The Hundred Dresses - II

Chapter summary

The story of “The Hundred Dresses” is based on real-life experiences of the author, Eleanor Estes. The second part of the text continues with the protagonist Wanda Petronski, where the disclosure has been made for the reason that lies behind the absence of Wanda in school. However, it is known that the family of Petronski decided to get transferred to the big city, where no one would notice about their names and clothes. All this information was known from the letter sent to the school by Mr. Petronski, which made everyone in the classroom quite shocked.

However, Maggie and Peggy seemed to be most worried as they felt quite guilt-stricken about what they did to Wanda and felt ashamed and wanted to apologise. Although after listening to the note they knew that they would never get a chance for giving an apology to Wanda. In the last, both the girls, Maggie and Peggy learned about the fact that Wanda liked them as she had left them with the drawing of one of the hundred dresses she made for each of them.

Wanda’s family moving to different city

In the story “The Hundred Dresses”, Wanda’s family wanted to move to a different city as Wanda’s father felt quite sad and hurt. The reason behind this was that Wanda was humiliated and teased in school every day for her name, clothing, and status by the girls in her classroom. Mr. Petronski had thought that in a bigger cosmopolitan city, people have a different view of seeing other people and display a better sense and responsibility. So if they move to the city they will have a better life.

What led Peggy to believe that Wanda was dumb?

Peggy believed that Wanda was dumb, as Wanda never replied to the pranks and misbehaviour that was conducted on her on a daily basis. This unusual behaviour and stoic face made her believe the same. However, in the end, Peggy changed her opinion, as she looked at the sketches made by Wanda and also the gestures for dedicating a gift. She believed that Wanda was not dumb as even after knowing the fact that Peggy and Maddie tease her, she did not make any responses instead described about the hundred dresses, she sketched.

What important decision did Maddie take?

After listening to the note, Maddie immediately made a decision to apologise to Wanda for their misdeeds by going to her house and accompanying Peggy. They will resolve all hard feelings among themselves on their own, but Wanda had already left her house. Maddie really took a toll on her in deciding to do such things as she felt herself a coward in order to stop Peggy while teasing Wanda. Therefore, she decided to raise her voice against the teasing and bullying and promised to not be a muter anymore.

Why Wanda gave Maddie and Peggy the drawings of the dresses?

Wanda asked Miss Mason to provide two of her drawings to Peggy and Maddie, as she wanted them to show something. Wanda wanted to show that she has forgiven them and had no hard feelings about their misdeeds. However, both Maddie and Peggy were surprised by the fact that, even though they had teased her, Wand dedicated them with the two of her most beautiful designs.

Why Wanda thought that the girls were really teasing her?

This is true that Wanda seriously thought that the girls were teasing her. This is because, she knew that they were making fun of and criticism of her status, by asking her several questions, such as, about her number of dresses. However, in order to safeguard her respect, Wanda said she had a total number of hundred dresses in her closet, kept in a lined-up manner.

How did the girls know that Wanda liked them even though they had teased her?

In the story The Hundred dresses, author Eleanor Estes gave a twist in the end, by showing Wanda’s love and respect for her classmates, Maddie and Peggie. This is acknowledged when both the girls went to apologise to Wanda for their misdeeds in her house. Both the girls realised that even after all this teasing and misbehaviour Wanda liked them. This is because, of Wanda’s gesture for the dedication of gifts, and her beautiful sketches of dresses to Peggie and Maddie. Wanda dedicated the sketch of a green dress with a red trimming to Peggy and a blue dress to Maddie.

What did the girls write to Wanda?

Both the girls, Maggie and Peggy wrote to Wanda a friendly letter, surprising and congratulating her with the news that she had won the competition. They also mentioned how beautiful her sketches were and also asked questions about her new home, place and her new class teacher.

FAQs

Q1. What do we get to know about Mr. Petronski’s letter?

Ans. In the text of The Hundred Dresses-II, by the author Eleanor Estes, the letter from Mr. Petronski, states the withdrawal of his daughter from the school. His letter also says about her daughter being mentally abused that went inside the classroom.

Q2. What was the reaction of Miss Mason after reading the letter from Mr. Petronski?

Ans. As soon as Miss Manson finished reading the letter from Mr. Petronski, she was quite upset after knowing that Wanda was ill-treated by the students in her classroom. She felt disturbed about how Wanda felt staying within the class and therefore, did not agree with such behaviours conducted within the class. She disapproves of such behaviours and felt shallow for teasing behaviours for social status, name and clothing.

Q3. Immediately after listening to the letter what did Maddie want to do?

Ans. Maddie was feeling quite ashamed as she listened to the letter. After she finished listening to the letter, she immediately wanted to rush toward Wanda and tell her that it was not her intention to hurt her anyway and will apologise to her for whatever she did.