Lesson-5

The Hundred Dresses Part I

By El Bsor Ester

The Hundred Dresses Part I Introduction

The lesson "The Hundred Dresses I" is about Wanda, a girl who claims to have a hundred dresses. Her classmates mocked her because her claims contradicted the fact that she was always seen wearing the same dress. Her classmates thought her name was "funny." It was because everyone else's names were "easier" than 'Wanda Petronski.' Her name was unusual because she was a Polish immigrant who had moved to America with her family. She was impoverished and had few friends. She was quiet and always sat in the far corner of the classroom. The truth about the hundred dresses was revealed when she entered a drawing contest with her hundred drawings. They were the same hundred dresses she'd mentioned before. They were all breathtakingly beautiful.

The Hundred Dresses Part I Summary

The plot revolves around Wanda Petronski, a quiet and shy Polish immigrant who immigrated to America with her family. She went to school with American kids who thought her name was strange, possibly the strangest in the class. This is due to the fact that they all had simpler names. She was impoverished and always wore a faded blue dress. Her classmates made fun of her because she claimed to have a hundred dresses "all lined up" in her closet, despite the fact that she was always seen wearing one. Peggy and Maddie, her two best friends, were the ones who teased her the most. Peggy was the most well-known girl at school, while Wanda was barely known.

Peggy and Maddie used to stand in line for Wanda before school, even if it meant being late. Maddie, a poor girl herself, was offended when Peggy mocked Wanda. She was afraid she would be next. She wanted Peggy to stop making fun of Wanda, but she couldn't bring herself to confront her for fear of losing her best friend. Peggy's intention was never to hurt Wanda, but she was curious as to why Wanda felt compelled to lie about having a hundred dresses in her closet.

The truth about the same hundred dresses revealed on the drawing competition's result day. The room was lined with one hundred drawings of various dresses, each of which was stunning. She did, in fact, have "a hundred dresses all lined up" that day, but in the classroom. Peggy and Maddie, who were awestruck at the time, realised the theory of a hundred dresses and felt guilty for having treated her badly.

The Hundred Dresses Part I Lesson Explanation

TODAY, Monday, Wanda Petronski was not in her seat. But nobody, not even Peggy and Madeline, the girls who started all the fun, noticed her absence. Usually Wanda sat in the seat next to the last seat in the last row in Room Thirteen. She sat in the corner of the room where the rough boys who did not make good marks sat, the corner of the room where there was most scuffling of feet, most roars of laughter when anything funny was said, and most mud and dirt on the floor. Wanda did not sit there because she was rough and noisy. On the contrary, she was very quiet and rarely said anything at all. And nobody had ever heard her laugh out loud. Sometimes she twisted her mouth into a crooked sort of smile, but that was all.

• Scuffling of feet- noisy, dragging movements of the feet on the ground

Wanda Petronski is the protagonist of this storey, as are her classmates Peggy and Madeline, who tease her. On Monday, the plot of the storey begins. Wanda's absence went unnoticed by Peggy and Madeline. These were the girls who initiated all of the teasing. Wanda usually sat in the corner of the classroom with the less-than-academically brilliant and loud guys. That was the dirtiest part of the classroom, but Wanda was not like those boys. She was so quiet that no one had ever heard her laugh.

Nobody knew exactly why Wanda sat in that seat, unless it was because she came all the way from Boggins Heights and her feet were usually caked with dry mud. But no one really thought much about Wanda Petronski, once she sat in the corner of the room. The time when they thought about Wanda was outside of school hours — at noon-time when they were coming back to school or in the morning early before school began, when groups of two or three, or even more, would be talking and laughing on their way to the school yard. Then, sometimes, they waited for Wanda — to have fun with her.

No one ever understood why Wanda sat there because she was nothing like those boys. There were only educated guesses that it was because she was from Boggins Heights and her shoes were always filthy from all the mud. People hardly noticed her in the classroom because she was always silent and alone. They only thought of her before or after school hours, when groups of kids would gather to mock her. Some people used to wait even if it meant being late for school.

The next day, Tuesday, Wanda was not in school, either. And nobody noticed her absence again. But on Wednesday, Peggy and Maddie, who sat down 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. Peggy was the most popular girl in school. She was pretty, she had many pretty clothes and her hair was curly. Maddie was her closest friend. The reason Peggy and Maddie noticed Wanda’s absence was because Wanda had made them late to school. They had waited and waited for Wanda, to have some fun with her, and she just hadn’t come. They often waited for Wanda Petronski — to have fun with her.

Wanda's absence from the meeting on Tuesday went unnoticed. However, it wasn't until Wednesday that Maddie and Peggy noticed her absence. It was also the time when they waited before school to mock her but ended up being late because she didn't show up. Peggy was the most well-known girl who dressed neatly. She sat with the class's top students. No one ever inquired as to why Wanda was no longer attending school. They only cared that they couldn't make fun of her.

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. There was one boy named Bounce, Willie Bounce, and people thought that was funny, but not funny in the same way that Petronski was.

Wanda was a Pole who had immigrated to the United States. Her classmates thought "Wanda Petronski" was a strange name because they all had simpler and easier "American" names, with the exception of a guy named Willie Bounce, who they thought sounded funny but was still inferior to "Petronski." Her name was long and unfamiliar to them. This demonstrates that those children did not understand diversity and that whatever they did was done in haste.

Wanda didn’t have any friends. She came to school alone and went home alone. She always wore a faded blue dress that didn’t hang right. It was clean, but it looked as though it had never been ironed properly. She didn’t have any friends, but a lot of girls talked to her. Sometimes, they surrounded her in the school yard as she stood watching the little girls play hopscotch on the worn hard ground.

• Didn’t hang right- didn’t fit properly
• Hopscotch- a game in which children hop into and over squares marked on the ground

Wanda was usually seen in a faded blue dress that was too small for her. Even though it was clean, it appeared unironed. This demonstrates that Wanda came from a poor family that couldn't afford too many dresses. Ironically, a lot of people talked to her, but she didn't have any friends because they all talked to her to mock her. They found everything amusing, from her storey about a hundred dresses to her strange name. When she used to sit on the ground and watch little girls play, other students surrounded her and mocked her.

“Wanda,” Peggy would say in a most courteous manner as though she were talking to Miss Mason. “Wanda,” she’d say, giving one of her friends a nudge, “tell us. How many dresses did you say you had hanging up in your closet?” “A hundred,” Wanda would say. “A hundred!” exclaimed all the little girls incredulously, and the little ones would stop playing hopscotch and listen. “Yeah, a hundred, all lined up,” said Wanda. Then her thin lips drew together in silence. “What are they like? All silk, I bet,” said Peggy. “Yeah, all silk, all colours.” “Velvet, too?” “Yeah, velvet too. A hundred dresses,” Wanda would repeat stolidly. “All lined up in my closet.” Then they’d let her go. And then before she’d gone very far, they couldn’t help bursting into shrieks and peals of laughter.

• Nudge- a gentle push
• Incredulously- showing unwillingness to believe
• Courteous- polite, respectful
• Stolidly- calm, dependable, and showing little emotion and animation
• Shrieks- scream

Peggy used to ask Wanda how many dresses she had in a very polite and respectful tone, with no intention of hurting her. They mocked her because they couldn't figure out why she made up the storey about the hundred dresses. They did all of this oblivious to the fact that it could harm her. Nobody believed her when she said she had a hundred dresses lined up in her closet. The little girls would stop playing to see what was going on as the other girls screamed in surprise. Wanda would respond to their inquiries by stating that she, too, had dresses made of velvet and silk. Unfortunately, they all used to mock her after she left.

A hundred dresses! Obviously, the only dress Wanda had was the blue one she wore every day. So why did she say she had a hundred? What a story! “How many shoes did you say you had?” “Sixty pairs. All lined up in my closet.” Cries of exaggerated politeness greeted this.

“All alike?” “Oh, no. Every pair is different. All colours. All lined up.” Peggy, who had thought up this game, and Maddie, her inseparable friend, were always the last to leave. Finally Wanda would move up the street, her eyes dull and her mouth closed, hitching her left shoulder every now and then in the funny way she had, finishing the walk to school alone.

• Exaggerated- overemphasise
• Her eyes dull- having eyes wanting brightness, liveliness, and vivacity

Wanda's words were difficult to believe because the only dress she was seen wearing was the faded blue one. No one could figure out why she lied. They were never rude to her, even when they were teasing her. Thus, they continued to question her in the same tone about the number of shoes she claimed to have, to which she replied "sixty," each pair different. Though she was polite, it was Peggy's idea to embarrass her like that. Peggy and Maddie, the inseparable friends, were the last to leave school, while Wanda would return alone with her dull eyes and strange behaviour.

Peggy was not really cruel. She protected small children from bullies. And she cried for hours if she saw an animal mistreated. If anybody had said to her, “Don’t you think that is a cruel way to treat Wanda?” she would have been very surprised. Cruel? Why did the girl say she had a hundred dresses? Anybody could tell that that was a lie. Why did she want to lie? And she wasn’t just an ordinary person, else why did she have a name like that? Anyway, they never made her cry.

• Bullies- someone who hurts or frightens someone else, often over a period of time, and forcing them to do something that they do not want to do.
• Mistreated- to treat someone badly

Peggy was not the mean girl she had previously been portrayed as. She rescued children from whoever was torturing them and couldn't stand it when animals were mistreated. She claimed she wasn't being rude to Wanda. Wanda's lie about the number of dresses she owned seemed very strange to her, and her name was even stranger. They never made Wanda cry, no matter how much they teased her.

As for Maddie, this business of asking Wanda every day how many dresses and how many hats, and how many this and that she had was bothering her. Maddie was poor herself. She usually wore somebody’s hand-me-down clothes. Thank goodness, she didn’t live up on Boggins Heights or have a funny name.

Maddie didn't like the idea of making fun of Wanda's abundance of clothes and accessories because she cared about her, but because she was poor herself. She wore clothes given to her by others, but she wasn't as poor as Wanda, didn't live in Boggins Heights, and didn't even have a strange name.

Sometimes, when Peggy was asking Wanda those questions in that mocking polite voice, Maddie felt embarrassed and studied the marbles in the palm of her hand, rolling them around and saying nothing herself. Not that she felt sorry for Wanda, exactly. She would never have paid any attention to Wanda if Peggy hadn’t invented the dresses game. But suppose Peggy and all the others started in on her next? She wasn’t as poor as Wanda, perhaps, but she was poor. Of course she would have more sense than to say she had a hundred dresses. Still she would not like for them to begin on her. She wished Peggy would stop teasing Wanda Petronski.

Maddie didn't like teasing Wanda, so when Peggy asked her those questions, she would silently count the marbles in her hand while pretending to play with them. Maddie would never have known Wanda existed if that dress-up game hadn't been invented. She was uneasy not because she cared about Wanda, but because she was afraid she might be next. Even though she wasn't stupid enough to say she had a hundred dresses, she wished Peggy wouldn't tease Wanda.

Today, even though they had been late to school, Maddie was glad she had not had to make fun of Wanda. She worked her arithmetic problems absentmindedly. “Eight times eight — let’s see…” She wished she had the nerve to write Peggy a note, because she knew she never would have the courage to speak right out to Peggy, to say, “Hey, Peg, let’s stop asking Wanda how many dresses she has.” When she finished her arithmetic she did start a note to Peggy.

• Absentmindedly- distracted

Wanda didn't show up that day, and after waiting for her for so long, Maddie and Peggy were late for school. Maddie was secretly relieved that they wouldn't be able to make fun of Wanda. She was preoccupied with her own thoughts and was unable to concentrate on her studies. After finishing arithmetic, she kept thinking about writing a note to Peggy telling her to stop making fun of Wanda, which she did. She wanted to write a note because she didn't have the courage to say it to her face.

Suddenly she paused and shuddered. She pictured herself in the school yard, a new target for Peggy and the girls. Peggy might ask her where she got the dress that she had on, and Maddie would have to say it was one of Peggy’s old ones that Maddie’s mother had tried to disguise with new trimmings so no one in Room Thirteen would recognise it.

• Shuddered- shake, tremble
• Disguise- to give a different appearance to conceal its identity

Maddie shook as she wrote the note to Peggy, imagining herself as a new target for Peggy and the girls. She was afraid they'd ask her where she got that dress, which was actually Peggy's. Maddie's mother had it remade with new laces and ribbons so that none of her classmates recognised it.

If only Peggy would decide of her own accord to stop having fun with Wanda. Oh, well! Maddie ran her hand through her short blonde hair as though to push the uncomfortable thoughts away. What difference did it make? Slowly Maddie tore into bits the note she had started. She was Peggy’s best friend, and Peggy was the best-liked girl in the whole room. Peggy could not possibly do anything that was really wrong, she thought.

She wished Peggy would stop having fun with Wanda by herself. Suddenly, she "ran her hand through her hair" as a gesture to clear her mind. She reasoned to herself that Peggy was the most popular girl in the room and her best friend, so she couldn't be wrong. As a result, she tore and threw away the note. She was also concerned about losing her friend Peggy.

As for Wanda, she was just some girl who lived up on Boggins Heights and stood alone in the school yard. She scarcely ever said anything to anybody. The only time she talked was in the school yard about her hundred dresses. Maddie remembered her telling about one of her dresses, pale blue with coloured trimmings. And she remembered another that was brilliant jungle green with a red sash.

“You’d look like a Christmas tree in that,” the girls had said in pretended admiration.

• Scarcely- hardly; barely
• Trimmings- decoration
• Sash- a long strip or loop of cloth worn over one shoulder or round the waist, especially as part of a uniform or official dress
• Pretended- not genuine
• Admiration- respect and warm approval

Maddie began to think about Wanda after she had cleared her mind about confessing to Peggy. Wanda, she thought, was just another girl in Boggins Heights who didn't talk to anyone. She recalls Wanda mentioning her pale blue dress and jungle green dress with a red sash. The girls mocked her by saying she looked like a Christmas tree in that dress.

Thinking about Wanda and her hundred dresses all lined up in the closet, Maddie began to wonder who was going to win the drawing and colouring contest. For girls, this contest consisted of designing dresses and for boys, of designing motorboats. Probably Peggy would win the girls’ medal. Peggy drew better than anyone else in the room. At least, that’s what everybody thought. She could copy a picture in a magazine or some film star’s head so that you could almost tell who it was. Oh, Maddie was sure Peggy would win. Well, tomorrow the teacher was going to announce the winners. Then they’d know.

Maddie was thinking about Wanda when she remembered the drawing contest in which the boys had to design motorboats and the girls had to design dresses. Because she was the best artist in the room, Peggy was the obvious winner of that competition. She was able to replicate exact images as well as recognisable portraits. She was confident that Peggy would win, and the results were to be announced the following day, when everyone would know what had happened.

The next day it was drizzling. Maddie and Peggy hurried to school under Peggy’s umbrella. Naturally, on a day like this, they didn’t wait for Wanda Petronski on the corner of Oliver Street, the street that far, far away, under the railroad tracks and up the hill, led to Boggins Heights. Anyway, they weren’t taking chances on being late today, because today was important.

• Drizzling- rain lightly
• Hurried- quick

The day the results were to be announced, it was lightly raining, so the two best friends dashed to school without waiting for Wanda. They usually waited for her on Oliver Street, which led to Boggins Heights, where Wanda lived, but they didn't that day. Even if it hadn't been raining that day, they wouldn't have waited for her because the results were to be announced that day

“Do you think Miss Mason will announce the winners today?” asked Peggy. “Oh, I hope so, the minute we get in,” said Maddie. “Of course, you’ll win, Peg.” “Hope so,” said Peggy eagerly. 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.

• Gasped- catch one’s breath with an open mouth, owing to pain or astonishment.
• Ledge- shelf
• Windowsill- ledge or sill forming the bottom part of a window
• Dazzling- extremely impressive, beautiful, or skilful
• Lavish- gorgeous
• Murmured- say something in a low or distinct voice
• Admiringly- in a way that shows respect or warm approval

When Peggy and Maddie entered the classroom, Peggy asked Maddie if Miss Mason would announce the results, to which Maddie replied, 'yes.' Maddie told her that she thought Peggy would win, but when they entered the class, there were drawings all over the place. They dazzled everyone with their brilliance. These were the entries for the competition.

As soon as the class had assembled, Miss Mason announced the winners. Jack Beggles had won for the boys, she said, and his design for an outboard motor was on exhibition in Room Twelve, along with the sketches by all the other boys.

• Assembled- gather together in one place for a common purpose

After everyone had settled, Miss Mason announced the winners. Jack Beggles had triumphed among the lads. He drew an outboard motor, which was displayed in Room No. 12 alongside other boys' drawings.

“As for the girls,” she said, “although just one or two sketches were submitted by most, one girl — and Room Thirteen should be proud of her — this one girl actually drew one hundred designs — all different and all beautiful. In the opinion of the judges, any one of the drawings is worthy of winning the prize. I am very happy to say that Wanda Petronski is the winner of the girls’ medal.

She then discussed the submissions from the girls. She mentioned one such girl who had submitted a hundred designs, each of which was so beautiful that the judges thought any of them deserved the gold medal. Wanda was declared the competition's winner by Miss Mason, who was overjoyed.

Unfortunately, Wanda has been absent from school for some days and is not here to receive the applause that is due to her. Let us hope she will be back tomorrow. Now class, you may file around the room quietly and look at her exquisite drawings.” The children burst into applause, and even the boys were glad to have a chance to stamp on the floor, put their fingers in their mouths and whistle, though they were not interested in dresses. “Look, Peg,” whispered Maddie. “There’s that blue one she told us about. Isn’t it beautiful?” “Yes,” said Peggy, “And here’s that green one. Boy, and I thought I could draw.”

She went on to say that Wanda hadn't come in a few days and that she hoped she'd be there the next day. She directed everyone's attention to the flawless collection, to which they applauded and whistled. Maddie and Peggy even saw the blue dress that Wanda had mentioned; it was stunning. Peggy sighed, "I thought I could draw," implying that the drawings left her in awe.

About the Author

Eleanor Estes (May 1906 – July 15, 1988) was a children's author and librarian from the United States. Her novel, 'Ginger Pyre,' was awarded the Newfry Medal. Eleanor based the storey 'The Hundred Dresses' on her own real-life experience as the recipient of Peggy's hand-me-down dresses.