The Address, Explanation, Line by Line, Meaning of Difficult Words, English CBSE Class 11 NCERT Snapshot Chapter 2

 The Address, Explanation, Line by Line, Meaning of Difficult Words, English CBSE Class 11 NCERT Snapshot Chapter 2

THE ADDRESS

(Explanation and Meaning of difficult words)

Author – Marga Minco

Narrator of this story is a woman who is daughter of Mrs S. After the World War was over, she had gone to her home town to meet Mrs Dorling. Before world war Mrs Dorling used to come to their house. The narrator had gone to meet Mrs Dorling to collect belongings of her mother.

 

Word	Meaning
Searchingly	Observing carefully
Chink	A small amount

The narrator asked the woman if she knew her. The woman looked at me carefully. She did not open the door fully. It was opened only slightly. I came near the door and stood on the step. I told her that she did not know me. I am daughter of Mrs. S.

 

 

 

She had put her hand on the door. It seemed to me that she did not want to open the door any more. From her face I understood that she did not recognize me. She continued to stare at me.

 

Word	Meaning
Fleetingly	For a short duration
I had rung the wrong bell	I had come to wrong house

Probably I had made a mistake. Probably this house was not the house of Mrs. Dorling. I had seen her only once and that too for a short time only. Most probably I had come to the wrong house.

 

 

 

Word	Meaning
Let go of the door	Removed hand from the door
Stepped	Moved

The woman removed her hand from the door to open it. She moved to the side of the door. She was wearing a green cardigan that was knitted by my mother. The wooden buttons of the cardigan had become yellowish because of washing of cardigan.

 

 

The woman realsied that I was looking at the cardigan. So she partially hid herself behind the door. I understood that I was right. The cardigan belonged to my mother. I asked her if she knew my mother.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Musty	Stale

The woman asked if we had come back. She thought that no one had come back. I replied that only I had come back. In the passage behind the woman, a door opened and again closed. A stale smell came from the passage.

 

 

The woman said that she was sorry that she could not do anything for me. I replied I had come here by train for a specific purpose. I want to talk to you for some time. The woman replied that it was  not convenient for her to talk to me now. She asked me to come some other time.

 

 

 

Word	Meaning
Nodded	Moved her head
Cautiously	Carefully

She moved her head and carefully closed the door. It appeared that she did not want to disturb anybody in the house.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Bay window	A projected window in wall of a house

I was still standing on the steps of the house. A curtain in front of the bay window was moved. Someone stared at me from the window. She would have asked me what I wanted. And the woman standing at the door would have replied on my behalf. She would have said that I did not want to meet anybody.

 

 

I looked at the name plate on the house. Dorling was written on the name plate. Little higher on the frame of the door number of the house of written. Number 46.

The narrator wants to say that she had come to the correct house.

 

 

 

While slowly walking back to the station I thought about my mother. She had given me this address. It was during the first half of the World War.

 

 

I had come to my home only for some days. It immediately understood that something had changed in the rooms of the house. I did not see many things in our house. My mother was surprised because I had noticed it quickly.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Apparently	Seemingly, Evidently, Probably
Acquaintance	Known person

Then my mother told me about Mrs. Dorling. I had never heard about her. Probably she was known to my mother since long time. But my mother had not met her since many years.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Turned up	Came, Was seen

Mrs. Dorling had come back unexpectedly and she had renewed her friendship with my mother. Then she started coming to our house frequently.

 

 

 

 

My mother told me that whenever Mrs. Dorling comes, she takes something from our house to her house. At one time she took all the sliver utensils from the dining table. Then she took our very old plates that we were hanging on the wall.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Lugging	Carrying
Vase	Big utensil
Crick	Sprain, Cramp
Pityingly	Full of pity

Mrs. Dorling had lot of trouble in carrying the large utensils to her house. Mother was worried that Mrs. Dorling got a sprain in her back while carrying crockery. My mother shook her head with lot of pity towards Mrs. Dorling.

 

 

My mother had not asked Mrs. Dorling to take things from our house. Mrs. Dorling had made that suggestion to my mother. She wanted to take away every nice thing from our house. Mrs. Dorling told my mother that if my mother had to leave the house my mother will lose everything.

 

 

I had asked my mother if she had agreed that Mrs. Dorling can keep everything of our house.

 

 

 

 

My mother cried and told me that it was not necessary. It would have been an insult to talk in that manner. Mrs. Dorling was taking lot of risk while taking things from our house. She took things in a bag or a suitcase.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Reprovingly	Disapprovingly, With mild scolding

My mother realised that I was not fully convinced by her line of thought. She looked at me as if to scold me mildly. After that I did not talk about this matter with my mother.

 

 

By this time I had reached the station. I did not pay any attention to things along the way.

 

 

After the World War, for the first time I was walking in this place which was familiar to me. But I did not want to know about it more than required. I had memory about every street, house and the precious time I had spent in that village. I did not want to recall those and upset myself.

 

 

 

In the train I imagined Mrs. Dorling sitting in front of me. She looked exactly same as I had seen her on the first day. My mother had told me about her. Mrs Dorling had come  the next day .

 

 

Word	Meaning
With broad back	Thick person
Beckoned	Signalled, Gestured

That day I had got up late and was coming down the stairs of my house. I saw that my mother was about to see off someone. She was a thick woman. My mother signalled towards me and said to Mrs. Dorling that I was her daughter.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Coat rack	A frame to hang coat, Hanger

The woman nodded. She picked up the suitcase and the hanger of her coat. She was wearing a brown coat and a hat that did not have  proper shape.

 

 

I asked my mother if Mrs. Dorling lived at a distance far from our house. I asked this question because she was having difficulty in carrying the heavy suitcase.

 

 

My mother replied that Mrs. Dorling lived at Number 46 in Marconi Street. She advised me to remember the address.

 

 

I remembered the address. But I did not go there earlier. After end of the World War I was certainly not interested in the things that were taken away and stored by Mrs. Dorling. Actual I was afraid to look at those things.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Confronted	Saw
In vain	Un-necessary, Without any success
Endured	Suffered, Tolerated

I was afraid to see things that would remind me of my mother. I had tried not to recall memories of my mother too often. Presently things of her memories were hidden in cupboards, boxes. These things were yet to be taken out from boxes. I had not taken these out. These wanted to be put back at their original place. These had tolerated their neglect because these were things.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Gradually	Slowly
Bread was getting to be lighter colour	Quality of bread and life improved
Unthreatened	Without any danger
Glance	Look

Slowly everything once again became normal. Quality of food and quality of life improved. We could sleep in our houses without any danger. The view out of our house became familiar. Meaning that instances of destruction had reduced.

 

 

One day I realised that I was eager about all those things that must be at the address my mother had told me. I wanted to see, touch and recall those things.

 

 

My first visit to the house of Mrs. Dorling was unsuccessful. I could not see any of those things. I decided to make a second attempt. This time a girl of about 15 years old opened the door for me. I asked her if her mother was at home.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Doing an errand	Gone out for a short time

The girl replied that her mother had gone out of the house for a short time. I said that I would wait for her to return.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Cumbersome	Troublesome, Difficult

I went behind the girl along the passage of the house. A candle-holder of very old Hanukkah type was hanging near the mirror. We had never used it in our home. It was more difficult to light this candle stand than a single candle.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Horrified	Shocked

The girl asked me to sit down. She had opened the door of the living room. I went inside the room ahead of her. I stopped. I was shocked. The room looked familiar to me. And I did not know about this room. Author wants to say that the room was different but things in the room were familiar to her.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Oppressed	Harsh treatment, Troubled
Strange	Weird, Unusual, Odd

The things around me were so familiar to me. I was in the middle of things I did not want to see. These things troubled me a lot in an unusual manner.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Tasteless	Improperly, Not to someone’s liking
Muggy	Unpleasant
That hung there	That was around
Scarcely	Barely, Hardly

Or I was uncomfortable because things were not arranged to my liking or because of ugly furniture or because of unpleasant smell in the house. But I did not have the courage to look around the house.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Moved a chair	Gave a chair to sit

The girl asked me to sit on chair and I sat. I looked at the woollen table cloth spread on the table. I moved my fingers on it. My fingers grew warm. The author had recongnised that it was their table cloth. She felt the warmth of memory.

Her hand moved along the design made on the table cloth. She remembered that at the edge of the table cloth there was a mark of a burn. This burn mark was not repaired.

 

 

The girl said that her mother would come back soon. She told that she had already made tea for herself. She asked me if I would like to have some tea. I thanked her. Author had agreed to have tea.

 

 

I looked in front of me and towards the girl. She had already put some cups on the tea-table. Just like her mother, she was slightly thick person. She poured tea into cups from a white tea-pot. The tea pot had a golden border on its lid. I recalled it. It was ours. Then she opened a box and took out some spoons.

 

 

I said that it was nice box. My voice  sounded peculiar to me. It appeared as if the voice was coming from another room.

 

 

The girl asked me if I knew about those cutlery. She turned her face toward me and brought tea. She told that her mother had informed that these cutlery are antique pieces. We have many more such pieces. She asked me to have a look at those.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Pewter	A type of alloy
Pewter plate	A plate made of pewter
Fancied	Liked

I did not need to look in the direction her hand was pointing to. I knew about which things she was talking about. I looked at the tea table. A pewter plate was lying on the tea table. During my childhood, I liked to eat an apple in that plate.

 

 

The girl said that they use all the cutlery that could be seen. Once we ate in the plates that are hanging on the wall. I was very eager to eat in those plates. But I did not find anything special in those plates.

 

 

I had located the burn mark on the table cloth. The girl looked at me as if she wanted to ask a question.

 

 

I told her that one gets used to touching every lovely thing of one’s own house. Hence one would not notice any difference. You would notice their importance when those things are not with you. For example if those are to be repaired or have been given to somebody else.

 

 

Once again voice of narrator was unnatural. because she was trying to remember her old days. I said that once my mother had asked me to help her in cleaning silver utensils of our house.

 

 

It was long ago from this time. Either I was getting bored on that day. Or I had not gone to school because I was sick. She had never asked me to do this work prior to that day.

 

 

I asked her mother which silver utensils she wanted me to clean. I was surprised when she told me to clean spoon, forks and knives. I found it very strange. Because I did not  know that those cutlery of daily use were made of silver.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Looked intently	Looked carefully, Gazed

The girl again laughed. I told the girl that probably she also did not know about it. I gazed at her. She asked if I meant about the cutlery they were using daily. I again asked her if she knew about those pieces.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Sideboard	A shelf with drawers

She hesitated for a moment. Then she walked to the shelf kept in the room and opened a drawer. She said she will look at those pieces. They all are in this drawer.

 

 

Suddenly I got up. I said that I had forgotten about the time. It is time to catch my train. She had placed her hand on the drawer. She asked me if I wanted to wait till her mother comes back.

 

 

I told her that it was necessary for me to go. Saying this I walked to the door. I had told the girl that I will go alone. She need not see me off from her house.

In the mean while the girl had pulled the drawer. As I walked through the passage of the house I could hear the metallic sound of forks and spoons.

 

 

At the turn of the road I looked up at the sign board. It read Marconi Street. I had gone to house Number 46. The address given by my mother was correct. But I did not want to remember it now. Author wants to forget about every memory of the past.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Linked in memory	Attached to memory,
Instantly	Immediately
Severed	Separated
Strange Surroundings	Another place, Another perspective

I do not want to go there once again. Because your memory of past life immediate loses its value, when you move away from those things. Now you look at those things in a different perspective.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Shreds	Pieces
Handful	Very small quantity

And those cutlery were of no use to me. I was presently living in a small room I had taken on rent. I had put pieces of black papers on windows as curtains. The drawer of my table was very small. It could accommodate only small quantity of cutlery.

 

 

Word	Meaning
Resolved	Promised, Decided

I decided to forget the address. This should be the easiest thing to forget. Author does not want to live in her past. She wants to forget about it. A powerful message indeed.

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