The Hundred Dresses – Part II | NCERT Book Class 10 English First Flight
Hundred Dresses (Part II) – Summary
The lesson begins with a letter received from Wanda’s father informing the school about their moving to a big city where nobody would tease Wanda for her funny name as well her appearance. After getting familiar with the content of the letter through the teacher the whole class got stunned and realized their derogatory remarks and attitude towards Wanda. Maddie felt so bad that she couldn’t concentrate on her studies after knowing the facts. She wanted to meet Wanda in person to clarify her stand that she never meant to hurt her feelings. When the school was over Maddie and Peggy both went to the residence of Wanda at Boggins Height to meet her but by that time they had already left so their visit was fruitless. Then they wrote a friendly letter to Wanda telling her she had won the contest but the letter was not responded by Wanda. On Christmas Miss Masion their teacher received a letter from Wanda informing that she was no more in need of those hundred dresses as she had new hundred dresses in her new house hence those should be gifted to the girls especially blue one to Maddie and green one to Peggy. They accepted and pinned them in their bedrooms. There Maddie gazed for a long time at the picture and found that the face in the drawing was resembling to her own. Then she ran to Peggy’s house to see her drawing also. Peggy was also happy to find same in the drawing. Peggy consoled herself saying that Wanda really liked them. Maddie agreed and blinked away the tears which came every time she thought of Wanda Petronski.
Extra Question Answer
Q.1. What did Mr. Petronski’s letter say?
Answer: Mr. Petronski wrote a letter informing the school that his daughter, Wanda Petroski would not come to school any more. They were moving to a big city where no one would make fun of her name.
Q.2. Is Miss Mason angry with the class, or is she unhappy and upset?
Answer: When Miss Mason came to know that the class had been making fun of Wanda Petronski’s name, she was both unhappy and upset. She was not angry but she was troubled to know the incident.
Q.3. How does Maddie feel after listening to the note from Wanda’s father?
Answer: Maddie feels let down by herself. She feels that her behaviour was of a coward. There is an old saying that to tolerate injustices on others is also like being a part of the injustice.
Maddie feels that in stead of being a mute spectator she should have protested the mental torture of Wanda.
Q.4. What does Maddie want to do?
Answer: Maddie wants to tell Wanda that she never meant to insult her. She was sorry for everything she did not want Wanda to leave that place.
Q.5. What excuses does Peggy think up for her behaviour? Why?
Answer: Peggy thinks that she was the person who gave inspiration for Wanda’s wonderful drawings. Had she not asked questions about number of dresses Wanda had, Wanda could not have made beautiful drawings.
There can be two views on Peggy’s real feelings. First view can be of a stubborn child who refuses to accept her mistakes. And another view can be accepting the mistake deep inside but for fear of being subjected to fun not accepting the mistake openly.
Q.6. What were Maddie’s thoughts as they go to Boggins Heights?
Answer: Maddie thought that she would find Wanda and on meeting her she would tell her nobody would make fun of her name. If anybody made fun Peggy and Maddie would fight with them
Q.7. Why does Wanda’s house remind Maddie of Wanda’s blue dress?
Answer: Wanda’s blue dress was old, faded but used to be neat and clean. Similarly her house was small and makeshift but clean. Wanda was a poor girl but she was sober and was probably more mature than other kids of her age. May be her hardships had taught her great lessons in the life which is evident in the way she used to keep her dress or her house.
Q.8. What does Maddie think hard about? What important decision does she come to?
Answer: Wanda thinks about not letting injustice happen to anyone. She makes vow that she would protest if anybody misbehaves with anybody. She won’t be a mute spectator the way she did earlier.
In a way the episode of Wanda’s family leaving that city works as major change agent for Maddie’s personality.
Q.9. What did the girls write to Wanda?
Answer: The girls planned to write their true feelings but ended up writing a formal letter. Most of us have this inbuilt ability of fear of truth. We don’t want to show our shortcomings to the world. Every time we talk about ourselves we talk about positives only. It takes lots of courage to talk about our negative aspects. To develop this level of courage requires years. But those who learn to admit mistakes learn to take lessons from their mistakes.
Q.10. Did they get a reply? Who was more anxious for a reply, Peggy or Maddie? How do you know?
Answer: They got the reply. Maddie seems to be more anxious. The way Maddie rues the fact of not getting a chance to say sorry to Wanda gives one clue. Another clue to this is the fact that she was the first person to notice her face on Wanda’s drawing. Had she been as arrogant as peggy she would not have noticed her face on the drawing.
Q.11. How did the girls know that Wanda liked them even though they had teased her?
Answer: An act of making a portrait requires lots of observation of the face. Until and unless an artist likes a subject, it will not be motivating enough for the artist. The way Wanda made everyone’s faces on drawings shows she liked them in spite of being teased by them.
Q.12. Why do you think Wanda’s family moved to a different city? Do you think life there was going to be different for their family?
Answer: Wanda’s family had had enough of differential treatment from the people of that city. Hence, they decided to move to a different and bigger city. The statement, “Plenty of funny names in the big city” indicates towards certain characters of big cities. Most of the big cities are cosmopolitan in composition. People in such circumstances are usually attuned to seeing people from all regions and races. They usually have a better sense of cross cultural sensibilities which normally is absent in people in small cities. It can be hoped that life would be better in the new environment.
Q.13. Maddie thought her silence was as bad as Peggy’s teasing. Was she right?
Answer: It is often said that turning a blind eye to a crime is worse than committing a crime. By being a mute spectator of Peggy’s crime, Maddie was indirectly encouraging the crime. Hence, she was right in thinking that her silence was as bad as Peggy’s teasing.
Q.14. Peggy says, “I never thought she had the sense to know we were making fun of her anyway. I thought she was too dumb. And gee, look how she can draw!” What led Peggy to believe that Wanda was dumb? Did she change her opinion later?
Answer: Wanda’s unusual behavior led Peggy to believe that Wanda was dumb. Wanda never reacted to all the pranks and misbehavior which she had to suffer every day. She was quite stoic while suffering all that. Her expressionless face may have led Peggy to think that Wanda did not understand anything. After the drawing contest, Peggy appears to be in a denial mode. But after seeing her own face in one of Wanda’s drawings; she appears to have change her perception about Wanda.
Q.15. What important decision did Maddie make? Why did she have to think hard to do so?
Answer: Maddie realized that see was coward and it was not good to be a coward. Earlier, she was torn between her loyalty to Peggy and her sense of right and wrong. But after the Petronsky’s decision to leave the town, she mustered the courage to fight for justice instead of suffering the ignominy of being a mute spectator of racial discrimination.
Q.16. Why do you think Wanda gave Maddie and Peggy the drawings of the dresses? Why are they surprised?
Answer: It can be assumed that Wanda may have developed some inclination towards Maddie and Peggy. While suffering the humiliation of the dresses game; she must have closely observed these two girls. She may have planned to give a parting gift to these two girls to teach them an important lesson of life, i.e. of respect for individuals.
Q.17: Do you think Wanda really thought the girls were teasing her? Why or Why not?
Answer: Wanda appears to be smart enough to understand what was going on around her. But she was mentally conditioned to withstand such incidents, because she must had had been through pains which are associated with migration.