter and a bed become safe to sleep in. When she finally sees her mother's things in a stranger's ugly room, they bring pain instead of comfort.
Her decision to forget the address is not weakness but survival: she cannot bring back the past, so she chooses to live on. The story's quiet sadness makes the human cost of war deeply felt.
Example 5: Walking away · 3 marks · Short answerHarder exam level
The narrator had longed to see her mother's things again, yet she walks away from them. Explain her change of mind in 40-50 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Objects lost value cut off from the old life.
- Strange surroundings made them oppressive.
- No space in her small rented room; she must move on.
Answer: Her mother's things, cut off from the life they belonged to and placed in strange, ugly surroundings, had lost their meaning and only caused pain. She also had no room for them in her small rented room. So she chose to forget the address and move on.
Example 6: Contrasting two women · 6 marks · Long answerHarder exam level
Contrast the narrator's mother with Mrs Dorling. Answer in 120-150 words.
Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
- Mother: trusting, generous, grateful, considerate (worried about Mrs Dorling's back).
- Mrs Dorling: opportunistic, greedy, deceitful, cold.
- The irony: trust repaid with betrayal.
- What the contrast shows about people in hard times.
Answer: The narrator's mother and Mrs Dorling stand at opposite ends of human nature.
The mother is trusting and kind. She believes Mrs Dorling is risking her safety to save the family's things, and worries that she might have strained her back carrying the crockery. She thinks it would be an insult even to ask her to promise to return them.
Mrs Dorling, by contrast, is calculating and greedy. She appears suddenly after years, suggests taking the valuables herself and carries away a suitcase on every visit. After the war she wears the mother's cardigan, pretends not to recognise the daughter and refuses to talk.
The contrast is painfully ironic: the mother's goodness is repaid with betrayal. Minco shows that hard times can bring out both the best and the worst in people, and that trust can be exploited by those who profit from others' misfortune.
Where the marks are
How a typical answer is marked: the value points the examiner looks for and the marks each earns.
Why she walks away from her mother's things (40-50 words, 3 marks) (3 marks)
| Step | Marks |
|---|---|
| Content: objects lost value away from their familiar setting | 1 |
| Content: strange, oppressive surroundings; no space; wish to move on | 1 |
| Expression | 1 |
How the story makes us feel the cost of war without describing it (120-150 words, 6 marks) (6 marks)
| Step | Marks |
|---|---|
| Content: loss of family, betrayal, hardships, moving on, with references | 3 |
| Organisation | 1 |
| Expression | 2 |
Where students lose marks in The Address
The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.
Mistake: Saying the narrator took her belongings back
She left everything and resolved to forget the address.
Do this: Stress her decision to move on.
Usually costs: 1 mark
Mistake: Calling Mrs Dorling the narrator's aunt or neighbour
She was an old acquaintance of the mother.
Do this: Use 'old acquaintance'.
Usually costs: 1 mark
Mistake: Missing the significance of 'Only me'
It reveals that the rest of the family did not survive.
Do this: Link it to 'I thought that no one had come back'.
Usually costs: 1 mark
Mistake: Blaming the daughter for the theft
She is innocent and unaware of where the things came from.
Do this: Distinguish Mrs Dorling from her daughter.
Usually costs: 1 mark
Practice questions on The Address
Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.
Q1 · 1 mark · MCQExam level
What was Mrs Dorling wearing when she opened the door?
(a) a brown coat (b) the narrator's mother's green knitted cardigan (c) a shapeless hat (d) an apronHint
Wooden buttons.
Answer
(b) the narrator's mother's green knitted cardigan
Q2 · 1 mark · Very short answerExam level
Who opened the door on the second visit?
Hint
About fifteen.
Answer
Mrs Dorling's daughter, a girl of about fifteen.
Q3 · 1 mark · Very short answerExam level
Which detail on the tablecloth did the narrator look for?
Hint
Never repaired.
Answer
A burn mark on the edge that had never been repaired.
Q4 · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency
Why did the narrator leave suddenly when the girl opened the drawer? Answer in 40-50 words.
Hint
The silver cutlery.
Answer
The girl was about to check whether their everyday cutlery was silver. It was the narrator's family silver, and seeing it used casually would have been unbearable. Feeling her voice grow unnatural and the past overwhelming her, she made an excuse about her train and left.
Q5 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder exam level
The narrator notes that bread was 'getting to be a lighter colour' and that there was 'a bed you could sleep in unthreatened'. What do such small details tell us about her life during and after the war? Answer in 40-50 words.
Hint
Ordinary comforts returning slowly.
Answer
They show how much had been taken away: in the war she lost her family and home and lived in fear. Even after the Liberation ordinary comforts returned slowly. She had a small rented room with black-out paper still on the windows and had to rebuild life alone.
Q6 · 6 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency
Imagine you are the narrator. Write a diary entry (120-150 words) on the evening after your second visit to Marconi Street.
Hint
Feelings, objects, decision.
Answer
Model points: the shock of seeing familiar objects (tablecloth, teapot, still life) in a strange room; memories of mother and home; pain at their careless use; anger or sorrow at Mrs Dorling's betrayal; the girl's innocence; the decision to forget the address; resolve to build a new life.
Q7 · 1 mark · MCQHarder exam level
Assertion (A): Mrs Dorling refused to talk to the narrator on her first visit. Reason (R): She did not want to return the belongings she had taken. Choose (a) both true, R explains A (b) both true, R does not explain A (c) A true, R false (d) A false, R true.
Hint
Why say 'It is not convenient'?
Answer
(a) Both are true and R explains A.
Test your recall
Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.
1.Who wrote 'The Address'?Show answer
Marga Minco.
2.In which country is the story set?Show answer
Holland (the Netherlands).
3.What was written on the name-plate?Show answer
Dorling.
4.What did Mrs Dorling carry out of the house?Show answer
A heavy suitcase (and on other visits silver, plates, vases and crockery).
5.What picture over the tea-table had the narrator liked as a child?Show answer
The still life with the apple on the pewter plate.
6.What did the narrator not know as a child about the cutlery?Show answer
That it was silver.
Quick revision checklist
The night before the exam: can you do each of these without looking?
- Can you narrate the first visit and the clue 'no one had come back'?
- Can you explain the flashback about Mrs Dorling and the mother?
- Can you describe the second visit and the objects?
- Can you explain why the narrator wanted to forget the address?
- Can you write 120-150 words on the human cost of war?
The Address: frequently asked questions
What is the theme of The Address?
The loss and loneliness that follow war, the betrayal of trust, and the way objects lose their value when separated from the life they belonged to; the narrator chooses to move on.
Why did Mrs Dorling pretend not to know the narrator?
Because she did not want to return the belongings she had taken and had believed no one from the family would come back.
Why is the story called The Address?
The address, 46 Marconi Street, links the past and the present: it holds the belongings, and the story ends with the narrator resolving to forget it.
What is the significance of the Hanukkah candle-holder?
It shows that the family was Jewish, which explains why they were persecuted and lost during the war.
Based on: CBSE English Core (301) syllabus, Classes XI-XII 2026-27; NCERT Snapshots, Supplementary Reader for Class XI (Reprint 2026-27), The Address