THE
HUNDRED DRESSES – I
ELEANOR ESTES
ORAL COMPREHENSION CHECK
1) Where in the classroom does Wanda sit and
why?
Ans: Wanda Petronski usually sat in the seat
next to the last seat in the last row in Room Thirteen. Wanda sat there because
she was very quiet and she did want to mingle with anyone and rarely said
anything at all.
2) Where does Wanda live? What kind of a
place do you think it is?
Ans: Wanda lives upon Boggins Heights, where poor
people reside. It's not an urbanized part and is enclosed with mud. There could
be no appropriate streets or roads and it is a sort of slum.
3) When and why do Peggy and Maddie notice
Wanda’s absence?
Ans: Peggy and Maddie noticed Wanda’s absence
when Wanda didn’t come to school on Monday and Tuesday. They noticed her
because on and off the way to school, they were making fun of her and they
would be entertained by doing so.
4) What do you think “to have fun with her”
means?
Ans: “To have fun with her” means to laugh at
her as it is human propensity to make fun of others flaws which are generally
about the appearance. Here in the story, Wanda is a source of delight or joy in
light of her bashful nature and her hundred dresses.
ORAL COMPREHENSION CHECK
1) In what way was Wanda different from the
other children?
Ans: Wanda Petronski was a polish girl whose
parents had settled down in America. She was a source of fun on account of her
last name which made her unique from other people, since Americans didn't have
such names and it was hard to pronounce. She came to class alone and her feet
were covered with mud. She liked to sit alone in last at the end in the class.
She had just one blue dress which was blurred yet asserted of having hundred
dresses. These characteristics make her not the same as other children.
2) Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do
you think she said she did?
Ans: No, Wanda did not have a hundred
dresses. Wanda’s classmates had made fun of her dress and name, she was tired
of listening those words every day, she thought to close their mouths and she
said that she had a hundred dresses and sixty pairs of shoes.
3) Why is Maddie embarrassed
by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like Wanda, or is she different?
Ans: Maddie is embarrassed
by the questions Peggy aks to Wanda because she is also poor and she also wears
dresses gave over by rich family. However, she is an American yet she has a
similar attitude as Wanda and doesn't need anybody to tease Wanda on account of
her dress or her name.
ORAL COMPREHENSION CHECK
1) Why didn’t Maddie ask Peggy to stop
teasing Wanda? What was she afraid of?
Ans: Maddie didn't ask that Peggy quit
teasing Wanda because Peggy was the most famous girl in the school. She was a
pleasant young lady yet when it came to Wanda she acted in an unexpected way,
else she helped everybody in a difficult situation. However, she needs Peggy to
quit teasing Wanda, she didn't ask her to do so as she was scared of being the
next target.
2) Who did Maddie think would win the drawing
contest? Why?
Ans: Maddie thought that Peggy would win the
drawing contest as she was great in drawing and everyone in the school adored
her. She had a good image and impact on all.
3) Who won the drawing
contest? What had the winner drawn?
Ans: The drawing contest among the boys was won by
Jack Beggles and he had drawn an outboard motor. Among the girls was won by
Wanda Petronski. She had drawn a hundred sketches of dresses of different
colours.
THINKING ABOUT THE TEXT
1) How is Wanda seen as different by the
other girls? How do they treat her?
Ans: Wanda is a polish girl who has settled
comfortably in America with her parents. She lived in Boggin's Height. She came
to class in same blurred blue dress regularly with her feet consistently covered
with mud. Her last name is very amusing and hard to pronounce for her
colleagues. Her appearance was not amazing to be in a higher class so every one
of the class ridiculed her and teased her after the school hours. After being
teased over her resistance she claimed to have had hundred dresses.
2) How does Wanda feel about the dresses
game? Why does she say that she has a hundred dresses?
Ans: Wanda feels extremely humiliated yet
stays quiet in the class. She doesn't converse with anybody and sits on the
back seat with rough boys so it's not possible for anyone to concentrate on
her. She is deeply hurt yet never whines about it. To keep away from their
insults and embarrassment, Wanda says that she has hundred dresses and sixty
sets of shoes in her closet. Later on, she draws every one of them on paper for
the drawing competition.
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?)
Ans: Peggy is
popular girl in the class and Maddie is her dearest companion. However, Maddie
is poor, Peggy never teases her as she does with Wanda so Maddie fears losing
her friendship. That is the reason; she doesn't risk annoying Peggy and likes
to be quiet. The line, “Peggy was the best-liked girl in the whole room. Peggy
could not possibly do anything that was really wrong”.
4) What does Miss Mason think of Wanda’s
drawings? What do the children think of them? How do you know?
Ans: Miss Mason is exceptionally
impressed with Wanda's drawings. She thinks of them as truly lovely and
deserving of winning separately. The children are also very impressed by the
drawing skills of Wanda that they all appreciate, applaud and whistle when she
wins among the girls the drawing competition.
THINKING
ABOUT LANGUAGE
I. Look at these sentences
(a) She sat in the
corner of the room where the rough boys who did not make good marks sat,
the corner of the room where there was most scuffling of feet...
(b) The time when
they thought about Wanda was outside of school hours...
These italicized
clauses help us to identify a set of boys, a place, and a time. They are
answers to the questions ‘What kind of rough boys?’ ‘Which corner did she sit
in?’ and ‘What particular time outside of school hours?’ They are ‘defining’ or
‘restrictive’ relative clauses. (Compare them with the ‘no defining’ relative
clauses discussed in Unit 1.)
Combine the following to
make sentences.
1) This is the bus (what kind of bus?). It goes
to Agra, (use which or that).
Ans: This is the bus that goes to Agra.
2) I
would like to buy, (a) shirt (which shirt?) (The) shirt is in the shop window,
(use which or that)
Ans: I would like to buy a shirt that is in the shop
window.
3) You
must break your fast at a particular time (when?). You see the moon in the sky.
(use when)
Ans: You must break your fast at a particular time when
you see the moon in the sky.
4) Find a
word (what kind of word?). It begins with the letter Z, (use which or that)
Ans: Find a word that begins with letter Z.
5) Now
find a person (what kind of person?) His or her name begins with the letter Z.
(use whose)
Ans: Now find a person whose name begins with letter Z.
6) Then
go to a place (what place?). There are no people whose name begins with Z in
that place, (use where)
Ans: Then go to a place where there are no people whose
name begins with letter Z.
II. THE NARRATIVE VOICE
This story is in
the ‘third person’ that is, the narrator is not a participant in the story. But
the narrator often seems to tell the story from the point of view of one of the
characters in the story. For example, look at the italicized words in this
sentence.
Thank goodness, she
did not live up on Boggins Heights or have a funny name.
Whose thoughts do
the words ‘Thank goodness’ express? Maddie’s, who is grateful that although she
is poor, she is yet not as poor as Wanda, or as ‘different’. (So she does not
get teased; she is thankful about that.)
1) Here are two other sentences from the
story. Can you say whose point of view the italicized words express?
(i) 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.
Ans: The italicized words express the point of view of Peggy and Maddie.
(ii) 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.
Ans: These italicized words express the
point of view of other children of Wandas’ class excluding Peggy and Maddie.
III. Look at this sentence. The italicized
adverb expresses an opinion or point of view.
Obviously, the
only dress Wanda had was the blue one she wore every day. (This was obvious to
the speaker.)
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.)
1. Surprisingly, he finished his work on time.
2. Hopefully, it will not rain on the day
of the match.
3. Possibly, he had been stealing money
from his employer.
4. Television is evidently to blame for
the increase in violence in society,
5. The children will hopefully learn from
their mistakes.
6. I can’t possibly lend you that much
money.
7. The thief had apparently been watching
the house for many days.
8. The thief luckily escaped by bribing
the jailor.
9. Incredibly no one had suggested this
before.
10. The water was incredibly hot.
