The Hundred Dresses -2
The Hundred Dresses -2
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 2)
1. What did Mr Petronski’s letter say?
Ans. Mr. Petronski’s letter informed Miss Mason that his children, Wanda and Jake, would not be coming to school anymore. He stated that they were moving to a “big city”. He explained this was because they would no longer be mocked for their last name, as the big city had “Plenty of funny names”.
2. Is Miss Mason angry with the class, or is she unhappy and upset?
Ans. Miss Mason is unhappy and upset, not angry. When she speaks to the class, her voice is “very low”. She says she prefers to believe the teasing was done out of “thoughtlessness” rather than deliberate cruelty. She calls the event “a very unfortunate thing to have happened—unfortunate and sad, both”.
3. How does Maddie feel after listening to the note from Wanda’s father?
Ans. Maddie feels extremely guilty and remorseful. The text says she had a “very sick feeling in the bottom of her stomach”. She feels she is a “coward” for having “stood by silently” while Peggy teased Wanda, which she feels was “just as bad as what Peggy had done. Worse.”.
4. What does Maddie want to do?
Ans. Maddie wants to find Wanda before she moves away. She wants to tell Wanda that she “hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings,” tell her she won the contest, and that everyone thought her “hundred dresses were beautiful”.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 4)
1. What excuses does Peggy think up for her behaviour? Why?
Ans. Peggy makes several excuses:
* She says she “never did call her a foreigner or make fun of her name”.
* She claims she “never thought she had the sense to know we were making fun of her anyway,” believing Wanda was “too dumb”.
* She even suggests her teasing might have helped Wanda win the contest by giving her “good ideas for her drawings”.
She likely makes these excuses to make herself feel less guilty about the situation.
2. What are Maddie’s thoughts as they go to Boggins Heights?
Ans. Maddie is consumed with the hope that they will find Wanda. She rehearses in her mind what she wants to say: “that they were sorry they had picked on her, and how wonderful the whole school thought she was, and please, not to move away and everybody would be nice”.
3. Why does Wanda’s house remind Maddie of Wanda’s blue dress?
Ans. Wanda’s house reminds Maddie of Wanda’s blue dress because, like the dress, the house was “shabby but clean”. It looked worn, with old grass sticking up, but it was not dirty.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 5)
1. What does Maddie think hard about? What important decision does she come to?
Ans. Maddie thinks hard about what happened and her own failure to act. She makes a very important decision: “She was never going to stand by and say nothing again”. She decides that if she ever hears anyone “picking on someone” for being different, she will “speak up,” even if it means “losing Peggy’s friendship”.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 7)
1. What did the girls write to Wanda?
Ans. The girls wrote a “friendly letter” to Wanda. They told her about the contest and that she had won. They also told her how pretty her drawings were and asked if she liked her new home and teacher. They “had meant to say they were sorry,” but they were unable to, so they just signed it with “lots of X’s for love”.
2. Did they get a reply? Who was more anxious for a reply, Peggy or Maddie? How do you know?
Ans. No, they did not get a direct reply to their letter. Maddie was more anxious for a reply. We know this because the text states that “Peggy had begun to forget the whole business,” while Maddie would “put herself to sleep at night making speeches about Wanda, defending her”.
3. How did the girls know that Wanda liked them even though they had teased her?
Ans. They knew Wanda liked them when they received her Christmas letter, in which she specifically gifted her drawings to them: the green dress to Peggy and the blue one to Maddie. They were even more certain when they looked closely at the drawings and realized that the faces in the pictures looked just like their own.
Thinking about the Text (Pages 7-8)
1. 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?
Ans. Wanda’s family moved to escape the prejudice and bullying they faced because of their Polish background and “funny” name. Mr. Petronski’s letter explicitly says, “No more holler ‘Pollack’. No more ask why funny name”. Life was likely going to be different because, as her father wrote, the “big city” had “Plenty of funny names,” suggesting a more diverse and accepting environment.
2. Maddie thought her silence was as bad as Peggy’s teasing. Was she right?
Ans. Yes, Maddie was right. While Peggy was actively teasing (though perhaps out of thoughtlessness), Maddie knew it was wrong (“thought they were doing wrong”) but stayed silent out of fear. Her silence made her a bystander who allowed the bullying to happen. In some ways, this is worse, as she understood the cruelty but chose not to act.
3. Peggy says, “I never thought she had the sense to know we were making fun of her anyway. I thought she was too dumb…” What led Peggy to believe that Wanda was dumb? Did she change her opinion later?
Ans. Peggy likely believed Wanda was “dumb” because Wanda was poor, quiet, wore the same faded dress every day, and came from a poor neighborhood (Boggins Heights). Wanda’s fantastic claim of “a hundred dresses” probably sounded like a foolish lie to Peggy. Peggy definitely changed her opinion when she saw Wanda’s drawings, exclaiming, “And gee, look how she can draw!”.
4. What important decision did Maddie make? Why did she have to think hard to do so?
Ans. Maddie made the crucial decision to “never make anybody else that unhappy again” by “stand[ing] by and say[ing] nothing”. She resolved to “speak up” if she ever saw bullying again. She had to think hard because this decision was a direct challenge to her best friend, Peggy, who was the most popular girl in school. Sticking to this decision meant she might risk “losing Peggy’s friendship”.
5. Why do you think Wanda gave Maddie and Peggy the drawings of the dresses? Why are they surprised?
Ans. Wanda gave them the drawings as a final, kind gesture of friendship and forgiveness. By drawing their specific faces on the dresses, she showed she saw them as individuals, not just as part of a teasing crowd. They are surprised because they are overwhelmed with guilt and never expected such kindness from someone they had treated so badly.
6. Do you think Wanda really thought the girls were teasing her? Why or Why not?
Ans. Yes, she certainly knew they were teasing her. Her father’s letter confirms the family was aware of the mocking (“No more holler ‘Pollack'”). Wanda’s physical reactions—pressing “her lips together in a tight line” or “looking stolidly”—were her ways of masking her hurt. The “hundred dresses” story was her defense mechanism, a way to create her own world where she had beauty and value, even when the girls tried to make her feel small.
Thinking about Language (Pages 8-9)
I. Positive and Negative Qualities
* Positive: kind, courteous, placid, zealous, intrepid, sensitive, compassionate, cheerful, contented, friendly, generous, talented, determined, creative. (Words like proud and introverted can be positive or neutral).
* Negative: sarcastic, arrogant, insipid, timid, cruel, haughty, stolid, thoughtless, vain, unforgiving, lonely, miserable, complacent.
II. Adjectives for Characters
* 1. Peggy: fashionable, cheerful, confident (or arrogant), thoughtless, sarcastic, proud.
* 2. Wanda: timid, introverted, talented, creative, determined, placid (outwardly), sensitive, generous, kind.
* 3. Maddie: timid, sensitive, compassionate, miserable (with guilt), kind, thoughtful (after the fact).
III. Phrasal Verbs
1. Find the sentences:
* lined up: “And she thought of the glowing picture those hundred dresses made all lined up in the classroom.”
* thought up: This phrasal verb appears in the question, not the main story text. A similar verb is thought of in, “And she thought of the glowing picture…”.
* took off: “Miss Mason took off her glasses, blew on them and wiped them…”
* stood by: “She had stood by silently, and that was just as bad as what Peggy had done.”
2. Other meanings/prepositions:
* Line: line up (arrange in a line), line out (cross out).
* Think: think up (invent), think over (consider), think about (ponder), think of (recall or have an opinion).
* Take: take off (remove clothes; an airplane departing), take on (accept a task), take in (understand; or deceive), take over (take control), take up (start a hobby).
* Stand: stand by (support; or wait), stand in (substitute), stand up (rise; or defend), stand for (represent), stand out (be noticeable).
3. Sentences with phrasal verbs:
* Please line up outside the classroom.
* I will stand by your decision.
* She needs time to think over the proposal.
* The plane will take off in one hour.
* He decided to take up gardening as a hobby.
IV. Colour Expressions
* (i) the Monday morning blues \rightarrow sadness or depression after a weekend of fun
* (ii) go red in the face \rightarrow feel embarrassed/angry/ashamed
* (iii) look green \rightarrow feel very sick, as if about to vomit
* (iv) the red carpet \rightarrow a special welcome
* (v) blue-blooded \rightarrow of noble birth or from a royal family
* (vi) a green belt \rightarrow land around a town or city where construction is prohibited
* (vii) a blackguard \rightarrow a dishonest person with no sense of right or wrong
* (viii) a grey area \rightarrow an area of a subject or a situation where matters are not very clear
* (ix) a white flag \rightarrow a sign of surrender or acceptance of defeat
* (x) a blueprint \rightarrow a photographic print of building plans; a detailed plan or scheme
* (xi) red-handed \rightarrow in an unlawful act; while doing something wrong
* (xii) the green light \rightarrow the sign or permission to begin an action
Writing (Page 10)
1. Rewrite Mr. Petronski’s letter more formally.
Here is a model answer:
> Dear Miss Mason,
> I am writing to inform you that my children, Wanda and Jake Petronski, will not be returning to your school. Our family is moving to the big city.
> We are leaving because the children were no longer comfortable here. Wanda, in particular, was frequently teased by other students because of her name. In the city, there is more diversity, and we feel they will not be singled out.
> Yours truly,
> Jan Petronski
Thinking about the Poem (Page 12)
1. Notice the use of the word ‘turn’ in the first line. “I think I could turn and live with animals…”. What is the poet turning from?
The poet is turning from the world of human beings, which he finds “complicated and false”.
2. Mention three things that humans do and animals don’t.
Based on the poem:
* Humans “sweat and whine about their condition”; animals do not.
* Humans “lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins”; animals do not.
* Humans “make me sick discussing their duty to God”; animals do not.
(Other valid answers: Humans are “demented with the mania of owning things,” they “kneel to another,” and they are “respectable or unhappy over the whole earth.”)
3. Do humans kneel to other humans who lived thousands of years ago? Discuss this in groups.
Ans. Yes, humans do. The poet is referring to the human practice of worshipping ancestors, religious figures (like prophets or saints), or deities, many of whom lived (or are said to have lived) “thousands of years ago”. This kneeling can be literal, as in prayer, or figurative, as in showing extreme reverence.
4. What are the ‘tokens’ that the poet says he may have dropped long ago, and which the animals have kept for him?
Ans. The “tokens” represent the basic, natural virtues and qualities of being. These are qualities like innocence (not weeping for sins), placidity (calmness), self-containment, and a lack of materialism (the “mania of owning things”). The poet, following the “Romantic tradition”, suggests that humans once possessed these “tokens” of their “true nature” but have “negligently drop[ped] them” as civilization made them “false”.