The Hundred Dresses – I Question Answer – Class 10 English

Before You Read

1. How do we judge the people around us — by their money, wealth and possessions? Or is there something of more enduring value to look for in a person?

Very often we judge people by their money, clothes and possessions, because these are easy to see. But such a judgement is shallow and often unfair. Qualities like kindness, honesty, talent, courage and a forgiving heart are of far more lasting value. A person who owns little may be rich in these qualities, and that is what we should look for.

2. This story is a sensitive account of how a poor young girl is judged by her classmates. Wanda Petronski is a young Polish girl who goes to school with other American children in an American town. These other children see Wanda as 'different' in many ways. Can you guess how they treat her?

Since the other children see Wanda as different, they probably keep her at a distance and do not make friends with her. They may laugh at her name, her poor clothes and her way of speaking, and tease her when she is alone. She is likely to be lonely and left out.

3. Read the information in the box below. Find out more about this community (or about a related topic) from an encyclopedia, or the Internet.

A sample note: Polish-Americans are Americans whose families came from Poland. The box tells us that the first Poles arrived in 1608, but the largest wave came in the early twentieth century, when more than a million Poles migrated to the USA. Most came to escape poverty and found hard work in mines, steel mills and factories in cities such as Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Chicago has so many people of Polish origin that it is sometimes called the second largest 'Polish' city after Warsaw. They built close communities around their churches and schools and kept alive Polish food, music and festivals. In the early years they often faced prejudice; people mocked them with the insulting word "Pollack", as Wanda's family experiences in the story. Such name-calling is hurtful and should never be used.

You may also write about another immigrant community, for example the Irish or Italians in America, or people from other states living in Assam.

Oral Comprehension Check (Page 65)

1. Where in the classroom does Wanda sit and why?

Wanda sits in the seat next to the last seat in the last row of Room Thirteen. It is the corner where the rough boys who did not make good marks sat, with the most "scuffling of feet" and the most mud on the floor. Nobody knew exactly why she sat there, unless it was because she came all the way from Boggins Heights and her feet were usually caked with dry mud.

2. Where does Wanda live? What kind of a place do you think it is?

Wanda lives at Boggins Heights, far, far away from the school, under the railroad tracks and up the hill, at the end of Oliver Street. It seems to be a poor, isolated and shabby part of town, with muddy paths. The way the children speak of it suggests that respectable families did not live there.

3. When and why do Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda's absence?

Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda's absence on Wednesday, the third day she is away. They notice it only because Wanda had made them late to school: they had waited for her on the way "to have some fun with her", and she just had not come.

4. What do you think "to have fun with her" means?

"To have fun with her" means to make fun of Wanda, that is, to tease and mock her for their own amusement. The fun was only for Peggy and the other girls; for Wanda it was a painful daily humiliation.

Oral Comprehension Check (Page 67)

1. In what way was Wanda different from the other children?

Wanda was different in many ways. She had a long, unusual Polish name, Petronski, while the others had names easy to say, like Thomas, Smith or Allen. She was poor, lived at Boggins Heights and always wore the same faded blue dress that "didn't hang right". She was very quiet, had no friends, and came to school and went home alone.

2. Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said she did?

No, Wanda did not have a hundred dresses; she had only the one blue dress she wore every day. She said she had a hundred perhaps to protect her pride before girls who were mocking her poverty, and perhaps to be noticed and talked to. As we learn later, she had in fact drawn a hundred dresses, so in her imagination they were real and "all lined up".

3. Why is Maddie embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like Wanda, or is she different?

Maddie is embarrassed because she is poor herself and usually wears somebody's hand-me-down clothes. The teasing makes her uncomfortable, and she fears that Peggy and the others may start on her next. She is like Wanda in being poor, but she is different too: she is not as poor, does not live on Boggins Heights, has an ordinary name, and is the best friend of the most popular girl.

Oral Comprehension Check (Page 70)

1. Why didn't Maddie ask Peggie to stop teasing Wanda? What was she afraid of?

Maddie did not have the courage to speak out to Peggy. She even began a note to her but tore it up. She was afraid that she herself would become "a new target for Peggy and the girls". Peggy might ask where she got her dress, and Maddie would have to admit it was one of Peggy's old dresses that her mother had disguised with new trimmings. She was also afraid of losing Peggy's friendship.

2. Who did Maddie think would win the drawing contest? Why?

Maddie thought Peggy would win the girls' medal. Everyone believed Peggy drew better than anyone else in the room. She could copy a picture from a magazine or some film star's head so well that you could almost tell who it was.

3. Who won the drawing contest? What had the winner drawn?

Wanda Petronski won the girls' medal. She had drawn one hundred designs of dresses on great sheets of wrapping paper, "all different and all beautiful", in dazzling colours and lavish designs. The judges felt that any one of them was worthy of the prize.

Thinking about the Text

1. How is Wanda seen as different by the other girls? How do they treat her?

The other girls see Wanda as an outsider. She has a strange Polish name, lives in the poor area of Boggins Heights, wears the same faded, badly ironed blue dress every day, and often has mud on her shoes. She is quiet, rarely speaks, and sits among the rough boys in the corner.

The girls treat her with indifference and cruelty. Nobody makes friends with her, and nobody even notices when she is absent for three days. Peggy and her friends surround her in the school yard and, with mock politeness, ask how many dresses and shoes she has. When she answers "A hundred", they burst into "shrieks and peals of laughter" once she has walked away. To them she is only a source of fun.

2. How does Wanda feel about the dresses game? Why does she say that she has a hundred dresses?

Wanda is hurt by the dresses game, though she never shows it openly. She answers "stolidly", her "thin lips drew together in silence", and she walks away with "her eyes dull and her mouth closed", hitching her left shoulder. These signs show that she is unhappy but hides her feelings to keep her dignity. In a way she may also welcome the game, because it is the only time the girls talk to her.

She says she has a hundred dresses because, in a sense, she does. She has drawn a hundred beautiful dress designs, all different and all lined up in her closet. Saying so lets her hold on to her self-respect in front of girls who mock her poverty.

3. Why does Maddie stand by and not do anything? How is she different from Peggy? (Was Peggy's friendship important to Maddie? Why? Which lines in the text tell you this?)

Maddie stands by because she is afraid. She is poor herself and wears hand-me-down clothes, so she fears that if she objects, Peggy and the girls will make her their next target. She also does not want to lose Peggy's friendship.

Maddie is different from Peggy because she has a sensitive conscience. Peggy does not even realise that the game is cruel, but Maddie feels embarrassed, studies the marbles in her hand, and wishes Peggy would stop. However, she lacks the courage to say so.

Peggy's friendship was very important to Maddie, because Peggy was the most popular girl and her friendship gave Maddie a safe place in the class. The text says: "She was Peggy's best friend, and Peggy was the best-liked girl in the whole room. Peggy could not possibly do anything that was really wrong, she thought." She even tore up the note she had begun to write to Peggy.

4. What does Miss Mason think of Wanda's drawings? What do the children think of them? How do you know?

Miss Mason thinks very highly of the drawings. She says Wanda "actually drew one hundred designs — all different and all beautiful", that Room Thirteen should be proud of her, and that, in the judges' opinion, any one of them was worthy of the prize. She calls them "exquisite".

The children are amazed and delighted. When they enter, they stop short and gasp, then whistle or murmur admiringly. After the announcement they burst into applause; even the boys stamp and whistle. Maddie whispers, "Isn't it beautiful?" and Peggy admits, "Boy, and I thought I could draw."

Thinking about Language

I. Combine the following to make sentences like those above.

1. This is the bus (what kind of bus?). It goes to Agra. (use which or that)

This is the bus which goes to Agra. / This is the bus that goes to Agra.

2. I would like to buy (a) shirt (which shirt?). (The) shirt is in the shop window. (use which or that)

I would like to buy the shirt which is in the shop window. / I would like to buy the shirt that is in the shop window.

3. You must break your fast at a particular time (when?). You see the moon in the sky. (use when)

You must break your fast at the time when you see the moon in the sky.

4. Find a word (what kind of word?). It begins with the letter Z. (use which or that)

Find a word which begins with the letter Z. / Find a word that begins with the letter Z.

5. Now find a person (what kind of person). His or her name begins with the letter Z. (use whose)

Now find a person whose name begins with the letter Z.

6. Then go to a place (what place?). There are no people whose name begins with Z in that place. (use where)

Then go to a place where there are no people whose name begins with Z.

II. The Narrative Voice

1. Here are two other sentences from the story. Can you say whose point of view the italicised words express?

(i) But on Wednesday, Peggy and Maddie, who sat down front with other children who got good marks and who didn't track in a whole lot of mud, did notice that Wanda wasn't there.

These words express the point of view of Peggy and Maddie (and the "good" children like them). They see themselves as better than Wanda and the rough boys, because they get good marks and keep their feet clean.

(ii) Wanda Petronski. Most of the children in Room Thirteen didn't have names like that. They had names easy to say, like Thomas, Smith or Allen.

These words express the point of view of the children of Room Thirteen. To them, ordinary American names are normal, and Wanda's Polish name seems strange and funny.

2. Can you find other such sentences in the story? You can do this after you read the second part of the story as well.

III. Use these words appropriately in the blanks in the sentences below.

The adverbs: apparently, evidently, surprisingly, possibly, hopefully, incredibly, luckily. (Other suitable choices are given in brackets.)

1. ________, he finished his work on time.

Luckily, he finished his work on time. (Surprisingly / Evidently)

2. ________, it will not rain on the day of the match.

Hopefully, it will not rain on the day of the match. (Possibly)

3. ________, he had been stealing money from his employer.

Apparently, he had been stealing money from his employer. (Evidently)

4. Television is ________ to blame for the increase in violence in society.

Television is possibly to blame for the increase in violence in society. (apparently / evidently)

5. The children will ________ learn from their mistakes.

The children will hopefully learn from their mistakes. (possibly)

6. I can't ________ lend you that much money.

I can't possibly lend you that much money.

7. The thief had ________ been watching the house for many days.

The thief had evidently been watching the house for many days. (apparently)

8. The thief ________ escaped by bribing the jailor.

The thief apparently escaped by bribing the jailor. (evidently)

9. ________, no one had suggested this before.

Surprisingly, no one had suggested this before. (Incredibly)

10. The water was ________ hot.

The water was incredibly hot. (surprisingly)