Chapter 5 The Hundred Dresses Part 1 Important Questions Class 10 First Flight English
Very Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What was strange about Wanda’s name?
Answer
She had a long name which was a funny one.
Question 2. How did Peggy treat Wanda?
Answer
Peggy made fun of Wanda by asking her how many dresses she had.
Question 3. Who was Peggy’s best friend?
Answer
Maddie was Peggy’s best friend.
Question 4. How did Peggy react when she saw an animal mistreated?
Answer
When Peggy saw an animal mistreated, she would cry for hours.
Question 5. Why did Maddie feel embarrassed?
Answer
Maddie did not like Peggy to make fun of Wanda.
Question 6. What kind of dress did Wanda wear?
Answer
She always wore a faded blue dress.
Question 7. What was the attitude of the other children toward Wanda?
Answer
They often made fun of her.
Question 8. What fun did Peggy start?
Answer
Peggy used to ask Wanda mockingly how many dresses she had.
Question 9. Who was Miss Mason?
Answer
She was Peggy’s class teacher.
Question 10. How many designs were made by Wanda?
Answer
There were a hundred designs made by Wanda.
Question 11. Where did Wanda Petronski live?
Answer
She lived at Boggins Heights.
Question 12. What was Maddie afraid of?
Answer
Maddie was afraid that she could be the next target of Peggy.
Question 13. What type of the students used to sit near Wanda?
Answer
Rough boys and girls who did not make good marks.
Question 14. Where did Wanda use to sit in the class?
Answer
She used to sit in the seat next to the last.
Question 15. Where did she usually sit?
Answer
She usually sat in the comer next to the last seat in the last row.
Question 16. Why were Wanda’s shoes always mud caked?
Answer
Wanda’s shoes were always mud caked because she had to go on foot all the way from Boggins Height to the school.
Question 17. Why did they use to wait for Wanda?
Answer
They used to wait for her to have some fun.
Question 18. What was Wanda’s response to Peggy’s question about dresses?
Answer
She said that she had one hundred dresses, all lined up in her closet.
Question 19. Who asked Wanda about her dresses?
Answer
Peggy asked Wanda about her dresses.
Short Answer Type Questions
Question 1. What kind of a girl was Peggy?
Answer
Peggy was the most attractive and intelligent girl. She was very sentimental. She couldn’t bear an animal to be hurt and protected small children from bullies, but towards Wanda, she had a different attitude.
Question 2. How does everyone in the class react to Wanda’s drawing?
Answer
Everyone clapped after having a look of Wanda’s drawing. Even the boys who were not interested in drawing applauded and whistled at the taw-dropping sketches that Wanda had made of the hundred dresses she claimed to have.
Question 3. How would Wanda react to being made fun of her by Peggy and Maddie?
Answer
Wanda knew that Peggy and Maddie would make fun of her. Wanda would move up the street. Her eyes were dull and her mouth was closed. It was because of insults. She hitched her left shoulder every now and then in a funny way. She would finish the walk to school alone. She remained serious. Perhaps she had no American friend.
Question 4. Why did Maddie tear her note to Peggy which she had started to write to stop teasing Wanda?
Answer
Maddie felt it bad that Peggy was making fun of Wanda. She wished Peggy would secede of her own will to stop teasing Wanda. It was because Peggy was the best-liked girl in the whole room. She hoped that Peggy could not possibly do anything that was really wrong. But she didn’t send her note to Peggy.
Question 5. Where in the classroom does Wanda sit and why?
Answer
Wanda used to sit in the penultimate row of benches. She was from an immigrant colony and was from a poor family. Moreover, she seems to be a quiet person engrossed in her own world. She doesn’t like to mess with anybody. That is why she sits isolated from the main group of girls.
Question 6. Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said she did?
Answer
Wanda seems to be a determined girl. She is having a great amount of self-confidence. She has guts to dream that is why she tells of having a hundred dresses. For her number of dresses is not important. It is the inner talent which is of real value.
Question 7. How is Wanda seen as different by the other girls? How do they treat her?
Answer
Wanda is seen as someone with a funny name and accent. In totality, other girls see Wanda as a strange creature which is entirely different and inferior from them. They treat Wanda as someone who should be made fun of.
Question 8. How does Wanda feel about the dresses game? Why does she say that she has a hundred dresses?
Answer
It is difficult to guess because of stoic face which Wanda maintains during the dresses game. But it can be assumed that like all normal people, Wanda may not be feeling good at being humiliated. Her reply is a way to tell other girls that she is made of tough nerves and can withstand such stupidity.
Question 9. Why didn’t Maddie like Peggy asking Wanda how many dresses, hats and shoes she had? How did she feel at such times?
Answer
Maddie was quite poor. She depended on Peggy’s generosity who handed down her old clothes to her. However, she didn’t like Peggy embarrassing Wanda by asking uncomfortable questions related to her dresses and shoes. She couldn’t stand up against her closest friend and benefactor Peggy. She wished Peggy would not ask such embarrassing questions.
Question 10. Who won the drawing contest? What had the winner drawn?
Answer
The drawing contest was won by Wanda Petronski. There were drawings all over the room in dazzling colours. They were very brilliant and had lavish designs. For Wanda’s work, she was given a medal and applauses.
Question 11. What did they think about Wanda and why? Wanda’s classmates
Answer
Generally, particularly girls usually didn’t notice Wanda’s presence or absence in the class. Only outside the school when they came to school or went home they would talk to her. They would be talking and laughing on their way to the schoolyard. Girls like Peggy would ask mockingly how many dresses Wanda had lined up in her closet. They spoke politely but only to make fun of her.
Question 12. Maddie wrote a note for Peggy but she tore it away. Why?
Answer
Maddie wanted that Peggy should stop teasing and making fun of Wanda. So she wrote a note to Peggy. But she lacked the courage to give that note to Peggy fearing lest she should lose Peggy’s friendship. So she tore the note.
Question 13. Why is Maddie embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like Wanda, or is she different?
Answer
Peggy always makes fun of Wanda by asking her how many dresses and shoes she had. She was amused when Wanda told that she had hundred dresses and sixty pairs of shoes. Maddie was also a poor girl and used to wear old clothes given by others. Peggy’s questions to Wanda used to embarrass Maddie. She was not like Wanda. She did not have a funny name. She did not live in a slum colony.
Question 14. Why did children make fun of Wanda?
Answer
Children made fun of Wanda because she had a funny name. And also because she came to school wearing the same faded blue dress although she claimed she had a hundred dresses, all of the different designs, colours and a variety of clothes i.e. silk and velvet.
Question 15. Why was Maddie sure Peggy would win the dress designing contest?
Answer
Maddie was sure that Peggy would win the dress designing contest because according to her, and everyone in the class, Peggy was the best artist in class.
Question 16. Why did Maddie and other girls think that Peggy would win the drawing and colouring competition?
Answer
Not only Maddie but others also believed that Peggy would win the drawing and colouring competition. Peggy drew better than anyone else in the class. She could copy a picture of some film star’s head in a magazine. Moreover, Wanda’s skills in drawing and designing had not been revealed yet.
Question 17. Where did Wanda Petronski use to sit?
Answer
Wanda Petronski used to sit in the seat next to the last seat in the last row in the corner of the room thirteen where the rough boys who did not get good marks sat.
Question 18. How did Peggy, Maddie and other girls react to Wanda’s drawing winning the girls’ medal in the drawing and colouring contest? Did the boys react differently?
Answer
All applauded when Wanda was announced as the winner of the girls’ medal. All of them filed around the room to look at the paintings. Maddie showed Peggy one beautiful blue dress that Wanda told them about. Peggy was surprised to see the green one she used to talk about. The boys were not interested in dresses but found time for enjoying and whistling.
Question 19. How did the children react when Wanda was declared winner of the contest?
Answer
The children suddenly and spontaneously clapped hands. Even the boys were glad to have a chance to stamp on the floor. They put their fingers in their mouths and whistled, though they were not interested in dresses.
Question 20. How did Peggy and Maddie try to amend their behaviour towards Wanda?
Answer
Both Peggy and Maddie felt guilty for their behaviour towards Wanda. Maddie felt very sad to know that Wanda and her family were leaving the town. Both of them wrote a friendly letter to Wanda telling her that she had won the contest. They asked her if she liked the place where she was living. They wanted to say sorry to her.
Question 21. What kind of girl was Wanda? Where did she usually sit in the class?
Answer
Wanda was a quiet girl who rarely laughed out loud. She didn’t have any friends and always come to school, and went home alone. She usually sat in the corner of the room, where those who didn’t get good marks sat, and which was the noisiest and dirtiest area in the room.
Question 22. How does Wanda feel about the dresses game? Why does she say that she has a hundred dresses?
Answer
Wanda Petronski does not like the game of the dresses. The students bother her for the dresses. Wanda makes up the story about the dresses to show her taste. In the end she arranges hundreds of dress designs in the classroom and she is declared as the winner.
Question 23. Why did Maddie write a note to Peggy and then tore it?
Answer
Maddie wanted Peggy to stop teasing Wanda. She thought it was cruel. She could not dare to say all this verbally so she wrote a note to Peggy. But then she pictured herself as a new target for Peggy and other girls, making fun of her for wearing hand-me-down clothes. She shuddered and tore the note.
Question 24. Why did Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence?
Answer
They noticed that Wanda was absent because she had made them late to school. They had waited for her to have some fun.
Question 25. How can you say that Peggy was a soft girl?
Answer
Peggy was not really cruel. She protected smaller children from bullies. If she saw an animal mistreated, she would cry for hours.
Question 25. What does Miss Mason think of Wanda’s drawings? What do the children think of them? How do you know?
Answer
Miss Mason thinks that the drawings of Wanda were the best in the entire Room Thirteen. These were put up everywhere in the room. They were in dazzling colours and lavish designs. They must have been a hundred of them all lined up. The children stopped to look at them. They whistled and admired this marvellous work of art.
Question 26. Was Peggy really cruel? Why did she make fun of Wanda Petronski by asking questions about her dresses and shoes?
Answer
No, Peggy was not really cruel. She protected small children from bullies she cried for hours if she saw an animal mistreated. But in Wanda’s case, she thought differently. She thought that Wanda was telling a lie about her hundred dresses and sixty pairs of shoes. She had always seen Wanda wearing a faded blue dress. Moreover, she didn’t like the place, Boggins Heights where Wanda lived. She also found the Polish name Wanda Petronski rather difficult and funny.
Question 27. Why did Maddie think of writing a letter to Peggy? Why did she tear it into bits?
Answer
Maddie didn’t like Peggy teasing Wanda Petronski. But she could not muster up the courage to say it to Peggy. Peggy was her closest friend. She gave her old clothes to Maddie. So, she thought of writing a letter asking Peggy not to tease Wanda again. But Maddie tore into bits the letter she had started. She thought that Peggy could not possibly do anything that was really wrong.
Question 28. How did Peggy make fun of Wanda Petronski?
Answer
Peggy would wait to make fun of Wanda at school. She would most courteously ask her, how many dresses she had hanging in her closet. Wanda would reply that there were a hundred. Peggy would then ask about the dress material, and when Wanda walked away, would burst into laughter, sarcastically making fun of her.
Question 29. In what way was Wanda different from the other children?
Answer
Wanda was different from the other children. She was a poor girl. She did not have many friends, she did not have many dresses. She was very quiet and rarely said anything at all. And nobody had ever heard her laugh out loud.
Question 30. What was the opinion of the judges about Wanda?
Answer
Wanda had drawn one hundred designs of dresses, which were all different and all beautiful. In the Opinion of the judges, any one of the drawings was worthy of winning the prize. So she was declared the winner of the girl medal.
Question 31. What did her classmates and Maddie think about Peggy?
Answer
Peggy was decided by the most popular girl in the class. She was pretty. She had many pretty clothes. Her hair was curly they thought that she could draw better than other girls. She handed down her old clothes to her closest friend Maddie. Maddie wished that Peggy would not embarrass Wanda by asking uncomfortable questions about her dresses and shoes.
Question 32. Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said she did?
Answer
Wanda Petronski did not have a hundred dresses. She used to say that they were all lined up in closet. Wanda was not an ordinary person. She said so to arouse curiosity and she did. She had creative tastes.
Question 33. Why did Peggy and Maddie stop short and gasp when they entered the classroom?
Answer
The moment they entered the classroom, Peggy and Maddie stopped short and gasped as there were drawings all over the room. Even every ledge and windowsill had them. There were designs with dazzling colours. They were drawn on wrapping paper. More than a hundred of them were there all lined up all over the room.
Question 34. 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?)
Answer
Maddie does not want that Peggy should make fun of Wanda for her dresses and she thought Peggy would decide of her own accord to stop having fun with Wanda. She is different from Peggy. She wears old clothes while Peggy has her own dress. Peggy’s friendship was important to Maddie. She was her best friend. The following line says, “Peggy was the best liked girl in the whole room. Peggy could not possibly do anything that was really wrong.”
Long Answer Type Questions
Question 1. Write the character sketch of Wanda Petronski.
Answer
Wanda Petronski is a polish girl who has shifted in America from Poland with her parents. She is very poor and lives up on Boggins Heights. She is very shy and quiet. She does not talk to anyone. She has no friends and sits in the last row of the class with some naughty boys so that nobody notices her. She wears the same faded blue dress everyday which is not ironed but clean. Everybody teases her in her class. In anger, she claims of having a hundred dresses and sixty pair of shoes at home. She- is very determined and shows her determination in the drawing competition by displaying the hundred sketches of dresses she claims to own. Each of them was so beautiful, that she wins the competition and surpasses Peggy.
Question 2. “The Hundred Dresses-I” is about teasing Wanda. It also borders on ragging and racism indirectly. Describe how does it affect you and how do you evaluate it?
Answer
The story ‘The Hundred Dresses-I’ is really all about teasing of Wanda being polish and having a strange name. They made fun of Wanda and made her feel inferior by asking her about her dresses. Their behaviour towards Wanda was completely undesirable as it shows racism and ragging. These are totally condemnable issues in the society which cannot be accepted.
Peggy and Maddie never thought of Wanda’s feelings and continued teasing her but her selection as a winner shows that colour, prejudice or racism are not the parameter of talent as everybody clapped for her drawings.
Question 3. It disturbs you that Peggy and Maddie make fun of Wanda. You don’t like it. You decide to speak about this as weak, ugly or poor. Write a speech to express your thoughts.
Answer
Dear friends, Today I would like to express my thoughts about the issue of making fun of the students who are weak, ugly or poor by those who are bit superior to them in these aspects. But I would like to fetch your attention that being ugly or poor is not a personal choice or fault. God creates us with different qualities and we should see those qualities in others too. One may be poor or physically unattractive but he/she may have better qualities or skill than us. As in the story, Wanda Petronski is better than Peggy and Maddie in her creativity or drawing.
I hope we all give respect to one another and do not judge anyone on the basis of their monetary status or physical colour. Let us all be encouraging human beings helping and uplifting other human beings.
Question 4. 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 5. 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 6. What do you know about Maddie?
Answer
Maddie was one of the classmates of Wanda. She was Peggy’s best friend. Maddie herself was a poor girl. She used to wear clothes given by other persons. So she was sympathetic to Wanda. She and Peggy were fast friends. That is why she never said anything when Peggy made fun of Wanda. But she herself never laughed at Wanda. She did not like Peggy’s asking Wanda about the dresses. Whenever Peggy mocked at Wanda, Maddie felt bad. She wished that Peggy would stop teasing Wanda Petronski. Maddie decided to write a note for Peggy asking her to stop making fun of Wanda but she could not muster the courage to give the note to her.
Question 7. What made Maddie feel uncomfortable and uneasy when Peggy and other girls made fun of Wanda Petronski?
Answer
Peggy and other girls used to make fun of Wanda by asking her about her hundred dresses. In fact, Wanda said that she had a hundred dresses but wore the same faded blue dress every day. Maddie who was herself poor and wore hand-me-down clothes mostly of Peggy with a little alteration, felt uncomfortable when others teased Wanda. Perhaps it reminded her of her own poverty. She could not see Wanda in that miserable condition. She thought it was cruel to make fun of anyone’s poverty. She used to feel uneasy but remained a silent spectator. She feared that if she opposed she could be the next target.
Question 8. What did Peggy and other girls think about Wanda Petronski? How was she different from other girls?
Answer
Peggy and other girls hardly noticed Wanda Petronski’s presence or absence in the class. Wanda sat in the seat next to the last seat in the last row in the class. Only ‘rough boys’ who never got good marks and made a lot of noise sat in that corner. A lot of dirt and mud could be found on the floor there. Nobody knew why she sat there. Perhaps she lived at Boggins Heights and brought a lot of dry mud with her from there. Girls found her coming to school and going home alone. She had no friends.
Peggy, Maddie and others talked to Wanda only when she was outside the class. Peggy particularly enjoyed having fun with her. In mocking tone, she teased Wanda asking her uncomfortable questions about her hundred dresses and sixty pairs of shoes No one believed that a poor girl who usually wore a faded blue d9ess could have a hundred dresses. Peggy thought that Wanda was telling a lie. So, she teased her by asking such embarrassing questions about her dresses. Maddie was different. She didn’t like Peggy making fun of Wanda. She wished Peggy would stop teasing Wanda in that manner.
Question 9. What was the drawing and colouring contest? Who was the favourite and who won the girls’ medal in the contest? How did it affect boys and girls in the class?
Answer
The class organised a drawing and colouring contest for boys and girls separately. For girls, the contest consisted of designing dresses. For boys, the contest consisted of designing motorboats. Everyone thought that Peggie would win the prize among girls. She drew better than anyone else in the class. She could copy a picture in a magazine. She could draw the head of some film star and anyone could tell who it was. Maddie was sure that Peggy would win.
The next day when Peggy and Maddie entered the room, they were highly surprised. There were drawings all over the room. As soon as the class assembled, the teacher, Miss Mason announced the winners. Jack Beagles had won for the boys. For the girls, most of them had sent one or two sketches. Only one girl submitted a hundred drawings. They were all of different designs and colours. In the opinion of the judges, any one of the drawings was worthy of winning the prize. Wanda Petronski was declared the winner of the girls’ medal. Miss Mason was sad that Wanda was not in the class to receive the honour. The students filed around the room to look at the drawings. The boys were not interested in dresses. They enjoyed the occasion by whistling. Peggy and Maddie could spot the blue and green dresses there which Wanda used to talk about.
Question 10. Maddie loathed the business of asking Wanda about her dresses but she found it difficult to stop Peggy to do so. Why could she not stop Peggy? Was she afraid of losing the friendship of Peggy? Write about the values one must possess in a true friendship in about 100-120 words.
Answer
Meddle did not approve of Peggy’s teasing of Wanda because she was as poor as Wanda was. But she could not stop Peggy as she did not have the courage to do so because Peggy was her best friend and thought that if she asked her to do so she might lose her friendship. Secondly, she thought that once the students stop teasing Wanda. they might ask her similar questions. I think a true friend should stop his/her friend from doing wrong things. She should guide him/her in the right direction.
Question 11. When did Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence from school?
Answer
Wanda did not come to school on Monday. But nobody noticed her. She did not come on Tuesday also. But when she missed the school on Wednesday also. Peggy and Middie noted her absence. They wondered why she had not come to school. Maddie remembered Wanda talking about one of her dresses which was pale blue with coloured trimmings. Then Maddie thought about the drawing and colour contest in the school. The girls were to design dresses and the boys were to design motorboats. Muddle thought that Peggy would win the contest as she was very good at design.
Question 12. Who were Peggy and Maddie? How did they and other girls make fun of Wanda?
Answer
Peggy and Maddie were the two classmates of Wanda. Peggy was the most popular girl in the school. She was pretty and had curly hair. She belonged to a rich family. She had many pretty clothes. Maddie was her closest friend. Peggy and Maddie were not bad girls but they used to have some fun with Wanda Petronski. The students in Wanda’s class found her name funny.
Wanda was always alone in her class. Peggy made fun of Wanda and asked her how many dresses she had in her closet. Wanda replied that she had one hundred dresses. Then Peggy would ask her whether the dresses were of silk or velvet. Wanda would reply that she dresses of velvet as well as silk. The girls would ask her how many pairs of shoes she had. At this Wanda would tell them that she had sixty pairs of shoes. The girls would suppress their laugh while talking to her. But as soon as Wanda’s back was turned, they would burst into peals of laughter.
Question 13. Describe the scene where Wanda’s dress drawings are displayed? Who won the drawing contest for the girls?
Answer
The next day it was drizzling. Peggy and Maddie hurried to their school as Miss Mason would announce the results of the drawing contest. They did not wait for Wanda. When the girls reached their school they were surprised. There were hundreds of designs of dresses displayed in the room. Then Miss Mason announced the names of the winners. Jack Beagles had won for the boys. She said that all the hundred designs of dresses had been made by one girl and she had won the Medal. Her name was Wanda Petronski. But Wanda was absent. The children clapped their hands in joy. Maddie asked Peggy to look at the blue dress about which Wanda had told them earlier. They appreciated the drawings made by Wanda.
Question 14. Compare and contrast two friends, Peggy and Maddie. Why couldn’t Maddie stop Peggy from teasing Wanda Petronski?
Answer
Peggy and Maddie were two close friends. They came from two different financial and cultural backgrounds. Peggy was pretty. She had many pretty clothes. Her hair was curly. Madeline or Maddie, on the other hand, belonged to a poor family. Peggie used to hand down her old clothes to Maddie. Maddie’s mother tried to disguise those old clothes with new trimmings. She did it so that her classmates would not recognise them. Peggy was the most popular girl in the class. Both of them sat in the front row where only those who got good marks sat. Peggy was very good at drawing. Everybody thought that Peggy would win the girls’ medal in the drawing and colouring competition.
Maddie knew that Peggy was not really cruel. She protected small children from bullies. But in the case of Wanda, she was different. She teased and embarrassed her by asking uncomfortable questions about her hundred dresses. Maddie wished Peggy would stop teasing Wanda. She couldn’t muster the courage to stop her from doing so. Being a poor girl, she realised that one day she could become a target of Peggy and other girls. But Maddie became helpless before her closest friend and benefactor, Peggy.
Question 15. How did the girls know that Wanda liked them even though they had teased her?
Answer
The girls came to know that Wanda liked them even though they had teased her as she had asked Miss Mason to give the green dress with red trimming to Peggy and the blue one to Maddie. Later when Maddie looked at the drawing very carefully, she realized that the dress had a face and a head, which looked like her own self. The head and face in the drawing given to Peggy looked just like Peggy. That is why the girls knew that Wanda liked them even though they had teased her.