ENGLISH_HUNDRED DRESSES PART 1

Questions from the textbook.

Thinking about the Text

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

Wanda was a Polish girl while the other girls were American. She did not have any friends. She came to school alone and went home alone. She always wore a faded blue dress that did not fit her properly. Unlike others, she did not talk to anybody.

The other girls teased her and had fun with her. They would surround her, and Peggy would ask how many dresses and shoes she had. Wanda would reply that she had a hundred dresses and sixty pairs of shoes. They would continue teasing her and then let her go. Before she could go very far, they would burst into laughter.

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

Wanda did not show any feelings regarding the dresses game. It is likely that she was deeply hurt. It could have been one of the reasons why her family left the place and moved to the city. Probably, it was a child’s fantasy to possess a hundred dresses—a child who had only one dress to wear for school. The other children used to make fun of her poverty and would have laughed at her whatever she might have said. This could have been the reason for her exaggerating everything.

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 always stood by and never did anything as she herself was poor and therefore, felt that if she spoke against the others, they would target her next. Unlike her, Peggy was a rich girl. This was also the reason why Maddie could think from Wanda’s point of view, but Peggy could not. Maddie was Peggy’s best friend. It seemed as if she was in awe of Peggy. She admired her quite a lot as she said that Peggy was the most liked girl in the room and that she drew better than anyone else. She did not have the courage to go against her. Some of the lines from the text which show that Peggy’s friendship was important to Maddie are as follows.

(i)             Peggy, who had thought of this game, and Maddie, her inseparable friend, were always the last to leave.

(ii)            She was Peggy’s best friend, Peggy was the best-liked girl in the room and she drew better than anyone else.

(iii)          Peggy could not possibly do anything that was really wrong, she thought.

(iv)          Oh, Maddie was sure Peggy would win.

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

Miss Mason said that Room Thirteen should be proud of Wanda as she had drawn one hundred designs of dresses, all of which were beautiful and different. She told the students that in the opinion of the judges, any one of the drawings was worthy of winning the prize. She was very happy to announce Wanda as the winner. She then asked the entire class to look at Wanda’s exquisite drawings. The children also admired the drawings. Everybody stopped and whistled or murmured admiringly. After Miss Mason had announced that Wanda was the winner, they burst into applause, and even the boys were glad to have a chance to stamp on the floor and whistle. Also, just as Peggy and Maddie entered the room, they stopped short and gasped. Later they recognized the designs as those which Wanda had described to them. And in the end, Peggy exclaimed, “and I thought I could draw.” This shows that she also realised how good Wanda’s drawings were.