Chapter – 5

The Hundred Dresses – I

In this post, we have given the Important Questions of chapter 5 “The Hundred Dresses – I”. It is the 5th chapter of the prose of Class 10th English.

Board	CBSE Board, UP Board, JAC Board, HBSE Board, UBSE Board, PSEB Board, RBSE Board
Textbook	NCERT
Class	Class 10
Subject	English First Flight
Chapter no.	Chapter 5
Chapter Name	The Hundred Dresses – I
Category	Class 10 English Important Questions
Medium	English

Chapter 5 The Hundred Dresses

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

Answer: Wanda Petronski used to sit on the corner most benches, lost in her world, where rough boys usually sat. She was a very poor, shy and quiet girl and did not want to mess with others so she preferred to sit in isolation.

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

Answer: Wanda lives upon Boggins Heights, where poor people live. It is not a developed area and is covered with mud. There are no proper roads or streets and it is a kind of slum.

Question 3. When and Why do Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence?

Answer: Wanda didn’t come to school on Monday and Tuesday but nobody noticed her absence as she did not have friends in the class. When Peggy and Maddie waited for Wanda to make fun of her after the school was off, they noticed that she was absent, otherwise nobody bothered about her there.

Question 4. What do you think “to have fun with her” means?

Answer: “To have fun with her ” means to laugh at her as it is human tendency to make fun of others imperfections which are mostly about the appearance. Here in the story, Wanda is a source of amusement or pleasure because of her shy nature and her hundred dresses.

Question 5. In what way was Wanda different from the other children?

Answer: Wanda Petronski was a polish girl whose parents had settled down in America. She was a source of fun because of her last name which made her different from others, because Americans did not have such names and it was difficult to pronounce.

She came to school alone and her feet were covered with mud. She preferred to sit alone in the last in the class. She had only one blue dress which was faded but claimed of having a hundred dresses. These qualities make her different from other children.

Question 6. Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said she did?

Answer: Wanda was teased everyday by her classmates after school hours. They used to make fun of her dress and her name. One day tired of all the teasing and taunting, she claimed of having a hundred dresses and sixty pairs of shoes, but nobody believed her.

She was a determined girl and had a great amount of self-confidence. For her number of dresses were not important but the inner talent which had the real value.

Question 7. Why is Maddie embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like Wanda, or is she different?

Answer: Maddie is embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda because she is also poor and understands the mental condition of Wanda. She also wears dresses handed down by rich family. Though, she is an American but she has the same mind-set as Wanda and doesn’t want anyone to tease Wanda because of her dress or her name.

Question 8. Why didn’t Maddie ask Peggy to stop teasing Wanda? What was she afraid of?

Answer: Maddie didn’t ask Peggy to stop teasing Wanda because Peggy was the most popular girl in the school. She was a nice girl but when it came to Wanda she behaved differently, otherwise she helped everyone in trouble. Though, she wants Peggy to stop teasing Wanda, she didn’t ask her to do so as she was afraid of being the next target of such taunts and teasings.

Question 9. Who did Maddie think would win the drawing contest? Why?

Answer: Maddie always believed that Peggy would win the drawing contest as she was good in drawing and everybody in the school loved her. She had a good image and impression on her teachers and classmates. No other girl in the class could draw as well as her. So, Peggy definitely had very good chances of winning the drawing contest according to Maddie.

Question 10. Who won the drawing contest? What had the winner drawn?

Answer: Among the boys, Jack Beggles and among the girls, Wanda Petronski won the drawing contest. To show her determination she did not attend the school for two days and had drawn a • hundred sketches of dresses of different colours.. Each of them was capable to win the contest individually.

Wanda had drawn all the dresses which she had claimed to have had in the class. Everybody was very impressed with her drawing skill and clapped for her.

Answer the Following Questions

Question 1. Justify the title of the story “The Hundred Dresses”.

Answer. Wanda was a gifted painter. She had drawn exquisite hundred designs of beautiful dresses. If she had the fabric she would have made hundred real dresses. That’s why she called them dresses and not designs. She gifts these dresses to the girls. They felt sorry for her. Hence the title is perfectly appropriate.

Question 2. How did the children respond to Wanda’s paintings?

Answer. Children suddenly clapped. Even the boys were glad to have a chance to stamp on the floor and they put their fingers in their mouths and whistled. Peggy and Maddie also appreciated her drawings.

Question 3. In what way was Wanda different from the other children?

Answer. Wanda was an immigrant. She did not talk much. She was very serene and laughed rarely. She was a talented, patient and skilled girl. She used to wear a dull and faded dress.

Question 4. Where did Wanda sit in the classroom and why?

Answer. Wanda felt it comfortable to sit at the back of the class where the noisy rough boys, who got low marks, sat. She did so as she was not well dressed and her feet were dirty, where nobody noticed her.

Question 5. What was unusual about the dress of Wanda?

Answer. Wanda always wore a faded blue dress that didn’t fit her well. It was neat but it was wrinkled all over and required a good ironing. She always wore the same dress. It didn’t looked right.

Question 6. What shows that Peggy was not really cruel?

Answer. Peggy was not really cruel. She protected small children from bullies. Not only this, she cried for hours if she saw an animal being mistreated. But in Wanda’s bullying she never felt that.

Question 7. Why was Maddie sure Peggy would win the dress designing contest?

Answer. Peggy drew designs better than anyone else in the class and could copy a picture of film star’s head with such precision that no one could recognize it from the magazine. Maddie thought that Peggy would win the girls medal.

Question 8. What kind of a girl was Peggy?

Answer. Peggy was the most popular and pretty looking girl. She was a hypocrite as she could be kind at one time and make fun of someone at another time. She made fun of Wanda. But at the same time. She was a good artist, she protected children from bullies, cried when animals were ill treated.

Question 9. How did Wanda win the drawing competition? Did anyone expect her victory?

Answer. Wanda won the drawing competition as she had drawn hundred dresses all different, colourful and exquisite. All of them deserved a prize though nobody expected her victory because in routine, she used to wear the same wrinkled blue faded dress.

Question 10. Why did Maddie feel guilty of herself?

Answer. Maddie felt guilty of herself because she always supported Peggy for fun. She never stopped Peggy for making fun of Wanda. Later, she was remorseful to see the beautiful dresses gifted by Wanda.

Question 11. Why did Wanda’s house remind Maddie of Wanda’s blue dress?

Answer. Maddie was reminded of Wanda’s blue dress after looking at her house because the house and the sparse little yard looked shabby but it was clean like Wanda’s blue dress. The dress Wanda wore was always clean but not ironed yet simple and humble.

Question 12. How can you say that Maddie was different from Peggy?

Answer. Maddie belonged to a poor family. She always wore old clothes. She also felt sympathy for Wanda. Maddie did not like Peggy when she made fun of Wanda. She decided not to mock Wanda at one time.

Question 13. Though Peggy and Maddie made fun of Wanda, she gifted them her special drawings. In the light of this statement write a character sketch of Wanda Petronski.

Answer. Wanda Petronski was a Polish girl at an American School. Her name sounded unfamiliar to the other students who made fun of her name. They also teased her by asking her about her hundred dresses which she claimed she had but wore the same faded blue dress every day, she never felt embarrassed. She was cool headed and tolerant. Others called her a liar but she knew that she was truthful as she did have a hundred dresses but only the drawings not the real ones. Wanda had gifted two of her special drawings to Peggy and Maddie with their faces on the respective drawings. This showed that she liked them in spite of their teasing her. Gifting those drawings to them was also her way of making them realise their mistake. She was a large-hearted, understanding, forgiving, talented and intelligent girl. 

Question 14. What was the effect of the letter of Wanda’s father on Miss Mason? How did Maddie react to it?

Answer. In his letter, Wanda’s father had informed Miss Mason that Wanda would not come to the school any more. They were moving to a big city. In that city, nobody would consider her name funny and laugh at her. There was a deep silence in the class when Miss Mason read the letter. Whatever happened was due to thoughtlessness. It was also unfortunate and sad. She didn’t like that other students had hurt the feelings of Wanda just because she had a name which happened to be a long, unfamiliar one. She wanted everyone to think about it. On the other hand,  addie had a sick feeling. She wanted to regret on her behaviour. She thought that she never wanted to hurt Wanda in this way. It was true that she had never made fun of Wanda herself. But at the same time, she had not
objected Peggy’s asking Wanda about her dresses. She felt that she was a coward.

Question 15. Give the character sketch of Maddie.

Answer. Maddie was the classmate of Peggy and Wanda. She was Peggy’s inseparable friend. Both were always seen together. She used to wear hand-me-down clothes, mostly of Peggy with little innovation. She did not like Peggy’s making fun of Wanda. She felt uncomfortable, perhaps it reminded her of her own poverty. She was not courageous. Once she wrote a note to Peggy asking her to stop teasing Wanda but tore it. She was afraid that Peggy and other girls would make her the next target. She had a very high opinion about Peggy. She thought that Peggy could never do anything wrong and that she would win the art contest. Maddie was sensitive and emotional. Many nights before sleeping she would give imaginary speeches defending Wanda when others teased her. Even she was determined not to tease anybody else and make them unhappy. She didn’t mind losing Peggy’s friendship in doing so.

Thinking about the Text

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

Answer: Wanda is a polish girl who has setded in America with her parents. She lived in Boggin’s Height. She came to school in same faded blue dress everyday with her feet always covered with mud. Her last name is quite funny and difficult to pronounce for her classmates. Her appearance was not perfect to be in a higher class so all the students made fun of her and teased her after the school hours. After being teased over her tolerance she ) claimed to have had a hundred dresses in her closet.

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

Answer: Wanda feels very embarrassed but remains silent in the class. She doesn’t talk to anyone and sits on the back bench with rough boys so that nobody can give attention to her. She is deeply hurt but never complains about it. To avoid their taunts and humiliation, Wanda says that she has a hundred dresses and sixty pairs of matching shoes in her closet. Later on, she draws all of them on paper for the drawing competition.

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

Answer: Peggy is the most popular girl in the class and Maddie is her closest friend. Though, Maddie is poor, Peggy never teases her as she does with Wanda so Maddie is afraid of losing her friendship. That’s why, she does not risk to annoy Peggy and prefers to be silent. The line, “Peggy was the best-liked girl in the whole room. Peggy could not possibly do anything that was really wrong” illustrates this.

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

Answer: Miss Mason is very impressed with Wanda’s drawings. She considers them really beautiful and worthy of winning individually. The children are also impressed by the drawing skills of Wanda that they all applaud and whistle when she wins among the girls.

Thinking about Language

Question 1. Combine the following to make sentences.

• This is the bus (what kind of bus?). It goes to Agra, (use which or that).
• I would like to buy, (a) shirt (which shirt?) (The) shirt is in the shop window, (use which or that)
• You must break your fast at a particular time (when?). You see the moon in the sky. (use when)
• Find a word (what kind of word?). It begins with the letter Z, (use which or that)
• Now find a person (what kind of person ?) His or her name begins with the letter Z. (use whose)
• Then go to a place (what place?). There are no people whose name begins with Z in that place, (use where)

Answers:

• This is the bus that goes to Agra.
• I would like to buy a shirt that is in the shop window.
• You must break your fast at a particular time when you see the moon in the sky.
• Find a word that begins with letter Z.
• Now find a person whose name begins with letter Z.
• Then go to a place where there are no people whose name begins with letter Z.

Question 2. The Narrative Voice Here are two other sentences from the story. Can you say whose point of view the italicised words express?

• But on Wednesday, Peggy and Maddie, who sat down in 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.
• 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.

Answer:

• The italicised words express the point of view of Peggy and Maddie.
• These italicised words express the point of view of other children of Wandas’ class excluding Peggy and Maddie.

Question 3. Other such adverbs are apparently, evidently, surprisingly, possibly, hopefully, incredibly, luckily. Use these words appropriately in the blanks in the sentences below. (You may use a word more than once and more than one word may be appropriate for a given blank.)

• ____, he finished his work on time.
• ____, it will not rain on the day of the match.
• ____, he had been stealing money from his employer.
• Television is ____ to blame for the increase in violence in society,
• The children will ____ learn from their mistakes.
• I can’t ____ lend you that much money.
• The thief had ____ been watching the house for many days.
• The thief ____ escaped by bribing the jailor.
• ____no one had suggested this before.
• The water was ____hot.

Answers:

• Surprisingly
• Hopefully
• Possibly
• evidendy
• hopefully
• possibly
• apparendy
• luckily
• Incredibly
• incredibly

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