Major themes of this story by Marga Minco are trust, betrayal, connection, and letting go. A young Jewish woman, the only member of her family to survive World War 2, visits a ‘friend’ of her mother’s with whom she had entrusted family valuables for safekeeping during the war. Her purpose is to ‘see, touch and remember’ the items, and perhaps to reclaim some to decorate her small rented room. The woman initially rebuffs her, and when she later returns and is admitted by the woman’s daughter, she sees her family’s prize possessions displayed and in daily use around the house.
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Mrs Dorling’s daughter grew up with the valuables as if they had always belonged to her family. This suggests that her mother intended to betray Mrs S from the very start, and had no expectation of returning the items.
The young woman’s reaction to seeing the items and decision to flee the house before Mrs Dorling returns are interesting. She had come to see her family possessions out of sentimentality; to reconnect with the past and remember happier times. She had expected them to be “hidden away in cupboards and boxes”. Seeing the precious items tastelessly displayed on walls and furniture destroys any nostalgic value they may have had.
Even though many of the items are antiques and therefore worth a lot of money, her decision to forget the address indicates a decision to let go of them and move on with her life. A message here is that the “value” of an item is subjective, depending upon the perspective of the viewer. Value is not only a measure of cost or what something could be sold for, but also the meaning it holds for its owner.