NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 5 The Hundred Dresses – I Questions and Answers
Page no. 65
Oral Comprehension Check
Q1. Where in the classroom does Wanda sit and why?
Ans: Wanda sat in the seat next to the last seat in the last row. The narrator says that Wanda was made to sit here probably because her feet were almost always caked with dry mud.
Q2. Where does Wanda live? What kind of a place do you think it is?
Ans: Wanda lived at Boggins Heights. It was a poor colony as most people who lived here were very poor and could barely make ends meet. It was almost a slum cluster, dirty and filthy.
Q3. When and why do Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence?
Ans: Peggy and Maddie noticed Wanda’s absence on Wednesday. They had been waiting for Wanda to have some fun with her but she did not turn up at school.
Q4. What do you think “to have fun with her” means?
Ans: “To have fun with her” means to make fun of her and enjoy a laugh at her expense.
Page no. 67
Oral Comprehension Check
Q1. In what way was Wanda different from the other children?
Ans: Wanda was a shy and quiet girl who neither laughed nor talked much in class. Unlike all the other students, she wore the same blue faded dress to school every day.
Q2. Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said she did?
Ans: No, Wanda did not have a hundred dresses. She said this to Peggy, Maddie and the other girls because she did not want to give them a chance to show pity to her for her poverty. Moreover, when she said she had a hundred dresses, she meant the drawings of her hundred dresses.
Q3. Why is Maddie embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like Wanda, or is she different?
Ans: Whenever Peggy played the dress game with Wanda, Maddie felt embarrassed. Maddie, like Wanda, was poor but not as poor as Wanda. Also, she was different from Wanda because she wouldn’t have been able to deal with the questions the way Wanda did, remaining calm and composed.
Page no. 70
Oral Comprehension Check
Q1. Why didn’t Maddie ask Peggy to stop teasing Wanda? What was she afraid of?
Ans: Even though Maddie wished for Peggy to stop teasing Wanda, she couldn’t get herself to write to Peggy about the same. This was because she feared that after Wanda she might become the next target, Peggy.
Q2. Who did Maddie think would win the drawing contest? Why?
Ans: Maddie believed that Peggy would win the drawing contest because in Maddie’s estimation Peggy drew better than all others in Room Thirteen.
Q3. Who won the drawing contest? What had the winner drawn?
Ans: Wanda, who had drawn hundred different dresses for the drawing contest won the contest. Each of her designs was unique, exquisite and extraordinary.
Thinking about the text
Q1. How is Wanda seen as different by the other girls? How do they treat her?
Ans: Wanda is seen as different by the other girls because she has a strangely funny name. In addition to this, Wanda is seen as different because she was an immigrant and always remained aloof and lonely. She did not mix and mingle in the class nor did she ever talk and laugh with the others in the class. The girls all made fun of her and laughed at her. They would often crack jokes at her.
Q2. How does Wanda feel about the dress game? Why does she say that she has a hundred dresses?
Ans: While Peggy played the dress game with Wanda, the latter maintained a very calm and stoic appearance. She never allowed her true feelings to come onto her face. She hid her innermost emotions. There are a few reasons that could have led Wanda to tell her friends that she had a hundred dresses. Being a very poor girl, Wanda through this response wanted to step out of the confines of her poverty and limited resources. This could also be a way to attract the attention of the other girls. Additionally, this could also be a reference to the hundred dresses that she had drawn.
Q3. 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?)
Ans: Maddie’s fear of becoming Peggy’s target did not allow Maddie to stop Peggy from teasing Wanda. Maddie wasn’t as rich as Peggy. In fact, she too was quite poor and the dresses she wore were those that had been given away by the rich girls. Belonging to the same class as Wanda, Maddie could understand Wanda’s state and the pain she must experience as they played the dress game with her. Peggy, on the other hand, could not understand this. But at the same time, Maddie was in awe of Peggy. She admired Peggy and everything about her. So she had no courage to go against Peggy. Some of the lines that highlight their friendship are:
(a) Peggy, who had thought up this game, and Maddie, her inseparable friend, were always the last to leave.
(b) She was Peggy’s best friend, and Peggy was the best-liked girl in the whole room.
(c) Peggy could not possibly do anything that was really wrong, she thought.
(d) Oh, Maddie was sure Peggy would win.
Q4. What does Miss Mason think of Wanda’s drawings? What do the children think of them? How do you know?
Ans: Miss Mason was very impressed by Wanda’s creativity and originality. She admired all the designs created by Wanda. She was taken in by the fact that Wanda had created and presented a hundred designs for the contest. All the children were equally impressed by Wanda’s work. All of them admired her drawing and whispered in admiration as they moved around looking at her work. All the children burst into loud applause as soon as Miss Mason announced Wanda as the winner. Peggy and Maddie were over-awed at the sight of all those beautiful designs. They gaped in amazement. Both the girls recognised the designs that Wanda had once described to them. In the end, Peggy paid the biggest tribute to Wanda when she said, “and I thought I could draw.”
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