The Hundred Dresses -1
The Hundred Dresses -1
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 3)
1. Where in the classroom does Wanda sit and why?
Ans. Wanda sits in the seat next to the last seat, in the last row, in the corner of Room Thirteen. She sits there because it’s where the “rough boys who did not make good marks sat” and where there was the “most scuffling of feet… and most mud and dirt on the floor”. Nobody really knew exactly why she sat there, but it was thought to be “because she came all the way from Boggins Heights and her feet were usually caked with dry mud”.
2. Where does Wanda live? What kind of a place do you think it is?
Ans. Wanda lives on Boggins Heights. The text suggests it is a poor neighborhood, as her feet are “usually caked with dry mud” from the walk, and Maddie, who is also poor, is “Thank goodness” she doesn’t live there.
3. When and why do Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence?
Ans. They notice her absence on Wednesday. They noticed it “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”.
4. What do you think “to have fun with her” means?
Ans. “To have fun with her” is a way of saying they wanted to make fun of her or tease her. This “fun” was the “dresses game,” where they would mockingly ask her how many dresses and shoes she had.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 5)
1. In what way was Wanda different from the other children?
Ans. Wanda was different in several ways:
* She had a long, unfamiliar Polish name (Petronski) that the other children found “funny”.
* She was very poor and “always wore a faded blue dress that didn’t hang right”.
* She lived in a poor neighborhood, Boggins Heights.
* She was “very quiet and rarely said anything at all” and had no friends.
2. Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said she did?
Ans. No, she did not. The text says, “Obviously, the only dress Wanda had was the blue one she wore every day”. She likely said she had a hundred dresses as a defense mechanism or a form of escape from the teasing. The “hundred dresses” she claimed to have were the one hundred beautiful designs she drew for the art contest.
3. Why is Maddie embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like Wanda, or is she different?
Ans. Maddie is embarrassed because “Maddie was poor herself” and “usually wore somebody’s hand-me-down clothes”.
* She is like Wanda because she is also poor.
* She is different because she doesn’t “live up on Boggins Heights or have a funny name” and is part of the popular group as Peggy’s “inseparable friend”.
Oral Comprehension Check (Page 8)
1. Why didn’t Maddie ask Peggie to stop teasing Wanda? What was she afraid of?
Ans. Maddie didn’t have the “courage” to speak directly to Peggy. She was afraid of becoming a “new target for Peggy and the girls”. She worried they would ask her where she got her dress, which was one of Peggy’s old hand-me-downs that her mother disguised.
2. Who did Maddie think would win the drawing contest? Why?
Ans. Maddie “was sure Peggy would win”. She thought this because “Peggy drew better than anyone else in the room” and “could copy a picture… so that you could almost tell who it was”.
3. Who won the drawing contest? What had the winner drawn?
Ans. Wanda Petronski won the girls’ medal. She had drawn “one hundred designs” of dresses, all of which were “all different and all beautiful”.
Thinking about the Text (Page 8)
1. How is Wanda seen as different by the other girls? How do they treat her?
Ans. Wanda is seen as different because of her “funny” Polish name, her poverty, her single faded blue dress, her quiet nature, and her home in Boggins Heights. They treat her with casual cruelty; they “waited for Wanda… to have fun with her” by surrounding her and mockingly asking her about her “hundred dresses” and “sixty pairs” of shoes. They would then “burst… into shrieks and peals of laughter” after she left.
2. How does Wanda feel about the dresses game? Why does she say that she has a hundred dresses?
Ans. The text implies Wanda is hurt and withdrawn. When she answers, “her thin lips drew together in silence”, and after the game, she walks away with “her eyes dull and her mouth closed”. She says she has a hundred dresses as a defense mechanism. The hundred dresses she claims to have are the same “one hundred designs” she submitted for the drawing contest, which were “all lined up” in the classroom just as she said they were in her closet.
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?)
* Why Maddie stands by: Maddie doesn’t do anything because she is afraid of losing Peggy’s friendship and becoming the “new target” herself, since she is also poor and wears hand-me-downs.
* How she is different: Maddie feels “embarrassed” and “bothered” by the game; she knows it’s wrong. Peggy, on the other hand, invented the game and justifies her behavior, claiming Wanda’s “lie” and “funny name” are the reasons.
* Peggy’s friendship: Yes, it was very important. The text states: “She was Peggy’s best friend, and Peggy was the best-liked girl in the whole room”. Maddie rationalizes that “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?
* Miss Mason: She thinks the drawings are “exquisite” and “all different and all beautiful”. She tells the class that “any one of the drawings is worthy of winning the prize”.
* The children: They are amazed. When they first see them, they “stopped short and gasped”. They “whistled or murmured admiringly” and “burst into applause” when Wanda was announced as the winner. Even Peggy, who thought she was the best artist, says, “Boy, and I thought I could draw”.
Thinking about Language (Pages 9-10)
I. Relative Clauses
* This is the bus which/that goes to Agra.
* I would like to buy the shirt which/that is in the shop window.
* You must break your fast at the time when you see the moon in the sky.
* Find a word which/that begins with the letter Z.
* Now find a person whose name begins with the letter Z.
* Then go to a place where there are no people whose name begins with Z.
II. The Narrative Voice
* (i) …children who got good marks and who didn’t track in a whole lot of mud…
* This expresses the point of view of Peggy and Maddie (and the other children who sat at the front). It reflects their snobbish attitude that they are “better” than the “rough boys” or Wanda who sat in the muddy back corner.
* (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.
* This expresses the point of view of the American children in Room Thirteen. It shows their perspective that Wanda’s name was strange and “funny” compared to their own “easy to say” names.
III. Adverbs
* Surprisingly / Incredibly / Luckily he finished his work on time.
* Hopefully, it will not rain on the day of the match.
* Evidently / Apparently, he had been stealing money from his employer.
* Television is possibly / evidently to blame for the increase in violence in society.
* The children will hopefully learn from their mistakes.
* I can’t possibly lend you that much money.
* The thief had apparently / evidently been watching the house for many days.
* The thief apparently / evidently escaped by bribing the jailor.
* Surprisingly / Incredibly, no one had suggested this before.
* The water was incredibly hot.
*