Class 10 English First Flight NCERT Solutions Chapter 6 – The Hundred Dressess – 2

NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight (Textbook in English for class X) covering all question answers of lessons and poetry and Footprints without feet (Supplementary Reader) updated for new academic session 2020-21.

Revision Notes Class 10 English

NCERT TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS SOLVED

Page No:74 Oral Comprehension Check

1.What did Mr Petronski’s letter say?
Ans: Mr Petronski’s letter said that Wanda would not come to school anymore as they were shifting to another city. He was hurt at the treatment meted out to his children in the school .He also said that in another city, nobody would ask them why they had funny names because bigger cities have cosmopolitan population.

2. Is Miss Mason angry with the class, or is she unhappy and upset?
Ans: Yes, Miss Mason is unhappy and upset rather than being angry.She was was disturbed by the ill treatment to Wanda by the students of her class. At the same time ,she believed that whatever the children did was just out of  childish thoughtlessness. She didn’t approve of the humiliation of a child just because of her name, looks or to where she belonged.She also hoped that children will learn a lesson from this episode.

3. How does Maddie feel after listening to the note from Wanda’s father?
Ans: After listening to the note from Wanda’s father, Maddie has a very sick and guilty feeling in the bottom of her stomach. She could not concentrate when she tried to prepare her lessons. She had not at all enjoyed listening to Peggy ask Wanda how many dresses she had in her closet.She felt bad on being a mute spectator and treated her behavior as of a coward.

4. What does Maddie want to do?
Ans: Maddie wants to tell Wanda that she didn’t want to hurt her feelings and also that whatever fun they made of her was a childish prank and they didn’t really mean to humiliate her.

Page No: 76 Oral Comprehension Check

1. What excuses does Peggy think up for her behavior? Why?
Ans: Peggy thinks of different excuses for her behavior. She was satisfied that she never called Wanda a foreigner or made fun of her name. Peggy thinks that she was the inspiration behind Wanda’s drawings.Had she not asked Wanda about how many dresses she had,she would not have drawn so beautifully.Peggy realized that she had made a mistake of making fun of Wanda but she did not want to confess openly .So she tried making such excuses.

2. What are Maddie’s thoughts as they go to Boggins Heights?
Ans: Maddie is feeling bad about Wanda and herself. She is feeling very sad for not even getting a chance to say sorry to Wanda.She is also thinking to tell her that the whole school thought how wonderful she was and that she must not leave the school because of their behavior.

3. Why does Wanda’s house remind Maddie of Wanda’s blue dress?
Ans: Wanda’s blue dress was old, faded but used to be neat and clean. Similarly her house was small and makeshift but clean.  Wanda was a poor girl but she was sober and probably more mature than other kids of her age. May be her hardships had taught her great lessons in the life, which is evident in the way she used to keep her dress or her house.

Page No: 77 Oral Comprehension Check

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

Ans: Wanda thinks about not letting anything wrong happen to anyone. She makes a vow that she would protest against injustice. She won’t be a mute spectator the way she was in Wanda’s case. In a way, the episode of Wanda’s family leaving that city works as major turn of heart that completely changed Maddie’s personality.

Page No: 79 Oral Comprehension Check

1. What did the girls write to Wanda?

Ans: The girls actually wanted to write a letter stating their true feelings and that they felt sorry for making fun of her but landed up writing a formal letter telling her that she had won the contest. They also wrote how pretty her drawings were. They asked her if she liked the place where she was living and if she liked her new teacher. They wanted to say that they were sorry.However, they could not gather the courage to write what they actually felt and ended up just writing a friendly letter. They signed it with lots of X’s for love.

2.Did they get a reply? Who was more anxious for a reply, Peggy or Maddie? How do you know?
Ans: No, they did not get a reply. Maddie was more anxious for a reply as she thought a lot about it and felt connected to Wanda as she was also from a poor family. She was getting anxious of not getting a chance to say sorry to Wanda.It was Maddie who first noticed her face on Wanda’s drawing. Peggy, on the other hand, had begun to forget about the whole affair. This shows that Maddie was more anxious for a reply than Peggy.

3. How did the girls know that Wanda liked them even though they had teased her?
Ans: The girls came to know that Wanda liked them even though they had teased her as she had asked Miss Mason to give the green dress with red trimming to Peggy and the blue one to Maddie. Later, when Maddie looked at the drawings very carefully, she realized that the dress had a face and a head, which looked very much like her own self. The other drawing had Peggy’s face. This clearly indicated Wanda’s liking for them.

Thinking about the Text

1. 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: Wanda’s family moved to different city because  her father felt hurt when the children teased Wanda.He had an opinion that bigger cities have cosmopolitan population  and they are attuned to seeing people from different cultures and races and have a better sense of cultural sensibilities.He hoped to have a better life in big city.

2. Maddie thought her silence was as bad as Peggy’s teasing. Was she right?
Ans: Yes, Maddie was right when she thought that her silence was as bad as Peggy’s teasing because her silence encouraged Peggy to tease her more. A person who partners the offense is equally responsible for the wrong doing. Maddie was too afraid to say anything because she did not want to lose Peggy’s friendship. Also, she was poor herself, so she feared that everybody would make fun of her too.

3. 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: Peggy believed that Wanda was dumb as she could not understand why Wanda said she had a hundred dresses, even when everybody knew that she was poor.Wanda’s unusual behavior led Peggy to believe that Wanda was dumb. Wanda never reacted to all the pranks and misbehavior which she had to suffer every day. She knew everybody was laughing at her. Even then, she kept giving the same answer. Peggy changed her opinion later when she saw the hundred dresses Wanda had talked about. She saw the drawings and was highly impressed by their beauty. She realized that Wanda was a very good artist.

Page No: 81

4. What important decision did Maddie make? Why did she have to think hard to do so?
Ans: The important decision that Maddie made was that she would never stand by and be a mute spectator of racial discrimination.Earlier, she was torn between her loyalty to Peggy and her sense of right and wrong.But now, she had mustered the courage to fight for injustice,even if she loses her dear friend Peggy. She knew she could not make things right with Wanda. However, she had decided that in future, she would never make anybody else unhappy again.She was disappointed that she could not find Wanda at her home. She could not sleep that night. She thought about Wanda, her faded blue dress, and the little house she lived in. She also thought about the hundred glowing pictures, which were all lined up in the classroom. She was feeling guilty of not having said anything when everybody else was teasing Wanda. It was her guilt that made her think very hard and arrive at the important decision.

5. Why do you think Wanda gave Maddie and Peggy the drawings of the dresses? Why are they surprised?
Ans: Maddie and Peggy wrote a friendly letter to Wanda but she did not reply for a long time.Wanda requested Mrs Mason to give two of her drawing to Maddie and Peggy ,perhaps  this way she wanted to show both of them that she has forgiven and forgotten their behavior. They both were surprised because they always made fun of here dresses and insulted her, but she had gifted them with those beautiful designs.

6. Do you think Wanda really thought the girls were teasing her? Why or why not?
Ans : Yes, Wanda knew that girls were teasing her .She appears to be a smart enough to understand her surroundings well. She knew that the children intended to make fun of her poverty and laughed at her .Though she seems mentally conditioned but this could have been the reason for her exaggerating everything whenever she answered their questions.

Thinking about the Language

I. 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 words.

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:

Page No: 81

II.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: 1. Peggy: sarcastic, cheerful, contented
2. Wanda:  kind, timid, introvert, generous, talented, lonely, creative
3. Maddie:  kind, timid, sensitive, miserable, understanding

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

Ans: (i) lined up
And she thought of the glowing picture those hundred dresses made − all lined up in the classroom.
(ii) thought up
Peggy, who had thought up this game, and Maddie, her inseparable friend, were always the last to leave.
(iii) took off − Miss Mason took off her glasses, blew on them and wiped them on her soft white handkerchief.
(ivi) stood by − She had stood by silently, and that was just as bad as what Peggy had done.

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

Ans: