Jharkhand Board Class 10 English Notes | The Hundred Dresses – I Solutions Chapter 5
5. The Hundred Dresses – I ―El Bsor Ester
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Questions on Extract
Read the following passages and answer the questions that
follow each:
Extract-1. The next day, Tuesday, Wanda was not in school,
either. And nobody noticed her absence again.
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. Peggy
was the most popular girl in school. She was pretty, she had many
pretty clothes and her hair was curly. Maddie was her closest
friend. The reason Peggy and Maddie noticed Wanda's absence
was because Wanda had made them late to school. They had
waited and waited for Wanda, to have some fun with her, and she
just hadn't come. They often waited for Wanda Petronski ― to
have fun with her.
Q. (a) Why didn't Peggy and Maddie track in a whole lot of
mud?
(b) Why were Wanda's shoes caked with mud?
(c) Why were Peggy and Maddie late from school on some
days?
(d) What did Peggy and Maddie do with Wanda?
(e) Find a word from the passage which means 'walk'.
Ans.(a) Peggie and Maddie didn't track in a whole lot of
mud because they lived in a place where there were no muddy
roads.
(b) Wanda's shoes were caked with mud because she lived in
a place which was full of mud.
(c) Peggy and Maddie often waited for Wanda to make fun
of her. Some days, when Wanda reached the school late, they
were also late from school.
(d) They made tun of Wanda by asking mocking questions
about her dress or shoes and laughing at her.
(e) 'track.
Extract-2. Peggy was no really cruel. She protected small
children from bullies. And she cried for hours if she saw an animal
mistreated. If anybody had said to her, "Don't you think that is a
cruel way to treat Wanda ? She would have been very surprised.
Cruel? Why did the girl say she had a hundred dresses? Anybody
could tell that that was a lie. Why did she want to lie? And she
wasn't just an ordinary person, else why did she have a name like
that? Anyway, they never made her cry.
As for Maddie, this business of asking Wanda every day how
many dresses and how many hats, and how many this and that she
had was bothering her. Maddie was poor herself. She usually
wore somebody's hand-me-down clothes. Thank goodness, she
didn't live up on Boggins Heights or have a funny name.
Q. (a) How would Peggy react if someone said that she was
cruel towards Wanda?
(b) What kind of a girl was Wanda in the eyes of Peggy
and Maddie?
(c) What was bothering Maddie?
(d) How do you know that Maddie was also poor?
(e) Find a word from the passage which means 'people
who frighten weaker persons'.
Ans. (a) peggy would react by saying why wanda used to fell
a lie that she had a hundred dresses in her closet.
(b) In the eyes of Peggy and Maddie, Wanda wasn't just an
ordinary person. Her name "Wanda' was not ordinary for them.
(c) Peggy's asking Wanda how many dresses and hats she
had was bothering Maddie.
(d) Maddie also wore Peggy's hand-me-down clothes. This
gives an indication that she was also poor.
(e) bullies
Extract-3. A deep silence met the reading of this letter. Miss
Mason took off her glasses, blew, on them and wiped them on her
soft white handkerchief. Then she put them on again and looked
at the class. When she spoke her voice was very low.
"I am sure that none of the boys and girls in Room Thirteen
would purposely and deliberately hurt anyone's feelings because
his or her name happened to be a long, unfamiliar one. I prefer to
think that what was said was said in thoughtlessness. I know that
all of you feel the way I do, that this is a very unfortunate thing to
have happened ― unfortunate and sad, both. And I want you all
to think about it."
Q. (a) How did Miss Mason behave after reading the letter?
(b) What did Miss Mason feel about the hurting of anyone's
feelings?
(c) What did she call that happening which occurred
'in thoughtlessness'?
(d) What advice did she give to the class?
(e) Find a word from the passage which means 'removed'.
(f) What did Mr Petronski's letter say?
(g) Was Miss Mason angry with the class, or was she
unhappy and upset?
Ans.(a) Miss Mason was very sad about her studentss conduct.
She was upset and spoke to the students in a very low voice.
(b) She felt that whatever was said was not said purposely
and deliberately. It was said in thoughtlessness.
(c) She called the incident as 'unfortunate and sad'.
(d) She advised the class to think about the incident and be
careful, so that no ones feelings are hurt.
(e) took off.
(f) Mr. Petronski's letter said that Wanda would not corne to
school anymore. Now they were moving to a big city where no
one would ask about her funny name.
(g) Miss Mason was not angry with the class. She looked
very upset. She was not happy with the incident.
Extract-4. The minute they entered the classroom, they
stopped short and gasped. There were drawings all over the room,
on every ledge and windowsill, dazzing colours and brilliant, lavish
designs, all drawn on great sheet of wrapping paper. There must
have been a hundred of them, all lined up. These must be the
drawings for the contest. They were ! Everybody stopped and
whistled or murmured admiringly.
As soon as the class had assembled, Miss Mason announced
the winners, Jack Beggles had won for the boys, she said and his
design for an outboard motor was on exhibition in Room Twelve,
alongwith the sketches by all the other boys. [JAC 2013(A)]
Q. (i) Who entered the classroom? 1
(ii) What was there all over the room? 1
(iii) Whose drawings were there? 1
(iv) Why would everybody stop? 1
(v) Trace a word that meant grand 1
Ans.(i) Maddie and Peggy entered the room.
(ii) There were decent and dazzling dawings all over the room.
(iii) These drawings were of Wanda Petronski.
(iv) Everybody would stop to see the dazzling beauty of the
drawings.
(v) Grand―Lavish.
Extract-5. She went home and she pinned her drawing over
a torn place in the pink flowered wallpaper in the bedroom. The
shabby room came alive from the brilliancy of the colours.
Maddie down on her bad and looked at the drawing. She had
stood by and said nothing, but Wanda had been nice to her,
anyway. Tears blurred her eyes and she gazed for a long time at
the picture. Then hastily she rubbed her eyes and studied it
intently. The colours in the dress were so vivid that she had scarcely
noticed the face and head of the drawing. But it looked tike her,
Maddie ! It really looked like her own mouth. Why it really looked
like her own self! Wanda had really drawn this for her. Excitedly,
she ran over to Peggy's,
Q. (a) What happened when Maddie pinned her drawing in the room?
(b) What did Maddie do after doing so ?
(c) What did Maddie do when tears blurred her eyes?
(d) What did she look at in the drawing when she studied it
intently?
(e) Find a word from the passage which means 'keenly.
Ans.(a) When Maddie pinned her drawing in the room the
entire room came alive from the brightness of the colours, which
Wanda had used in her drawing.
(b) Maddy gazed at the drawing for a long time and studied
it intently.
(c) She rubbed her eyes and studied the picture intently.
(d) She noticed the face and head drawn in the picture. She
was amazed to see that it looked like her own face.
(e) 'intently'.
Long Type Questions and Answer
Q. 1. How is Wanda seen as different by the other girls?
How do they treat her?
Or, In what way was Wanda different from other children?
Ans. Wanda is different from other girls in many ways. Her
name, Wanda Petronski is long, different and difficult as compared
to the general and easy names of other students like Peggy, Smith,
Thomas, etc. Wanda is very poor. She has only one faded dress-
which she wears daily. It is clean but not properly ironed and does
not fit her well. Wanda is also different from other students because
she does not mix up with them. She remains silent and hardly says
anything.
The other students, particularly Peggy target her for fun. They
ask her mocking questions like how many dresses, pairs of shoes,
etc. she has. They surround her and burst into laughter when she
goes away.
Q. 2. Where in the classroom did Wanda sit? What kind of
a place was this? Why did she sit there?
Ans. Wanda usually sat in the next to the last seat in the last
row in the Room Thirteen. This was the comer of the room where
the rough boys of the class sat. They did not make good marks.
They created noise by scuffling of their feet and laughing heavily
on funny things.
She sat there because her feet were always caked with mud.
She was always quiet. Secondly, she sat in the last row because
she did not have any friends. She was a poor Polish girl among
well to do American boys and girls. Other students found her
strange and made fun of her.
Wanda did not sit there because she was rough and noisy. On
the contrary, she was very quiet and rarely said anything at all.
And nobody had ever heard her laugh out loud. Sometimes she
twisted her mouth into a crooked sort of smile, but that was all.
Q. 3. What kind of girls were Peggy and Maddic? What did
they do to Wanda?
Or, Bring out the contrast between two friends Peggy and
Maddie.
Ans. Peggy and Maddie were very good friends. They studied
in the same class in Room Thirteen. Both of them used to make
fun of Wanda Petronski.
Peggy was a pretty girl with curly hair. She was very popular
among the girls. She was rich and had many beautiful dresses. But
Peggy was not sensitive. She made fun of Wanda. She did not care
about Wanda's feelings while making fun of her. She was carefree.
When Wanda did not reply the letter for a long time, she started
forgetting her.
Maddie, on the other hand, was a poor girl. She was sensitive
and emotional. She did not like Peggy's making fun of Wanda.
She wrote a note to ask Peggy stop teasing Wanda. But she tore
the note as she did not want to lose Peggy's friendship. Maddie
valued her friendship with Peggy very much. Peggy did not seem
to bother much.
Q. 4. How does Wanda feel about the dresses game? Why
does she say that she has a hundred dresses?
Ans. Wanda does not feel good about the dresses game. Peggy
and other students try to make fun of her. Peggy asks her mocking
questions on her dresses, asking her, how many-dresses she has.
She does not want to talk about it and sits in a comer of the room.
She says that she has hundred dresses. They are all colourful
and beautiful. They are made of rich and expensive cloth like silk
and velvet. She She says so, because she has the drawings of hundred
dresses. Otherwise, she is a poor girl who wears old, faded clothes.
Q. 5. Was Miss Mason angry with the class, or was she
unhappy and upset ?
Ans. Miss Mason was not angry with the class. She looked
very upset. She was unhappy with the incident. She was very sad
about her students' conduct. She was upset and spoke to the
students in a very low voce.
She called the incident as 'unfortunate and sad'. She advised
the class to think about the incident and be careful, so that no
ones feelings are hurt.
Q. 6. How did Maddie feel after listening to the note from
Wanda's father?
Ans. Maddie felt very sad. She could not put her mind on her
work. She had a very sick feeling in the bottom of her stomach.
She regretted at what had happened. She wondered if she could
do anything to repair. She knew honestly that she was not a part
of dress episode. She disliked listening to Peggy ask Wanda about
how many dresses she had and teasing her. But she felt guilty that
she never fried to stop peggy. She felt she acted like a coward. She
wanted to tell Wanda that she never meant to hurt her feelings.
She decided to find Wanda with a hope that she had not yet
moved away from the town. She wanted to tell Wanda that
had won the contest. She also wanted to convey her feelings
towards Wanda said that she was smart and the hundred dresses
were beautiful.
Q. 7. Why do you think Wanda gave Maddie and Peggy the
drawings of the dresses? Why are they surprised?
Ans. Wanda wrote in her letter that the drawing of the green
dress with red trimming to Peggy and the blue one to Maddie. She
gave these to them because she wanted to show what she had no
ill-will against the girls even if they had been teasing her. And
ultimately they had felt sorry for that. When the girls looked at
the pictures, they were surprised to see that Wanda had drawn
their faces in the drawings. It meant that she really liked her.
Q. 8. What did Maddie and Peggy write in the letter to
Wanda?
Ans. Maddie and Peggy went to Wanda's house to say sorry
but she had already moved to another city. Therefore, they wrote
a letter to Wanda. In the letter they wrote that she had won the
girls medal in the drawing contest and that her drawings were
very pretty. They asked her if she liked the new city and the new
teacher. Peggy and Maddie wanted to say sorry but ended up
writing a friendly letter.
Q.9. What kind of girls were Peggy and Maddic? What
did they do to Wanda?
Ans. Both Peggy and Maddie were American and fast friends.
They sat down in front row with other children who got good
marks. Peggy was the most popular girl in school. She was pretty.
She had many pretty clothes. Her hair was curly. Maddie was her
closest friend. Peggy used to make fun of Wanda because of her
poor dress. She waited for Wanda to make fun of her. This made
them late from school. Maddie stood by Peggy while she mocked
at Wanda. Maddie didn't make fun of her. But she didn't have the
courage to speak to Peggy not to do that to Wanda. Maddie was
also poor. She was afraid of asking Peggy to stop doing that to
Wanda. So she decided to write a note about it to Peggy.
Q. 10. How did Peggy make fun of Wanda? How did
Wanda react to that?
Or, Describe the scene in which Peggy made fun of Wanda.
Ans. Peggy always mocked at Wanda due to her only one
dress. Wanda wore it daily. It was clean. But it looked as though it
had never been ironed properly. Peggy would push Maddie gently
and ask Wanda to tell them how many dresses she had hanging up
in her closet. Wanda would reply 'a hundred'. The other girls
listening to that reply would show amazement. They would stop
playing. Wanda would draw her thin lips together in silence. Peggy
would then ask what those dresses were like. Wanda would reply
"all silk, all colours, velvet". All were lined up in her closet, she
would say. She would also say that she had sixty pairs of shoes.
Wanda did not show any emotion. All the girls would burst into
shricks and peals of laughter.
Q. 11. How did Maddie react to Peggy's mocking Wanda?
What did she decide to do?
Ans. Maddie was poor like Wanda. She did not like Peggy's
making fun of Wanda. But she did not have the courage to ask her
to stop all that. Maddie felt ashamed when Peggy mocked at Wanda.
She did not feel sorry for Wanda. Actually if Peggy had not
invented the dresses game, Maddie would not have paid any
attention to her. She felt that if such a question was raised to her,
she would have more sense than say had a hundred dresses. She
wished Peggy would stop teasing Wanda. She finished her
arithmetic and started writing a note to Peggy. But she paused.
She felt that Peggy would find a new target of mocking in her. She
tore the note bits. She wanted to ask Peggy not to mock at Wanda
through that note.
Q. 12. What was the drawing and colour contest? Who
was expected to win it but who actually won it? How did Miss
Mascon announce it?
Ans. The drawing and colour contest consisted of designing
dresses for girls. It was of designing motorboats for boys. Peggy
was thought to win it because she drew better than anyone else in
the room. She could copy a picture in a magazine or some film
stars. It looked as real as anything.
On the day of the announcement of the winners, the boys
and girls entered the classroom. They saw the drawings. They
stopped short and gasped. There were beautiful drawings all over
the room. They were in dazzling colours. They praised them. Miss
Mason declared Wanda as the winner of the contest for girls. She
showed her happiness at the beauty of the drawings. She also
stated that Jack Beggles had won the prize for the boys. His design
for an outboard motor was on display in Room Twelve.
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