NCERT Solutions Class 10 English (First Flight) Chapter 5 (The Hundred Dresses – I)

Answer – Wanda sits in the next to the last seat in the last row in Room Thirteen. She sits in the comer of the room. There is noise by the scuffling of feet and roar of laughter.

2. Where does Wanda live? What kind of a place do you think it is?
Answer – Wanda lives up on Boggins Heights. It is not a clean place. It is muddy. Wanda’s feet are usually caked with mud. She has to walk through it as it is muddy.

3. When and Why do Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence?
Answer – Peggy and Maddie noticed Wanda’s absence when they were not late from school. Wanda had made them late to school. They used to make fun of her for her muddy shoes.

4. What do you think “to have fun with her” means?
Answer – In this context, ‘to have fun with her’ means that Peggy and Maddie would have made fun of Wanda and teased her for their own pleasure.

Oral Comprehension Check

1. In what way was Wanda different from the other children?
Answer – Wanda was different from other children. She did not have any friends. She came to school alone and went home alone. She always wore a faded blue dress that did not fit her properly. Unlike other children, she did not talk to anybody.

2. Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said she did?
Answer – No, she did not have a hundred dresses because she was poor and wore the same faded dress to school everyday. Probably, it was a child’s fantasy to possess a hundred dresses—a child who had only one dress to wear for school. The other children used to make fun of her poverty, and would have laughed at her whatever she might have said. This could have been the reason for her exaggerating everything.

3. Why is Maddie embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like Wanda, or is she different?
Answer – Maddie is embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda because she is also poor and understands the mental condition of Wanda. She also wears dresses handed down by rich family. Though, she is an American but she has the same mind-set as Wanda and doesn’t want anyone to tease Wanda because of her dress or her name.

Oral Comprehension Check

1. Why didn’t Maddie ask Peggy to stop teasing Wanda? What was she afraid of?
Answer – Maddie didn’t ask Peggy to stop teasing Wanda because Peggy was the most popular girl in the school. She was a nice girl but when it came to Wanda she behaved differently, otherwise she helped everyone in trouble. Though, she wants Peggy to stop teasing Wanda, she didn’t ask her to do so as she was afraid of being the next target of such taunts and teasings.

2. Who did Maddie think would win the drawing contest? Why?
Answer – Maddie thought that Peggy would win the drawing contest because Peggy drew better than anyone else. She could copy a picture in a magazine, or some film star’s face so well that one could tell who it was.

3. Who won the drawing contest? What had the winner drawn?
Answer – Peggy’s drawings always won prizes in the past. But now Wanda Petronski was the winner of the girls’ medal. In fact, she had drawn one hundred designs. All were different and beautiful. In the opinion of the judges, anyone of the drawings was worthy of winning the prize. They all had a strange magic about them.

Thinking about the Text

1. How is Wanda seen as different by the other girls? How do they treat her?
Answer – Wanda is seen as different by the other girls. It is because of her origin and dress. She always wears the same dress. Then her feet are usually caked with dry mud. They treat her badly. They make fun of her. They also belittle her.

2. How does Wanda feel about the dresses game? Why does she say that she has a hundred dresses?
Answer – Wanda feels badly about the dresses game. She says that she has a hundred dresses. It is to counter the fun,’other girls make of her. She feels insulted.

3. Why does Maddie stand by and does not do anything? How is she different from Peggy? or (was Peggy’s friendship important to Maddie? Why? Which lines in the text tell you this?)
Answer – Peggy is the most popular girl in the class and Maddie is her closest friend. Though, Maddie is poor, Peggy never teases her as she does with Wanda so Maddie is afraid of losing her friendship. That’s why, she does not risk to annoy Peggy and prefers to be silent. The line, “Peggy was the best-liked girl in the whole room. Peggy could not possibly do anything that was really wrong” illustrates this.

4. What does Miss Mason think of Wanda’s drawings? What do the children think of them? How do you know?
Answer – Miss Mason is very impressed with Wanda’s drawings. She considers them really beautiful and worthy of winning individually. The children are also impressed by the drawing skills of Wanda that they all applaud and whistle when she wins among the girls.

Thinking about Language

1. Combine the following to make sentences.
1. This is the bus (what kind of bus?). It goes to Agra, (use which or that).
2. I would like to buy, (a) shirt (which shirt?) (The) shirt is in the shop window, (use which or that)
3. You must break your fast at a particular time (when?). You see the moon in the sky. (use when)
4. Find a word (what kind of word?). It begins with the letter Z, (use which or that)
5. Now find a person (what kind of person ?) His or her name begins with the letter Z. (use whose)
6. Then go to a place (what place?). There are no people whose name begins with Z in that place, (use where)

Answer –
1. This is the bus that goes to Agra.
2. I would like to buy a shirt that is in the shop window.
3. You must break your fast at a particular time when you see the moon in the sky.
4. Find a word that begins with letter Z.
5. Now find a person whose name begins with letter Z.
6. Then go to a place where there are no people whose name begins with letter Z.

II. The Narrative Voice

1. Here are two other sentences from the story. Can you say whose point of view the italicised words express?
(i) But on Wednesday, Peggy and Maddie, who sat down in front with other children who got good marks and who didn’t track in a whole lot of mud, did notice that Wanda wasn’t there.
(ii) Wanda Petronski. Most of the children in room thirteen didn’t have names like that. They had names easy to say, like Thomas, Smith or Allen.

Answer –
(i) The italicised words express the point of view of Peggy and Maddie.
(ii) These italicised words express the point of view of other children of Wandas’ class excluding Peggy and Maddie.

3. Other such adverbs are apparently, evidently, surprisingly, possibly, hopefully, incredibly, luckily. Use these words appropriately in the blanks in the sentences below. (You may use a word more than once and more than one word may be appropriate for a given blank.)
1. ________, he finished his work on time.
2.________, it will not rain on the day of the match.
3. ________, he had been stealing money from his employer.
4. Television is ________ to blame for the increase in violence in society,
5. The children will ________ learn from their mistakes.
6. I can’t ________ lend you that much money.
7. The thief had ________ been watching the house for many days.
8. The thief ________ escaped by bribing the jailor.
9. ________ no one had suggested this before.
10. The water was ________ hot.

Answer –

1. Surprisingly, he finished his work on time.
2. Hopefully, it will not rain on the day of the match.
3. Possibly, he had been stealing money from his employer.
4. Television is evidendy to blame for the increase in violence in society,
5. The children will hopefully learn from their mistakes.
6. I can’t possibly lend you that much money.
7. The thief had apparendy been watching the house for many days.
8. The thief luckily escaped by bribing the jailor.
9. Incredibly no one had suggested this before.
10. The water was incredibly hot.

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