The Hundred Dresses-I
Questions & Answers
1. Where in the classroom does Wanda sit and why?
Ans: Wanda sits in the next-to-last seat in the last row of Room 13. She sits there not because she is rough, but because she is very quiet and rarely says anything. It is also the corner where the “rough boys” who do not get good marks sit, and where there is the most scuffing of feet and mud on the floor.
2. Where does Wanda live? What kind of place do you think it is?
Ans: Wanda lives at Boggins Heights. It is a remote area on the outskirts of town. It seems to be a poor, underdeveloped neighborhood, as the paths are often muddy, which is why Wanda’s shoes are usually covered in dirt when she arrives at school.
3. When and why do Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence?
Ans: Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence on Wednesday. They notice it because they had waited for her at the corner of Oliver Street to have some “fun” with her (tease her), and she never showed up, making them late for school.
4. What do you think “to have fun with her” means?
Ans: In this context, “to have fun with her” means to mock or tease her. The girls, especially Peggy, would wait for Wanda just to ask her sarcastic questions about her “hundred dresses” to make themselves feel superior.
5. In what way was Wanda different from other children?
Ans: Wanda was different in several ways: she had an uncommon Polish last name (Petronski), she lived in the poor area of Boggins Heights, and she always wore the same faded blue dress that didn’t hang right. Unlike the other children, she had no friends and sat in silence in the back of the room.
6. Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said she did?
Ans: No, Wanda did not have a hundred physical dresses; she only had one faded blue dress. She likely claimed to have a hundred dresses as a defense mechanism against the constant teasing. To her, the “hundred dresses” existed in her mind as her creative designs, proving that her talent and imagination were more important than her actual wealth.
7. Why is Maddie embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like Wanda or is she different?
Ans: Maddie is embarrassed because she is also poor and wears hand-me-down clothes (often Peggy’s old dresses that her mother tries to disguise). She is afraid that if Peggy stops teasing Wanda, Maddie might become the next target. While she is poor like Wanda, she is different because she has a close friend (Peggy) and is not an outcast.
8. Why didn’t Maddie ask Peggy to stop teasing Wanda? What was she afraid of?
Ans: Maddie didn’t ask Peggy to stop because Peggy was her best friend and the most popular girl in school. Maddie feared that if she stood up for Wanda, the group would turn on her and start mocking her own poor background and clothing.
9. Who did Maddie think would win the drawing competition? Why?
Ans: Maddie thought Peggy would win the drawing contest for girls. Peggy was considered the best artist in the class; she could draw well enough to copy pictures from magazines or sketch film stars’ heads with great accuracy.
10. Who won the drawing contest? What had the winner drawn?
Ans: Wanda Petronski won the drawing competition. Instead of one or two sketches, she submitted one hundred different designs of beautiful dresses, all in glowing colors and exquisite detail.
11. How is Wanda seen as different by other girls? How do they treat her?
Ans: The other girls see Wanda as an “outsider” due to her strange name, her poverty, and her living in Boggins Heights. They treat her with condescension and mockery. They wait for her after school specifically to play the “dresses game,” which is a form of psychological bullying intended to make her feel inferior.
12. How does Wanda feel about the dresses game? Why does she say she has a hundred dresses?
Ans: Wanda feels deeply hurt and humiliated, but she maintains a stoic, silent exterior. She claims to have a hundred dresses and sixty pairs of shoes “all lined up in her closet” to shield herself from the pain of being poor. Eventually, she proves her claim by drawing all one hundred of them for the contest.
13. Why does Maddie stand by and not do anything? How is she different from Peggy?
Ans: Maddie stays silent because her friendship with Peggy is her “social security.” She believes Peggy is a good person who “couldn’t possibly do anything really wrong,” so she ignores her own conscience. Unlike Peggy, who teases Wanda out of thoughtlessness, Maddie feels guilty because she knows exactly how it feels to be poor.
14. What does Miss Mason think of Wanda’s drawings? What do the children think?
Ans: Miss Mason is incredibly impressed, stating that any one of Wanda’s drawings is worthy of winning the prize. The children are also awestruck; the boys whistle in admiration, and even Peggy and Maddie realize that Wanda had been telling the truth about her “hundred dresses” all along—they were her artistic creations.