Short Questions and Answers
Question 1 : Why did Wanda’s father Mr Petronski write a letter to the principal and MIss Mason?
Answer : Mr Petronski, Wanda’s father , wrote a letter to the principal and Miss Mason to tell them the truth behind Wanda’s absence from the school. He wrote that he was upset to know that his daughter was bullied in the school by some of her classmates because of her strange name and poverty.
Question 2 : What do you think about Wanda’s action of not coming to school anymore?
Answer : Peggy and Maddie with other girls in the school teased Wanda because of her name and the hundred dresses which she boasted to have at home. But, she never replied angrily or fought with them. Instead of that she preferred to keep herself silent and calm. Due to insult she faced, she decided not to come to school anymore.
Question 3 : How did Peggy and Maddie try to amend for their behaviour towards Wanda?
Answer : Peggy and Maddie decided to change their behaviour after Wanda’s incident. Peggy had tried to justify her behaviour towards Wanda that it was not her dress for which she teased her but she indirectly encouraged her for those beautiful drawings. And, that made her the winner of the drawing competition. While Maddie decided not to be a silent spectator and promised herself that she would try to protect if anyone would be mocked down.
Question 4 : How did Peggy and Maddie know that Wanda had received their letter?
Answer : Peggy and Maddie got to know that Wanda had finally received their letter in which they had apologised for their behaviour to her because Wanda had sent a letter to Miss Mason after a few months. In the letter, she requested her to gift her drawings to both of them which she had drawn in the drawing contest.
Question 5 : Why was there no reply to the letter written to Wanda by the girls?
Answer : Peggy and Maddie wrote a friendly letter to Wanda as their apology for their behaviour after a visit to her home in Boggins Heights. But they did not receive any reply from her. It was either because of her anger towards them or because they wrote the address of her old house in Boggins Heights as they had no idea about her new address of school. So, both of them got bad feelings for their behaviour towards her.
Question 6 : Why did Maddie have sleepless nights?
Answer : Maddie had sleepless nights because she was very upset about what all had happened and could not amend her behaviour towards Wanda. Though she had not teased her remained a mute spectator and never opposed Peggy and other girls to do the same. She felt ashamed that she would never be able to express her gratitude to Wanda.
Question 7 : What impression do you form of Wanda Petronski on the basis of reading the lesson “The Hundred Dresses”?
Or,
What kind of girl was Wanda Petronski?
Answer : Wanda Petronski is very kind and simple-hearted; she never behaves badly with anyone. She is very talented and has a good hand at drawing. She also wins the drawing contest and thus shows her creative side.
She is forgiving and generous as she forgives Peggy and Maddie by gifting them two of her drawings.
So, it can be said that she is a mature , sensible and loving girl who cares about everyone.
Long Questions and Answers
Question 1 : You are ‘Wanda’. You are deeply hurt by the behaviour of your classmates. Express your feelings in the form of a diary entry.
Answer :
Tuesday, 30th March , 20xx
Dear Diary,
I am very much aggrieved and disturbed by the insulting words of my classmates: Peggy and Maddie, as both of them leave no stone unturned to look me down. And being a Polish girl having a long name, I feel helpless to revert them in the same coin. Peggy is vain; she teases me by asking about my dress. She asks me how many dresses, shoes, hats etc do I have. When I reply that I have a hundred dresses and sixty pair of shoes; they ask whether all of them are different colours and designs. Maddie always remains calm and thus supports Peggy in doing so; she lacks courage to state what is right and what is wrong.
I never react and try to smile at their irritating questions because I know, there will be no difference between me and them if I too turn the table to their side in the same way. Now that my father has come to know what I am going through, he has decided to shift to another city in order to avoid confrontation (conflict) and racism as such humiliating circumstances can neither be tolerated nor can be accepted.
Question 2 : How can you say that Maddie is an emotional girl? Compare and contrast Maddie and Peggy.
Answer : By a close reading of the lesson, it can be said that Mddie is an emotional girl. Being a close friend of Peggy, she remains by her side when Peggy teases Wanda but she feels bad for her. She decides to write a note to Peggy to stop teasing Wanda but tears it as she doesn’t want to be the next target of fun. In the end, she decided to stand against anyone who teases others, even if she has to lose her friend, which shows her emotional attribute.
As compared to Maddie, Peggy is an arrogant girl. She teases Wanda by asking her about dresses, but she is not cruel as she helps children from bullies and cried when she sees an animal being hurt. But she tries to make fun of Wanda every time and defends herself.
So, both the girls have different personalities and attributes which can be directed by their actions.
Question 3 : ‘The Hundred Dresses-II’ gives out a moral lesson of what a man should be like as Wanda displays herself in the given situation. Wanda by her behaviour towards Peggy and Maddie shows her exalted character as is seen in her letter. How far would you agree with her and justify such a behaviour in all persons as essential ? Write a paragraph on such an aspect.
Answer : Wand Petronski’s letter highlights her greatness which gives us a view of her nature as a simple, loving, caring and friendly human being. She gifts her drawings to Peggy and Maddie though they tease her a lot. It shows how great she is as it requires a lot of courage and patience to do so. An ordinary person cannot do that and would definitely hate them but Wanda shows polite and peaceful traits (quality) of her character.
In our society, it is very difficult to find such a character but such traits are a must to be a good human being. Here, in our society, people tease others with racist remarks, which is not a sign of good culture.
by answering in a polite and friendly manner, Wanda displays to be a humble person.
We all should try to have or acquire such traits in our character so that everyone could praise us and we can live peacefully.