CBSE Class 10 English HOTs The Hundred Dresses II

Extract-Based Questions

Q. 1. Dear Teacher,
My Wanda will not come to your school anymore. Jake also. Now we move away to big city. No more holler 'Pollack'. No more ask why funny name. Plenty of funny names in the city.
Yours truly,
Jan Petronski 

Question. What, according to the letter, was the primary reason that prompted Mr Petronski to take the decision to move to a big city?
(a) His wish to achieve success in the big city.
(b) His urge to join his relatives who mostly lived in the big city.
(c) His anxiety over their poverty in the small city.
(d) His agony about his children being viewed as 'outsiders' by their schoolmates.
Answer : D

Question. Jan's tone in the writing of the letter IS NOT
(a) distressing.
(b) spiteful.
(c) hurt.
(d) painful.
Answer : B

Question. The phrase 'Pollack' reveals a discrimination on the basis of
(a) race.
(b) gender.
(c) religion.
(d) wealth.
Answer : A

Question. The dictionary says the following about migration.
Migration involves the movement of people (birds, fish etc.) from one place to another with intentions of settling, permanently or temporarily, at a new location (geographic region).
Which of the following options INCORRECTLY uses 'migration'?
(a) After gold was found in the uninhabited region, there was a migration to that area.
(b) Bears sleep through winters. This migration helps bears to use their stored energy much more slowly.
(c) There was a mass migration of youngsters to the tagged locale, to assist the cause for charity.
(d) Scientists have studied the migration of fish over long distances in the river.
Answer : B

Question. The line- Plenty of funny names in the city— suggests that the city
(a) is a melting pot of people from different parts of the world.
(b) has foreign people willing to give opportunities to the poor.
(c) is a safe haven for immigrants if they have funny names.
(d) has a special status for all who are willing to be funny.
Answer : A

Q. 2. Weeks went by and still Wanda did not answer.
Peggy had begun to forget the whole business, and Maddie put herself to sleep at night making speeches about Wanda, defending her from great crowds of girls who were trying to tease her with, "How many dresses have you got?" And before Wanda could press her lips together in a tight line, the way she did before answering, Maddie would cry out, "Stop!"

Question. Which primary feelings of Maddie does the extract reveal?
(a) guilt, regret and righteousness
(b) guilt and shame
(c) shame, regret and courage
(d) courage and righteousness
Answer : C

Question. Wanda didn't reply to the letter for weeks.
Pick the option that DOES NOT supply a possible reason for this, from those given below.
(a) The letter took more than a couple of weeks reaching her as it didn't have an address and needed to be forwarded.
(b) She needed time to forgive Maddie and Peggy and think her reply through.
(c) Peggy had second thoughts after mailing the letter and reclaimed it from the post office, to mail weeks later.
(d) She was occupied with settling in at the new school in the city.
Answer : C

Question. Choose the declaration which is likely to be received with the pressing of lips together in a tight line.

(a) Option 1
(b) Option 2
(c) Option 3
(d) Option 4
Answer : A

Question. Which of the following is most likely to be a part of Maddie's speech?
(a) Stop! I think it's about time we asked her a new question. This is not fun anymore. How about her faded dress?
(b) Stop! Don't you know that I'm the one who had to lead in Peggy's absence? This is unacceptable.
(c) Stop! How dare you all join in without Peggy's permission? Don't you know she'd be angry?
(d) Stop! Aren't you all ashamed of yourself? Why do you trouble her? She means no harm to anyone.
Answer : D

Question. Pick the option with a cause-effect relation, with reference to the given extract.
(a) Wanda's absence— Peggy missing Wanda
(b) Maddie's need to make amends - Confessing publicly
(c) Wanda's absence - Maddie's need to make amends
(d) Peggy teasing Wanda— Maddie's stand against it
Answer : C

Very Short Answer Type Questions

Question. Do you think Miss Mason had any idea about the hundred dresses 'fun' with Wanda? Why/Why not?
Answer : Yes, Miss Mason had understand about the hundred dresses ‘fun’ with Wanda after reading the content of letter sent by Mr. Jan Petronski, Wanda’s father. It affected Miss Mason deeply. She read it several times before disclosing it to the class.

Question. The Petronski's house and its yard looked shabby but clean. What can we infer about the Petronski family, from this information?
Answer : The Petronski’s house and it yard reminded us about Wanda’s faded blue dress which also looked shabby but clean. It also impressed that though they were poor, but they had civic sense.

Question. Why did Jan Petronski feel that the city would be a better option for his family to move to?
Answer : Jan Petronski felt that the city would be a better option because there were a lot of foreigners with unfamiliar names in big cities. But one thing seemed certain that no one would have made fun of Wanda’s name or looks.

Short Answer Type Questions

Question. Peggy says:
Besides, when I was asking her about all her dresses, she probably was getting good ideas for her drawings.
Explain why Peggy said this and what prompted her to say so.
Answer : Peggy said this to defend herself. She made such excuses as she was less moved by Wanda’s father’s letter. She told Maddie that she never called Wanda a foreigner. Nor did she make fun of her name. Her questioning about the dresses only gave her new ideas about dresses and helped her in winning the contest.

Question. Pen down your perception of Miss Mason as a teacher, in the complete story, The Hundred Dresses.
Answer : Miss Mason appears to us as a very mature and understanding human being. She is an ideal teacher. She understands the pulse of her students. Her students love and respect her even Wanda Petronski confesses in her letter that her new teacher in the big city can’t equalize Miss Mason. Miss Mason is full of human kindness.

Question. Based on your reading of the story, write your inference of Boggins Heights.
Answer : Boggins Height was a place where poor people lived. Wanda Petronski lived here with her family. It was not a developed area and was covered with mud. There were no proper roads or streets and it was a kind of slum. Because of no proper drainage system, the problem of water logging created unhygienic conditions there.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question. Wanda was regularly teased, but a closer look at her will tell the readers that far from being a subject of ridicule, she deserved praise for her unacknowledged qualities. Explain why she is actually praiseworthy, with reference to her situation and her behaviour.
Answer : Undoubtedly Wanda Petronski deserved praise for her unacknowledged qualities. Her letter written to her class teacher, Miss Mason, reveals many aspects of her noble character. First of all, it shows that Wanda is not vindictive. Though she had been a constant target and a stock of laughter for Peggy and other girls, she replied to their letter. There is no trace of it in her letter. On the other hand, she shows her generosity and love towards the girls of Room Thirteen. She requested Miss Mason to tell the girls that they can keep those hundred dresses. The other aspect of Wanda’s character is her large heartedness. She is of obliging and forgiving nature. She shows her love even to Peggy who used to torment her by asking embarrassing and humiliating questions about her hundred dresses and shoes. She offered to give the drawing of the green dress to Peggy and of the blue one to Maddie. She is not ‘dumb’ but a highly sensitive girl.

Question. Peggy routinely made fun of Wanda along with her classmates. In this context, justify the given statement:
One person's sense of humour can be another person's agony.
Answer : The above statement is absolutely true in Wanda’s context. Wanda’s family could no longer tolerate the mockery she was subjected to. Other students made fun of her name and called her ‘Pollack’. Peggy and other girls often teased her by asking her about her hundred dresses which she said she had ‘all lined up in her closet’ but wore the same faded blue dress that was too long and hung loosely on her body. Such a behaviour of her classmates led to her leaving the school and the city. However, she was an extraordinarily brilliant girls; her brilliance was hidden under her faded dress and her weird name. She must have felt lonely and miserable in the class. Though she belonged to a family that was not affluent, they were forced to leave the city. Wanda’s father wrote a letter to Wanda’s teacher complaining about the ill treatment his daughter had received from the American students.
Hence, one person’s sense of humour became the whole family ’s agony.

Question. Do you think the given quote applies to Maddie? Explain with reference to the text.
”I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.“
Answer : Maddie belongs to a poor family. But she felt lucky that she doesn’t live at Boggins heights. But she realizes how poverty and being different from others can be a curse. She knows that she receives the old dresses discarded by her friend Peggy. Maddie is a very sensitive and emotional girl. She feels very sad when Wanda’s father disclosed that he has withdrawn his daughter from the school. She has a very sick feeling in the bottom of her stomach. She cursed herself that she failed to stop Peggy from teasing Wanda. She realises that her silence and timidity is as bad as Peggy’s act. She resolves that she will speak up when someone true to make fun of anyone simply because his/her name is different. She will do so even if it means losing her friendship with Peggy. Maddie’s insistence on going to Wanda’s house at Boggin Heights and writing a letter to her shows her sensitiveness to feeling.