NCERT Solutions for Class 11 English (Snapshots) Chapter 2: The Address by Marga Minco

Complete solutions for Class 11 English Snapshots Chapter 2 – “The Address” by Marga Minco: an original summary, the theme, word meanings and every textbook exercise question answered in detailed, exam-ready prose. The questions are reproduced exactly as in the NCERT Snapshots book; the summary and all answers are written originally by ClearStudy.

Class: 11 Subject: English Book: Snapshots Type: Short Story (Chapter 2) Author: Marga Minco Session: 2026–27
On this page

About the author

Marga Minco (born Sara Menco, 1920) is a Dutch journalist and writer of Jewish descent. She lived through the Second World War in the Netherlands, during which most of her family was deported by the Nazis and killed; she alone survived by going into hiding. This personal experience of loss runs through much of her writing. Her best-known work, Het bittere kruid (“Bitter Herbs”, 1957), is a quiet, restrained chronicle of a Jewish family destroyed by the war. “The Address” carries the same spare, understated style, telling a story of dispossession and grief without melodrama. Marga Minco received several major Dutch literary honours for her contribution to post-war literature.

Summary

“The Address” is narrated by a young woman who returns to her city after the Second World War in search of her dead mother’s possessions. Years earlier, during the war, her mother had told her about Mrs Dorling – an old acquaintance who had reappeared and begun carrying away the family’s valuables one by one, claiming she wanted to save the nice things in case the family had to flee. The mother gave the narrator an address to remember: Number 46, Marconi Street.

After the Liberation, the narrator is at first unwilling to revisit those stored objects, afraid of being confronted with reminders of a life that no longer exists. Eventually curiosity draws her to Mrs Dorling’s house. On her first visit the woman who answers the door refuses to recognise her and turns her away, even though she is wearing the narrator’s mother’s green knitted cardigan.

On a second visit, Mrs Dorling’s teenage daughter lets her in. The living room is crowded with the narrator’s mother’s belongings – the silver cutlery, the woollen tablecloth with its familiar burn mark, the antique box of spoons, the pewter plate from the still-life. Surrounded by these objects, the narrator feels not comfort but oppression: torn from their old setting and arranged tastelessly in a strange, musty room, they have lost all their meaning and emotional value. Realising this, she leaves abruptly without claiming anything. As she walks away she resolves to forget the address forever – of all the things she must forget, she decides, that will be the easiest.

Theme & message

The story explores the human predicament that follows war: loss, displacement and the breaking of bonds that once gave life meaning. Its central insight is that objects derive their worth not from themselves but from the relationships and memories attached to them. Severed from the home and the people they belonged to, the mother’s possessions become lifeless and even painful to see. The narrator’s decision to walk away shows a mature choice to let go of the past and move on, refusing to let grief and material things anchor her to a vanished world. The story also quietly exposes opportunism – Mrs Dorling’s “help” was really plunder – and the cold indifference that war can breed.

Word meanings

WordMeaning
searchinglyin an examining, probing way
a chinka narrow opening
fleetinglybriefly, for a very short time
cardigana knitted woollen jacket buttoned at the front
mustysmelling stale, damp and old
name-platea small sign showing a name on a door
jambthe side post of a doorway
acquaintancea person one knows slightly
luggingcarrying something heavy with effort
cricka painful stiffness, especially in the back or neck
crockeryplates, cups and dishes
pityinglywith a feeling of pity or sympathy
reprovinglyin a disapproving, scolding manner
Liberationthe freeing of the country at the end of the war
oppressedweighed down; made to feel troubled
cumbersomelarge, heavy and awkward to use
pewtera grey metal made of tin and lead
sideboarda long cupboard for crockery and cutlery
black-out paperdark paper used to cover windows during wartime
severedcut off or separated
resolvedfirmly decided
Hanukkahthe Jewish Feast of Lights, a festival in December

Textbook exercise solutions

Reproduced verbatim from NCERT Snapshots; answers written originally by ClearStudy.

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?

ANSWERYes, the statement is a crucial clue. The words “I thought that no one had come back” reveal the historical background of the story – the persecution of the Jews during the Second World War. Most of the people who were deported never returned, and Mrs Dorling had clearly assumed that the narrator’s family was among them.It also exposes Mrs Dorling’s guilt and discomfort. She had taken away the family’s belongings under the pretext of saving them, expecting that no one would ever come to reclaim them. The narrator’s return shocks her, which is why she refuses to recognise her and quickly shuts the door. The line therefore hints both at the tragedy of war and at the dishonest opportunism of Mrs Dorling.

2. The story is divided into pre-War and post-War times. What hardships do you think the girl underwent during these times?

ANSWERDuring the War (pre-Liberation): Being Jewish, the narrator and her family lived in constant fear of being arrested and deported. They had to give away or hide their valuables, watching their home steadily emptied by Mrs Dorling. Eventually the narrator lost her mother and the rest of her family, and was forced to live in hiding, cut off from her home and her former life.After the War (post-Liberation): The girl returned alone to a world that had been destroyed. She had no family, no home and no possessions, and lived in a small, bare rented room with black-out paper still hanging at the windows. She carried the burden of grief and memory, and faced the painful realisation that the familiar life she had known was gone forever. Her decision to forget the address shows the emotional hardship of having to let go of her entire past in order to survive and move on.

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

ANSWERThe narrator wanted to forget the address because revisiting her mother’s possessions brought her pain rather than comfort. In Mrs Dorling’s house she found the familiar objects of her childhood, but they were arranged tastelessly in a strange, musty room and had lost all their warmth and meaning. She realised that things linked to the memory of a loved life lose their value the moment they are torn from that life and seen in alien surroundings.She also understood that these objects no longer had any place in her present life – she lived in a tiny rented room where there was no space for them. Reclaiming them would only tie her to a past full of grief. By resolving to forget the address, she chose to break free from painful memories and move forward, deciding that “of all the things I had to forget, that would be the easiest.”

4. ‘The Address’ is a story of human predicament that follows war. Comment.

ANSWER“The Address” powerfully portrays the human predicament created by war. War does not merely destroy property; it shatters families, homes and the bonds that give life meaning. The narrator survives, but she returns to find her mother dead, her family gone and her home dismantled. Her loss is irreversible, and no recovery of objects can restore what the war has taken.The story also shows how war corrupts ordinary human relationships. Mrs Dorling exploits the family’s desperation, carrying off their belongings under the guise of helping them, and later coldly denies the narrator at the door. Yet alongside this bleakness, the story offers a quiet dignity: the narrator chooses to give up the possessions and the painful memories they carry, accepting her loss and resolving to move on. Through one woman’s small, personal experience, Marga Minco captures the larger tragedy, dispossession and emotional desolation that millions faced in the aftermath of war.

Extra questions

Short answer

1. Who was Mrs Dorling?

ANSWERMrs Dorling was an old acquaintance of the narrator’s mother who reappeared during the war and gradually carried away the family’s valuable possessions, claiming she wanted to save them.

2. What was the address that the narrator’s mother gave her?

ANSWERThe address was Number 46, Marconi Street – the home of Mrs Dorling, where the family’s belongings had been taken.

3. How did the narrator first recognise that she was at the right house?

ANSWERShe recognised the house when she saw the woman at the door wearing her mother’s green knitted cardigan, with its wooden buttons faded from washing.

4. Why did the objects in the living room oppress the narrator?

ANSWERThey oppressed her because, although she recognised them, they were arranged tastelessly in a strange, musty room. Cut off from their old home, they had lost the warmth and meaning they once held.

5. What was special about the woollen tablecloth?

ANSWERThe woollen tablecloth had a burn mark on its edge that had never been repaired. By finding this mark, the narrator confirmed beyond doubt that these were her mother’s belongings.

Long answer

6. Compare and contrast the attitudes of the narrator and Mrs Dorling towards the possessions.

ANSWERFor the narrator, the possessions are valuable only for the memories and love attached to them; their worth lies in the home and the mother to whom they belonged. When she finds them in strange surroundings, she feels no desire to keep them – they have become meaningless and painful, so she walks away. Mrs Dorling, on the other hand, values the objects purely as material wealth. She acquired them through deceit, uses them carelessly in her daily life, and denies any connection with the family who once owned them. The contrast highlights the difference between sentimental and selfish materialistic attitudes, and exposes the moral corruption that war breeds in opportunists like Mrs Dorling.

7. “The narrator’s decision to forget the address reflects emotional maturity rather than defeat.” Discuss.

ANSWERThe narrator’s choice to forget the address is an act of strength, not surrender. She recognises that clinging to objects steeped in grief would chain her to a vanished past and prolong her suffering. By refusing to reclaim them, she accepts that her mother and her former life cannot be brought back, and that the possessions can never restore their meaning. Instead of being crushed by loss, she chooses to release it and look forward. Her calm resolve – “of all the things I had to forget, that would be the easiest” – shows a mature understanding that survival means letting go. The decision is therefore a quiet triumph of the human spirit over the desolation left by war.

MCQs & Assertion–Reason

1. Who is the author of ‘The Address’?

(a) Katherine Mansfield   (b) Marga Minco   (c) Pearl S. Buck   (d) Roald Dahl

ANSWER(b) Marga Minco.

2. The story is set in which country?

(a) Germany   (b) France   (c) Holland (the Netherlands)   (d) England

ANSWER(c) Holland (the Netherlands).

3. What was the full address the narrator went to?

(a) Number 64, Marconi Street   (b) Number 46, Marconi Street   (c) Number 46, Dorling Street   (d) Number 4, Marconi Street

ANSWER(b) Number 46, Marconi Street.

4. What was Mrs Dorling wearing that the narrator recognised?

(a) A brown coat   (b) A shapeless hat   (c) Her mother’s green knitted cardigan   (d) A silk scarf

ANSWER(c) Her mother’s green knitted cardigan.

5. Who opened the door on the narrator’s second visit?

(a) Mrs Dorling   (b) The narrator’s mother   (c) A girl of about fifteen   (d) A neighbour

ANSWER(c) A girl of about fifteen (Mrs Dorling’s daughter).

6. The burn mark that confirmed the objects’ identity was on the:

(a) cardigan   (b) woollen tablecloth   (c) pewter plate   (d) sideboard

ANSWER(b) woollen tablecloth.

7. The Hanukkah candle-holder in the passage is a symbol of the family’s:

(a) wealth   (b) Jewish identity   (c) carelessness   (d) modern taste

ANSWER(b) Jewish identity.

8. Why did the narrator leave Mrs Dorling’s house abruptly?

(a) She missed her train   (b) The objects oppressed her and lost all meaning   (c) She was afraid of the girl   (d) Mrs Dorling returned

ANSWER(b) The objects oppressed her and lost all meaning.

9. The phrase ‘I thought that no one had come back’ hints at:

(a) a long journey   (b) the deportation and death of Jews in the war   (c) a family quarrel   (d) Mrs Dorling’s illness

ANSWER(b) the deportation and death of Jews in the war.

10. The main theme of ‘The Address’ is:

(a) the joy of reunion   (b) loss, dispossession and letting go after war   (c) the value of wealth   (d) the importance of friendship

ANSWER(b) loss, dispossession and letting go after war.
MCQ Answer Key: 1-(b), 2-(c), 3-(b), 4-(c), 5-(c), 6-(b), 7-(b), 8-(b), 9-(b), 10-(b)

Assertion–Reason – choose: (a) A and R true, R explains A; (b) A and R true, R does not explain A; (c) A true, R false; (d) A false, R true.

1. Assertion (A): Mrs Dorling refused to recognise the narrator at the door.

Reason (R): She felt guilty about having taken the family’s possessions and did not want to return them.

ANSWER(a) Both true and R correctly explains A.

2. Assertion (A): The narrator decided to forget the address.

Reason (R): The possessions had lost their value once they were severed from her former life.

ANSWER(a) Both true and R correctly explains A.

3. Assertion (A): The narrator felt happy and comforted on seeing her mother’s belongings.

Reason (R): The objects were arranged beautifully and reminded her of her happy childhood.

ANSWER(d) A is false (she felt oppressed, not comforted); R is also inaccurate, but the assertion itself is clearly false – the objects oppressed her in their tasteless, strange arrangement.

4. Assertion (A): The green knitted cardigan was important in the story.

Reason (R): It helped the narrator confirm that she had found the right house.

ANSWER(a) Both true and R correctly explains A.

5. Assertion (A): ‘The Address’ depicts the suffering caused by war.

Reason (R): The narrator lost her family and home, and returned to a life of grief and emptiness.

ANSWER(a) Both true and R correctly explains A.
Assertion–Reason Answer Key: 1-(a), 2-(a), 3-(d), 4-(a), 5-(a)

Exam tips

How to score full marks on ‘The Address’

1. Always connect the story to its historical background – the persecution of Jews in the Second World War. The line “I thought that no one had come back” is a favourite for clue/inference questions.

2. Remember the key symbols: the green cardigan and the burn-marked tablecloth (proof of identity), the Hanukkah candle-holder (Jewish identity), and the musty, tasteless room (lost meaning).

3. For value-based questions, stress the theme: objects lose meaning when severed from the life they belonged to, and letting go is a sign of maturity.

4. Use the exact names – Mrs Dorling, Number 46 Marconi Street, Mrs S – and write character-based answers in well-organised paragraphs with examples from the text.

FAQs

What is the story ‘The Address’ about?

It is about a young woman who, after the Second World War, visits the house where her dead mother’s possessions were taken, only to find that the objects have lost all meaning in their strange new setting, so she decides to leave them and forget the address.

Who is Mrs Dorling in ‘The Address’?

Mrs Dorling was an old acquaintance of the narrator’s mother who, during the war, gradually carried away the family’s valuables under the pretext of saving them, and later refused to recognise the narrator.

Why did the narrator decide to forget the address?

Because the possessions, torn from her former home and arranged tastelessly in a strange room, had lost all their value and only caused her pain; forgetting the address let her move on from her grief.

Questions are taken verbatim from the NCERT Snapshots textbook; the summary and answers are written originally by ClearStudy.

Scroll to Top