The Address Flashcards
How did Mrs Dorling react when the narrator said, m Mrs S’s daughter”?
Mrs Dorling held her hand on the door as if she wanted to prevent it opening any
further. Her face showed no sign of recognition. She kept staring at the narrator without uttering a word.
What two reasons did the narrator give to explain that she was mistaken?
She thought that perhaps the woman was not Mrs Dorling. She had seen her only once, for a brief interval and that too years ago. Secondly, it was probable that she had rung the wrong bell.
How did the narrator conclude that she was right?
The woman was wearing the green knitted cardigan of the narrator’s mother. The wooden buttons were rather pale from washing. She saw that the narrator was looking at the cardigan. She half hid herself again behind the door. Her reaction convinced the narrator that she was right.
What was the outcome of the interview between Mrs Dorling and the narrator?
The interview was a flop as far as the narrator was concerned. Mrs Dorling refused
to see her and talk to her in spite of the narrator’s repeated requests.
Who had given the narrator the address, when and under what circumstances?
The narrator’s mother had given her the address, years ago during the first half of
the war. The narrator came home for a few days and missed various things in the rooms. Then her mother told her about Mrs Dorling and gave her the address.
What did the narrator learn about Mrs Dorling from her mother?
Mrs Dorling was an old acquaintance of the narrator’s mother. The latter had not seen her for several years. Then she suddenly turned up and renewed their contact.
Every time she left that place she took something with her—table silver, antique plates, etc. –
What reason did Mrs Dorling give for taking away the precious belongings of the narrator’s mother?
Mrs Dorling suggested to the narrator’s mother that she should store her belongings at a safer place. She wanted to save all her nice things. She explained that they would lose everything if they had to leave the place.
What impression do you form of the narrator’s mother on the basis of her conversation with (i) Mrs Dorling and (ii) the narrator?
The narrator’s mother was a kind-hearted, generous and liberal lady. She was fond of collecting valuable things. She is more worried about the physical risk to Mrs Dorling than losing them to her. She thought it an insult to tell her friends to keep those things for ever.
Did the narrator fee Up evinced about the views of her mother regarding Mrs Dorling? How do you know?
The narrator did not feel convinced about her mother’s concern for Mrs Dorling.
The latter was keen on removing the precious possessions of the narrator’s mother to her own house. It seems that the narrator did not like Mrs Darling’s excessive interest in her mother’s belongings. It is evident from the questions she puts to her mother.
What does the narrator remember about Mrs Dorling as she saw her for the first time?
Mrs Dorling was a woman with a broad back. She wore a brown coat and a shapeless hat. She picked up a heavy suitcase lying under the coat rack and left their house.
She lived at number 46, Marconi Street.
Why did the narrator wait a long time before going to the address number 46, Marconi Street?
Initially, after the liberation, she was not at all interested in her mother’s belongings lying stored there. She was also afraid of being confronted with things that had belonged to her mother, who was now no more.
When did the narrator become curious about her mother’s possessions?
The narrator became curious about her mother’s possessions as normalcy returned in the post-liberation period. She knew that those things must still be at the address her mother told her. She wanted to see them, touch and remember.
“I was in a room I knew and did not know,” says the narrator in the story ‘The Address’. What prompted her to make this observation?
The narrator found herself in the midst of things she was familiar with and which she did want to see again. However, she found them in a strange atmosphere where everything was arranged in a tasteless way. They ugly furniture and the muggy smell created the feeling that she didn’t know the room.
“I just looked at the still life over the tea table,” says the narrator in the story ‘The Address’. What does she mean by ‘the still life? What prompted her to make this remark?
By ‘the still life’, the narrator means the things over the tea table such as the table-cloth, tea pot, cups and spoons. The reference to antique box and silver spoons prompted her to make this remark.
How was the narrator able to recognise her own familiar woollen table- cloth?
The narrator first stared at the woollen table-cloth. Then she followed the lines of the pattern. She remembered that somewhere there was a bum mark which had not been repaired. At last she found the bum mark on the table-cloth. This helped her to recognise her own familiar article.
