CBSE Class 10 English The Hundred Dresses II Worksheet

THE HUNDRED DRESSES PART II

GIST
The Hundred Dresses Part II tells us why Wanda Petronski had not been attending school. Her father informed her teacher through a note that his family had decided to move to a big city where no one would bother about their strange and unfamiliar name. On hearing the contents of the note, Maddie and Peggy became anxious as they realized that they would never get a chance to make up with Wanda for teasing and taunting her the way they had. They tried to and meet and reconcile with Wanda by going to Boggins Heights but to their dismay there was no sign of the family. Later, around Christmas time, they were both relieved to learn that Wanda really liked them and she had no hard feelings against them. She had even dedicated one of the hundred drawn dresses to each one of them as their faces were drawn along with the dresses.

Character Sketch of Wanda Petronski
Wanda is depicted as a very talented young lady. She is able to draw a variety of dresses along with the faces of her classmates. She even wins a medal at the drawing contest. She was also a sensitive girl who knew when Peggy hurt her by her rude questions about her dresses, hats and so on.
However, she was mature in her thoughts and forgiving towards Peggy and Maddie. As Peggy in her own words says, Wanda may have got ideas for all those dresses from her taunts. She was thus able to turn her taunts into triumphs. This clearly shows that she is superior in attitude as she is able to think above these petty issues and dwell on things that have far more reaching consequences.

Read the passage given below and answer the questions that follow : 

1. The minute they entered the classroom, they stopped short and gasped. There were drawings all over the room, on every ledge and windowsill, dazzling colours and brilliant, lavish designs, all drawn on great sheets of wrapping paper. There must have been a hundred of them, all lined up. These must be the drawings for the contest. They were! Everybody stopped and whistled or murmured admiringly.

Question. On seeing what, Maggie and Peggy gasped?
a. poems
b. drawings
c. notices
d. essays
Answer.drawings

Question. The drawings must have been ___________.
a. fifty
b. forty
c. hundred
d. two-hundred
Answer.hundred

Question. Everybody stopped and ___________ or murmured admiringly.
a. whistled
b. appreciated
c. clapped
d. regarded
Answer.whistled

Question. Which word in the passage means ‘very bright’ ?
a. wrapping
b. dazzling
c. windowsillling
Answer.dazzling

Read the given extracts to attempt the questions that follow:

Dear Teacher:
My Wanda will not come to your school any more. 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 big city.
Yours truly,
Jan Petronski
A deep silence met the reading of this letter. Miss Mason took off her glasses, blew on them and wiped them on her soft white handkerchief. Then she put them on again and looked at the class. When she spoke her voice was very low.

Question. What did Mr. Petronski’s letter say?
(1) Wanda would not come to school.
(2) In big city no one asks why do they have funny name.
(3) Wanda will get married soon .
(4) Wanda was injured in an accident.
(5) Wanda’s father lost his employment.
a. Only (1)
b. Both (1) and (2)
c. Both (2) and (3)
d. Only (3)
Answer. b. Both (1) and (2)

Question. Select the most appropriate option for (1) and (2).
(1) A deep silence met the reading of this letter.
(2) The class was astonished and upset after hearing the letter.
a. (1) is true and (2) is False.
b. (2) is opposite of (1).
c. (1) furthers the meaning of (2).
d. Both (1) and (2) can’t be inferred from the above extract.
Answer. c. (1) furthers the meaning of (2).

Question. From the options given below, identify the tone of Miss Mason.
a. Angry
b. Happy
c. Excited
d. Disappointed
Answer. d. Disappointed

Question. Select an option that displays an example of “A deep silence”.
a. An abandoned house with some activity or sound.
b. Students sitting without making noise.
c. A silence followed by a tragic news.
d. A calmly flowing river.
Answer. c. A silence followed by a tragic news.

Question. What do we get to know about Wanda when the letter stated “No more ask why funny name. Plenty of funny names in the big city”?
a. Wanda was happy to be mocked.
b. Wanda was somewhat offended when her classmates made fun of her name.
c. Wanda was an intelligent girl.
d. Wanda was an unkind person.
Answer. b. Wanda was somewhat offended when her classmates made fun of her name.

Read the given extracts to attempt the questions that follow:

On Saturday Maddie spent the afternoon with Peggy. They were writing a letter to Wanda Petronski. It was just a friendly letter telling about the contest and telling Wanda she had won. They told her how pretty her drawings were. And they asked her if she liked where she was living and if she liked her new teacher. They had meant to say they were sorry, but it ended up with their just writing a friendly letter, the kind they would have written to any good friend, and they signed it with lots of X’s for love. They mailed the letter to Boggins Heights, writing ‘Please Forward’ on the envelope. Days passed and there was no answer, but the letter did not come back, so maybe Wanda had received it. Perhaps she was so hurt and angry she was not going to answer. You could not blame her.

Question. What was the “made-up” intention behind writing a letter to Wanda?
a. To make fun of her name.
b. To make fun of her dress.
c. To tell her about the contest she won and an intention to extend friendship.
d. To inform her about the results in which she topped the exam.
Answer. c. To tell her about the contest she won and an intention to extend friendship.

Question. “… her how pretty her drawings were ….”, referred to?
a. Maddie
b. Wanda
c. Peggy
d. Manson
Answer. b. Wanda

Question. The original intent of Maddie and Peggy behind writing a letter was:
a. to say sorry to Wanda for their behaviour.
b. to mock Wanda further.
c. to offer some money to Wanda.
d. to call her back to the school.
Answer. a. to say sorry to Wanda for their behaviour.

Question. What could be the reason behind unresponsiveness of Wanda towards Maddie and Peggy’s letter?
a. Wanda was disdainful.
b. Wanda was angry.
c. Wanda was arrogant.
d. No definite conclusion can be drawn about Wanda’s unresponsiveness.
Answer. d. No definite conclusion can be drawn about Wanda’s unresponsiveness.

Question. Select the suitable word from the extract to complete the following:
Active: Lazy:: Hostile :
a. Hurt
b. Angry
c. Friendly
d. Pretty
Answer. c. Friendly

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow. 

1. Tears blurred her eyes and she gazed for a long time at the picture. Then she gazed at it intently.

Question. What did she learn when she studied the picture intently?
Answer.When she looked at the picture intently she realized that the face of the drawing resembled her face. Wanda had drawn Maddie.

Question. What was her reaction?
Answer. Maddie goes to Peggy’s house and asks her to show her the picture given by Wanda. They both discover that Wanda had drawn both of them in her dresses.

Question. Why were Maddie’s eyes blurred with tears?
Answer.Maddie’s eyes were blurred with tears because she knew she would never meet Wanda and make things right between them. Wanda had forgiven her and had even given her the drawing as a gift.

2. ‘A deep silence met the reading of this letter. Miss Mason took off her glasses, blew on them and wiped them on her soft white handkerchief. Then she put them on again and looked at the class.When she spoke her voice was very low.’

Question. What was the content of the letter?
Answer.The letter contained the news that neither Wanda nor her brother would come to that school anymore as the Petronski’s were moving to a big city where no one would bother them about their name.

Question. Whose letter did Miss Mason read?
Answer.It was a note from Jan Petronski, father of Wanda.

Question. What was the impact of this letter on the class?
Answer.The whole class was silent. But two of them i.e. Maddie and Peggy were left questioning themselves as to whether they were right in their treatment of Wanda. 

Short Answer Questions :

Question. What was the content of Jan Petronski’s letter?
Answer.The letter contained the news that neither Wanda nor her brother would come to that school anymore as the Petronski’s were moving to a big city where no one would bother them about their strange name.

Question.Why was Maddie unable to concentrate on preparing her lessons?
Answer.Maddie was unable to prepare her lessons as she felt guilty of keeping quiet when Peggy hurt Wanda’s feelings by asking embarrassing questions which ultimately resulted in Wanda
leaving the school for good.

Question. Why did Peggy and Maggie go to Boggins Heights?
Answer.Peggy and Maddie went to Boggins Heights to meet Wanda and apologies for being so thoughtless to her. They also wanted to tell her not to leave the school and promise to fight
anyone who was nice to her.

Question. What did Wanda convey through her letter?
Answer.Wanda wanted to tell the classmates that they could have the hundred dresses that she had drawn for them as she had another hundred in her closet. In particular Peggy and Maddie could have the green and blue respectively. She wished them a merry Christmas and said that she missed her old school and teacher.

Question. What did Maddie notice when she looked at the drawing given to her by Wanda?
Answer. Maddie looked at the dresses with vivid colours that Wanda drew. She did not look at the faces. Later, she realised that Wanda had drawn the beautiful dresses for Maddie and Peggy with their faces to match. 

Long Answer Questions : 

Question. Compare and contrast the characters of Maddie and Peggy.
Answer.Although Maddie and Peggy were friends, they differed considerably in their attitude towards Wanda. While Peggy took delight in teasing Wanda, Maddie did not quite like it as she too was not a very rich girl. When Miss Mason read Jan Petronski’s letter to the class Maddie was deriding herself for being a coward who did not have the courage to stand up to help a girl who was being ridiculed. Peggy, too, felt that she had contributed to Wanda’s going away but she had no regrets and covered her feelings with pretended casualness. She suggested that they go and meet Wanda at Boggs Heights to which Maddie readily agreed. When the two were unable to meet the Petronski’s, Peggy felt that they had done their part and even thought that she should be given credit for giving Wanda new ideas for her dresses. Maddie on the other hand is penitent and decides never to treat anyone or allow anyone to be treated the way Wanda was.

Question. Wanda was successful in turning her taunts into triumphs. Justify this statement.
Answer.Wanda was hounded by Peggy and asked the same embarrassing question. She had the same answer. She did not show her anger or irritation at being humiliated. Peggy thought her to be so dumb that she did not even know that she was being made fun of. However, Wanda kept all these taunts to herself and showed her maturity by responding positively and giving it back to her in the best possible way – by beating her in her own game at drawing. When everyone thought Peggy would win the drawing contest, Wanda won it and the admiration of all the students and her teacher. Wanda shows her magnanimity by forgiving Peggy and gifting her a drawing which would constantly remind her of herself and the treatment that was meted out to her. She thus converted her taunts into triumphs.

Short answer type questions

1. What desperate efforts were made by Patol Babu to earn a decent living ?
2. Describe the scene outside the Faraday House as seen by Patol B abu .
3. What are the reasons stated by Lavinia for not getting rid of the Ouija board ?
4. Why did the writer become overconfident about his ability to write ghost stories?
5. Lavinia entered the narrator’s room with a solid finality. What was her purpose ?
6. Why was John shocked to see the activities of the members of the ‘Book Club’?
7. How did Lavinia react when she saw Helen?
8. While playing Wildwest, Michael found himself in a particular role? What was it and how did he behave in the game ?
9. What was the objective of the game‘Dragon quest’?
10. How did Michael connect Sebastian s recovery from coma with the result of the last game ?
11. Bring out the irony of the poet’s act of throwing a log at the snake .
12. The poem Snake is a conflict between man’s head and heart. Discuss.
13. Bring out the message conveyed through the poem ‘Snake ‘.
14. Describe the physical appearance of the ‘Ancient mariner’.
15. What message does the poet want to convey through the poem, ’Rime of the Ancient Mariner.’
Mrs. Girija Jayasankar
1X-X Boys’ Section