A Hundred Dresses - I
EL BSOR ESTER
TODAY, Monday, Wanda Petronski was not in her seat. But nobody,
not even Peggy and Madeline, the girls who started all the fun, noticed her
absence. Usually Wanda sat in the seat next to the last seat in the last row in
Room Thirteen. 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, most roars of laughter when anything funny was said, and most mud and
dirt on the floor.
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.
Nobody knew exactly why Wanda sat in that seat,
unless it was because she came all the way from
The time when they thought about Wanda was outside
of school hours — at noon-time when they were coming back to school or in the
morning early before school began, when groups of two or three, or even more,
would be talking and laughing on their way to the school yard.
Then, sometimes, they waited for Wanda — to have
fun with her.
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.
Oral Comprehension Check
1. Where in the classroom does Wanda sit and
why?
2. Where does Wanda live? What kind of a
place do you think it is?
3. When and why do Peggy and Maddie notice
Wanda’s absence?
4. What do you think “to have fun with her”
means?
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. There was one boy named Bounce, Willie Bounce, and people
thought that was funny, but not funny in the same way that Petronski was.
Wanda didn’t have any friends. She came to school
alone and went home alone. She always wore a faded blue dress that didn’t hang
right. It was clean, but it looked as though it had never been ironed properly.
She didn’t have any friends, but a lot of girls talked to her. Sometimes, they
surrounded her in the school yard as she stood watching the little girls play
hopscotch on the worn hard ground.
“Wanda,” Peggy would say in a most courteous
manner as though she were talking to Miss Mason. “Wanda,” she’d say, giving one
of her friends a nudge, “tell us. How many dresses did you say you had hanging
up in your closet?”
“A hundred,” Wanda would say.
“A hundred!” exclaimed all the little girls
incredulously, and the little ones would stop playing hopscotch and listen.
“Yeah, a hundred, all lined up,” said Wanda. Then
her thin lips drew together in silence.
“What are they like? All silk, I bet,” said Peggy.
“Yeah, all silk, all colours.”
“Velvet, too?”
“Yeah, velvet too. A hundred dresses,” Wanda would
repeat stolidly. “All lined up in my closet.”
Then they’d let her go. And then before she’d gone
very far, they couldn’t help bursting intoshrieks and peals of laughter.
A hundred dresses! Obviously, the only dress Wanda
had was the blue one she wore every day. So why did she say she had a hundred?
What a story!
“How many shoes did you say you had?”
“Sixty pairs. All lined up in my closet.”
Cries of exaggerated politeness greeted this. “All
alike?”
“Oh, no. Every pair is different. All colours. All
lined up.”
Peggy, who had thought up this game, and Maddie,
her inseparable friend, were always the last to leave. Finally Wanda would move
up the street, her eyes dull and her mouth closed, hitching her left shoulder
every now and then in the funny way she had, finishing the walk to school
alone.
Peggy was not 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
Sometimes, when Peggy was asking Wanda those
questions in that mocking polite voice, Maddie felt embarrassed and studied the
marbles in the palm of her hand, rolling them around and saying nothing
herself, Not that she felt sorry for Wanda, exactly. She would never have paid any
attention to Wanda if Peggy hadn’t invented the dresses game. But suppose Peggy
and all the others started in on her next? She wasn’t as poor as Wanda,
perhaps, but she was poor. Of course she would have more sense than to say she
had a hundred dresses. Still she would not like for them to begin on her. She
wished Peggy would stop teasing Wanda Petronski.
Oral Comprehension Check
1. In what way was Wanda different from the
other children?
2. Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do
you think she said she did?
3. Why is Maddie embarrassed by the
questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like Wanda, or is she different?
Today, even though they had been late to school,
Maddie was glad she had not had to make fun of
Wanda. She worked her arithmetic problems absentmindedly. “Eight
times eight — let’s see…” She wished she had the nerve to write Peggy a note,
because she knew she never would have the courage to speak right out to Peggy,
to say, “Hey, Peg, let’s stop asking Wanda how many dresses she has.” When she
finished her arithmetic she did start a note to Peggy. Suddenly she paused and
shuddered. She pictured herself in the school yard, a new target for Peggy and
the girls. Peggy might ask her where she got the dress that she had on, and
Maddie would have to say it was one of Peggy’s old ones that Maddie’s mother
had tried to disguise with new
trimmings so no one in Room Thirteen would recognise it.
If only Peggy would decide of her own accord to
stop having fun with Wanda. Oh, well! Maddie ran her hand through her short
blonde hair as though to push the uncomfortable thoughts away. What difference
did it make? Slowly Maddie tore into bits the note she had started. She was
Peggy’s best friend, and Peggy was the best-liked girl in the whole room. Peggy
could not possibly do anything that was really wrong, she thought.
As for Wanda, she was just some girl who lived up
on
Thinking about Wanda and her hundred dresses all
lined up in the closet, Maddie began to wonder who was going to win the drawing
and colouring contest. For girls, this contest consisted of designing dresses
and for boys, of designing motorboats. Probably Peggy would win the girls’
medal. Peggy drew better than anyone else in the room. At least, that’s what
everybody thought. She could copy a picture in a magazine or some film star’s
head so that you could almost tell who it was. Oh, Maddie was sure Peggy would
win. Well, tomorrow the teacher was going to announce the winners. Then they’d
know.
The next day it was drizzling. Maddie and Peggy
hurried to school under Peggy’s umbrella. Naturally, on a day like this, they
didn’t wait for Wanda Petronski on the corner of
“Do you think Miss Mason will announce the winners
today?” asked Peggy.
“Oh, I hope so, the minute we get in,” said
Maddie. “Of course, you’ll win, Peg.”
“Hope so,” said Peggy eagerly.
The minute they entered the classroom, they
stopped short and gasped. There were drawings all over the room, on every ledge
and windowsill, dazzling colours and brilliant, lavish designs, all drawn on
great sheets 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, along with the
sketches by all the other boys.
“As for the girls,” she said, “although just one
or two sketches were submitted by most, one girl — and Room Thirteen should be
proud of her — this one girl actually drew one hundred designs — all different
and all beautiful. In the opinion of the judges, any one of the drawings is
worthy of winning the prize. I am very happy to say that Wanda Petronski is the
winner of the girls’ medal. Unfortunately, Wanda has been absent from school
for some days and is not here to receive the applause that is due to her. Let
us hope she will be back tomorrow. Now class, you may file around the room
quietly and look at her exquisite drawings.”
The children burst into applause, and even the
boys were glad to have a chance to stamp on the floor, put their fingers in
their mouths and whistle, though they were not interested in dresses.
“Look, Peg,” whispered Maddie. “There’s that blue
one she told us about. Isn’t it beautiful?”
“Yes,” said Peggy, “And here’s that green one.
Boy, and I thought I could draw.”
Oral Comprehension Check
1. Why didn’t Maddie ask Peggie to stop
teasing Wanda? What was she afraid of?
2. Who did Maddie think would win the
drawing contest? Why?
3. Who won the drawing contest? What had the
winner drawn?
Q. Write the
Main Theme of the lesson ‘A hundred dress part one’
Ans. Wanda Petronski
was a young Polish girl. She was studying with American children in an American
town. Her name was unfamiliar to the American students. She came from
So she
used to sit in the next to the last seat in the last row in room thirteen. She
would sit in the corner of the room where there were noisy dragging movements
of the feet on the ground. She sat there because she came from
Wanda did not have friend. She came to school alone
and went home alone. She always wore a faded blue dress that did not fit her
properly. Peggy was the most popular girl of the school she would ask Wanda how
many dresses she had hanging up in her closet and how many pairs of shoes she
had.
Wanda
would tell her that she had hundred dresses and she had sixty pair of shoes all
lined up in hers closet. They would laugh at her
Maddie
did not like it. She herself was poor. Maddie wished that Peggy should stop
teasing Petronski. But she could not muster up courage to ask Peggy not to do
so. She was afraid that once the teasing students stop making fun of Wands,
they might ask her the similar question. Peggy was here best friend and she was
the best liked girl in the class. So she stood by Peggy and did nothing.
Maddie
began to wonder who was going to win the drawing and colouring contest for
girls this contest considered of designing dresses and for boys of designing
motor boats. Maddie was sure that Peggy would win the contest because her
drawing was better than anybody else in the class.
Wanda
had not been coming to school for a few days Miss Masson announced the result.
Jack Beggles had won for boys. Wanda had submitted one hundred designs all
different and all beautiful. She announced that Wanda Petronski was the winner
of the girl’s medal. Students clapped hands and put their fingers in their moth
and whistle.
|
Question 1:
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 2:
Where does Wanda live? What kind of a place do you think it is? Answer: Wanda lives on Boggins Heights. The
fact that her shoes are covered in mud gives an idea that Boggins Heights is
not a developed area. That can be like unplanned colonies or slums in present
day India. You may notice that most of the new residential areas in Indian
cities develop in unplanned ways. Especially slum areas don’t have proper roads
or drainage system. This leads to waterlogging and creates unhygienic
conditions. The fact that
Wanda was from Polish immigrant community gives an idea of the level of
underdevelopment of Boggins Heights. Question 3:
When and why do Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence? Answer: On a Wednesday when Peggy and Maddie
waited for Wanda to have fun with her, they got late to school. Because they
got late to school so they noticed Wanda’s absence. Wanda was a
non-entity for students from the mainstream section of society. This happens
everywhere. You tend to notice street urchin only if there is some problem
with him. Otherwise we seldom notice millions of destitutes roaming our
street. Question 4:
What do you think “to have fun with her” means? Answer: It is a human tendency to make fun of
other’s imperfections. These imperfections are mostly in the appearance or in
the way we make an image of our world. Wanda was
sort of an outcaste as she was an immigrant, so other students loved to mock
at her. In India
also, people from one region make fun of people from other region. We have
jokes based on states from where a certain person comes. Question 5:
In what way was Wanda different from the other children? Answer: To start with Wanda’s name sounded
weird. Suppose an English cricket commentator has to pronounce the full name
of VVS Laxman. For him it will be a difficult task. For a person from north
India, south Indian names may sound strange. Our ears are tuned to the way we
hear a certain accent and any variation in that gives us a strange feeling. Wanda used to
come alone to school and she had no friends. Unlike other students she had
just one faded blue dress. She could not afford newer dresses. She was not
stylish in the normal sense. 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:
Why is Maddie embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like
Wanda, or is she different? Answer: Maddie too belongs to a poor family.
She too is not having many dresses. She is afraid of being on the receiving
end. Additionally she can understand the trauma which Wanda may be undergoing
while being rebuked. Probably
school dresses were introduced to imbibe a sense of equality among students
irrespective of their socio-economic background. Dresses; apart from covering
our body; also add ornamental value, which is having its own importance. But
in school, your main goal is learning and focus on dress sense can act like
distraction. Question 8:
Why didn’t Maddie ask peggy to stop teasing Wanda? What was she afraid of? Answer: peggy was the most popular girl.
Moreover, she is a nice girl deep inside. She doesn’t hurt anybody and she
cries even at the sight of some animal under pain. From Maddie’s perspective
making fun at Wanda is simply a harmless fun. And given other virtues of
peggy she deserves a little bit of leeway. Maddie does not want to annoy
peggy; her best friend. She is also afraid of coming under the firing line if
she stops other girls from teasing Wanda. Question 9:
Who did Maddie think would win the drawing contest? Why? Answer: Maddie thinks that peggy would win
the contest. This is about lasting impression some people have on our lives.
Some students in class give an appearance of a very confident self. This
gives them a very good image in the eyes of all, be it teachers or fellow
students. Some of them, most of the time, prove their ability as well. There
can be some cases of impressions being deceptive and the person may not be
able to prove his or her ability. Question 10:
Who won the drawing contest? What had the winner drawn? Answer: Maddie won the drawing contest. She
may have made a determination to prove her worth through that contest. To
complete her drawings she didn’t attend school for some days, this shows her
determination to win. Her drawings
of a hundred dresses was a way to send a strong message to peggy and her team
that she may not be having a single dress in her wardrobe but deep inside her
imagination she had hundreds of dresses. That she was also like them, a
normal girl who fancies of having fancy and frilly dresses and wants to
indulge in pleasures of life. Question 11:
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 12:
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 13:
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: Peggy is the most popular girl in the
class and Maddie is her close friend. Maddie is afraid of losing Peggy’s
friendship. That is why, Maddie does not want to take risk of annoying peggy
and prefers to be a mute spectator. The line, “Peggy was the best-liked
girl……. and could do no wrong” illustrates this. Question 14:
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 all the
drawings made by Wanda were really beautiful and were worthy of winning the
medal. The children were also impressed by Wanda’s drawings. This was evident
by the loud applause and whistling even by the boys who were least interested
in dresses. Part
II
Question 1:
What did Mr Petronski’s letter say? Answer: Mr. Petronski was shifting to a
bigger city. As bigger cities had more cosmopolitan population, so, there
were lesser chances of getting funny glances from others. He was not happy
with the treatment his children were getting in the school. As people of
cities get to see and interact with people from a wider geographies and
ethnicities so they become more resilient at dealing with them. Question 2:
Is Miss Mason angry with the class, or is she unhappy and upset? Answer: Miss Mason seems to be upset rather
than angry. She hopes that all the misbehaviour was part of normal childhood
pranks. She hopes that kids will derive a lesson from Wanda’s episode. Her calm
manners of reading the letter and reprimanding the students tells that she is
upset and wants and hopes the kids would mend their ways. Question 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. Question 4:
What does Maddie want to do? Answer: Maddie wants to meet Wanda to show
her true feelings towards Wanda. She wants to say sorry and to convey that
all was part of childhood prank and people really love Wanda. Question 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. Question 6:
What are Maddie’s thoughts as they go to Boggins Heights? Answer: Maddie is feeling bad about Wanda and
herself. She is feeling very sad for not even getting a chance to say sorry
to Wanda. Question 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. Question 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. Quesiton 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. Question 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. Question 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. Question 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. Question 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. Question 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. Question 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. Question 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. Question 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. |
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