The hundred dresses part-2 Questions and Answers Class 10

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 5 The Hundred Dresses – II Questions and Answers

The Hundred Dresses : Part – 2

– El Bsor Ester

Page no. 74

Oral Comprehension Check

Q1. What did Mr Petronski’s letter say?

Ans. 1 – Mr Petronski had written in his letter that both his children, Wanda and Jake, wouldn’t be coming to school any longer. He had also informed the school that the whole Petronski family was moving to the big city where nobody would make fun of their name.

Q2. Is Miss Mason angry with the class, or is she unhappy and upset?

Ans. 2 – Miss Mason was not angry with the class. She was in fact, unhappy and upset with whatever had happened. She had faith in her students that they wouldn’t deliberately hurt anyone by laughing at them and making fun of them.

Q3. How does Maddie feel after listening to the note from Wanda’s father?

Ans. 3 – Maddie feels sorry and embarrassed for the behaviour although she herself did not make fun of Wanda. She never tried to stop Peggy from doing so and remained a silent viewer. She feels like a coward.

Q4. What does Maddie want to do?

Ans. 4 – Maddie wanted to meet Wanda and tell her that she hadn’t wanted to hurt Wanda’s feelings. She wanted to go around and look for Wanda, to apologise to her and also to inform her that she had won the contest.

Page no. 76

Oral Comprehension Check

Q1. What excuses does Peggy think up for her behaviour? Why?

Ans. 1 – On her way to Boggins Heights, Peggy tried to justify her behaviour by arguing that she had never called Wanda a foreigner nor made fun of Wanda’s name. She even argued that she never expected Wanda to understand that they were making fun of her.

Q2. What are Maddie’s thoughts as they go to Boggins Heights?

Ans. 2 – Maddie hoped to find Wanda at home because she was anxious but eager to apologise to her. Maddie was also eager to congratulate Wanda and convey to her all the appreciation that had been showered upon Wanda and her exquisite designs. She wanted to plead with Wanda not to go away from Boggins Heights.

Q3. Why does Wanda’s house remind Maddie of Wanda’s blue dress?

Ans. 3 – Wanda’s house, a simple structure with a sparse little yard, reminded Maddie of Wanda’s faded blue dress because both – the house and the dress, were equally shabby yet clean.

Q4. What does Maddie think hard about? What important decision does she come to?

Ans. 4 – As Maddie spent a sleepless night, she thought hard about Wanda, her faded blue dress and the glowing picture of all those exquisitely designed dresses made as they were lined up in the classroom. After that long deep thought, she decided that she was never going to stand by quietly.

Page no. 79

Oral Comprehension Check

Q1. What did the girls write to Wanda?

Ans. 1 – Maddie and Peggy wrote a friendly letter to Wanda. They wanted to apologise for their behaviour but they ended up asking her whether she liked her new school and teacher. They informed her that she has won the drawing contest. They praised her drawing skills and also told how much other students liked her art. The letter was just a usual letter one may write to a good friend. 

Q2. Did they get a reply? Who was more anxious for a reply, Peggy or Maddie? How do you know?

Ans. 2 – Yes, Peggy and Maddie did get a reply to the letter, although not directly, as Wanda wrote to Miss Mason and not either of the two girls.

Maddie was more anxious for a reply as she had been more troubled because of all the teasing Wanda was made to suffer by her classmates, which made her leave the school and the town. We also know this through Maddie’s continuous deliberation over Wanda and the treatment she was meted out in school. Maddie had been craving to have just one word with Wanda to apologise and make amends with her.

Q3. How did the girls know that Wanda liked them even though they had teased her?

Ans. 3 – Both Maddie and Peggy realised that Wanda liked them although they had teased her because she had gifted them her two beautiful dresses, a green one with red trimmings to Peggy and the blue one to Maddie. She had even drawn their faces in the painting of the dresses they got. 

Thinking about the text

Q1. 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. 1 – Wanda’s family moved to a different city because they were Polish immigrants in America and hence received very different and humiliating treatment everywhere. People pointed at their appearance and unusual name and called them “Pollack” Even the kids, Wanda and her brother, Jake, were given no better treatment at school. They were picked out by other kids and teased for their “funny” name and their poor appearances To avoid this unfair and humiliating treatment, the family moved to a different city.

It cannot be said for sure if life in a different city would be different for them, but at least that’s what they hoped for. Mr. Petronski said that in the big city there were people of various kinds of names, meaning various places and ethnicities, so the chances of being accepted there were more.

Q2. Maddie thought her silence was as bad as Peggy’s teasing. Was she right?

Ans. 2 – Yes, Peggy was right in believing that her silence was as bad as Peggy’s teasing because silence is an approval and acceptance of the act. Moreover, Maddie believed her silence was worse because Peggy had not considered that she was being mean to Wanda, however, Maddie had.

Q3. 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?

Ans. 3  – Wanda never replied to Peggy’s misbehaviour and pranks that she faced everyday. So, her neutral face and unusual behaviour led Peggy to think that Wanda was dumb. Wanda even described the hundred dresses she said about though she wore the same old faded blue dress everyday. Later Peggy changed her opinion about Wanda after having a look at Wanda’s sketches and also her gesture of gifting her a beautiful drawing from those hundred sketches.

Q4. What important decision did Maddie make? Why did she have to think hard to do so?

Ans. 4 – Maddie decided that in the future she would never be a silent spectator whenever she saw someone picking on another person because they were funny looking or had a strange name. This was a very difficult decision for Maddie because it could mean Josing Peggy’s friendship. She realised that she could not under any circumstances make things right with Wanda. Thus, in order to repent for her mistakes, she decided that no matter what she would never repeat the same mistake again.

Q5. Why do you think Wanda gave Maddie and Peggy the drawings of the dresses? Why are they surprised?

Ans. 5 – Wanda gave Maddie and Peggy the drawings of her dresses because they made fun of her hundred dresses. They thought her to be a liar and never believed her. On receiving the drawings both of them were surprised because they hadn’t in the wildest of their dreams expected to receive those drawings. They had always laughed at her, insulted her and humiliated her. But Wanda, forgetting it all, had gifted the drawings to them.

Q6. Do you think Wanda really thought the girls were teasing her? Why or why not?

Ans. 6 – Yes, Wanda was aware of the misbehaviour of the girls who teased her everyday at school but she chose to remain silent. She exaggerated to have a hundred dresses and sixty pairs of matching shoes in her closet. She taught them a lesson about life by drawing the sketches of the hundred beautiful dresses she claimed to have and later asked Miss Mason to give the dresses to the girls of the class. 

Thinking about Language

QI. Here are thirty adjectives describing human qualities. Discuss them with your partner and put them in the two word webs (given below) according to whether you think they show positive or negative qualities. You can consult a dictionary if you are not sure of the meanings of some of the words. You may also add to the list the positive or negative ‘pair’ of a given word.

kind, sarcastic, courteous, arrogant, insipid, timid, placid, cruel, haughty, proud, zealous, intrepid, sensitive, compassionate, introverted, stolid, cheerful, contented, thoughtless, vain, friendly, unforgiving, fashionable, generous, talented, lonely, determined, creative, miserable, complacent

Ans. I –

POSITIVE – • Kind 

• Courteous

• Placid

• Zealous

• Intrepid

• Sensitive

• Compassionate

• Cheerful

• Contented

• Friendly

• Fashionable

• Generous

• Talented

• Determined

• Creative

NEGATIVE – • Complacent

• Sarcastic

• Arrogant

• Insipid

• Timid

• Cruel

• Haughty

• Proud

• Introverted

• Stolid

• Thoughtless

• Vain

• Unforgiving

• Lonely

• Miserable

QII. What adjectives can we use to describe Peggy, Wanda and Maddie? You can choose adjectives from the list above. You can also add some of your own.

1. Peggy ……………………………….
2. Wanda ……………………………..
3. Maddie ……………………………

Ans. II – 

(1) Peggy – Thoughtless, Sarcastic, Unforgiving, Arrogant, Haughty, Proud, Vain

(2) Wanda – Kind, Generous, Lonely, Courteous, Friendly, Compassionate, Introverted, Intrepid, Determined, Talented, Sensitive, Creative

(3) Maddie – Insipid, Miserable, Timid, Sensitive, Placid, Stolid

QIII. 1. Find the sentences in the story with the following phrasal verbs.

lined up, thought up, took off, stood by

Ans. 1 – (a) Lined up – She thought of the glowing picture of those hundred dresses all lined up in the classroom.

(b) Thought up – Peggy who had thought up this game and Maddie, her inseparable friend, were always the last to leave.

(c) Took off – Miss Mason took off her glasses, blew on them and wiped them on her soft white handkerchief.

(d) Stood by – She had stood by silently and that was just as bad as what Peggy had done.

2. Look up these phrasal verbs in a dictionary to find out if they can be used in some other way. (Look at the entries for line, think, take and stand in the dictionary.) Find out what other prepositions can go with these verbs. What does each of these phrasal verbs mean?

Ans. 2 – (a) Lined up – To align in an orderly manner

(b) Thought up – To use one’s mind to create or invent something

(c) Took off-To remove

(d) Stood by To remain aloof

IV. Colours are used to describe feelings, moods and emotions. Match the following ‘colour expressions’ with a suggested paraphrase.

Ans. 3 – 

(i) The Monday morning blues – Sadness or depression after a weekend of fun

(ii) Go red in the face – Feel embarrassed/angry/ ashamed

(iii) Look green – Feel very sick, as if about to vomit

(iv) The red carpet – A special welcome 

(v) Blue-blooded – Of noble birth or from a royal family

(vi) A green belt – Land around a town or city where construction is prohibited by law

(vii) A blackguard – A dishonest person with no sense of right or wrong

(viii) A grey area – An area of a subject or a situation where matters are not very clear

(ix) A white flag – A sign of surrender or acceptance of defeat; a wish to stop fighting

(x) A blueprint – A photographic print of building plans, a detailed plan or scheme

(xi) Red-handed – In an unlawful act; while doing something wrong

(xii) The green light – The sign or permission to begin an action