The Hundred Dresses Part 1 Detailed Summary and Analysis

Class 10 English has a beautiful chapter about a young girl and her miseries. The prose piece is written by Eleanor Estes, one of the eminent authors of English literature. This story is based on the experiences of the author herself. Her family was poor. Her parents did not have many resources to spend on the kids. The story ‘The Hundred Dresses’ is an eye-opener for all the students of Class 10. A girl was taunted for her dresses in school. She was bullied by many but did not react. She gave a befitting reply to all her bullies and everyone recognized her talent. The story is very fascinating and heartwarming for the readers.

To understand the context of the story, you should refer to The Hundred Dresses Class 10 summary prepared by the experts at Vedantu. This will help you out to discover the emotions the author wanted to express in her lines. You will be able to answer the questions in the exercise well and can score more in the exams. Use the summary as a part of your study material to revise and make your preparation better.

This article includes the summary of The Hundred Dresses Part One. The Hundred Dresses Part One is a chapter of English literature that is taught in class 10 and is prescribed by the Central Board of Secondary Education. This summary will help you understand the chapter in a much better way.

The Hundred Dresses is written by Eleanor Estes. Eleanor Estes was an American children’s author. She was a writer, illustrator, and librarian. Her notable works include Ginger Pye, the hundred dresses, The Moffats Series, Pinky Eye. Eleanor Estes was born in West Haven, Connecticut.

A Brief Synopsis of the Topic - The Hundred Dresses

The Hundred Dresses was a Newbury honour book in 1945. This book mainly deals with the kind of racism that children had to face when they studied in American schools. It talks about the bullies who were ruthless to immigrants. The Hundred Dresses is based on the writers’ personal experiences. The protagonist of the story is Wanda Petronski. She is a young Polish girl who has immigrated to America and is admitted to an American school, where most of the students are native Americans. 

Wanda is bullied by her classmates, as they do not approve of her unusual name and the way she dresses. She wears a blue dress every day and claims to have a hundred dresses at home and sixty pairs of shoes, therefore, it is hard for her classmates to believe her and they bully her because of that. At the end of part one of The Hundred Dresses, a school contest takes place where she submits 100 drawings of her dresses and by then, she is pulled out of the school by her father. Her classmates are filled with guilt and regret when they realise how talented Wanda is when they find out the truth about the hundred dresses. The hundred dresses drawn by Wanda were of excellent designs, hence proving her talent of sketching. Estes atones for staying silent for the times when she was bullied by her peers by writing a book about bullies and racism in America.

A Detailed Summary

Wanda is depicted as a timid and reserved Polish girl who has immigrated to America. Her arrogant classmates, especially Peggy and Madeline, make her school life extremely difficult by always teasing her for the way she dresses. Peggy and Maddie, along with other classmates, made fun of her and called her weird because she had another unusual name.

Wanda was not very well off and therefore, she always wore a faded blue dress and always remained reserved in the class as she was always teased by her classmates. Her feet were usually covered up in mud as she came from a long walk from Boggins Heights, therefore she sat in a corner so that no one would notice her muddy feet. Peggy and Maddie continued bullying her. One day, she got extremely tired of their mean remarks and claimed that she had 100 dresses and 60 pairs of shoes at her home. Peggy and Maddie began to grow more curious about her claims and often wondered if she had 100 dresses at home then why she wore the same dress to school every day.

Peggy and Maddie never missed an opportunity to throw rude remarks at Wanda and waited before school for Wanda, so that they could tease her. Maddie showed some sort of sympathy towards Wanda as she herself was poor, however, she never stopped Peggy as she was her only best friend and Maddie didn’t want to lose her.

At the end of part one of The Hundred Dresses, a drawing competition takes place in the school. After the competition, Wanda‘s father pulled her out of the school and no one noticed her absence in the school as she was always reserved. Soon the results of the competition were declared and Wanda won the competition. She has submitted beautifully drawn sketches of 100 dresses that she always claimed to have at her home. Peggy and Maddie and all other bullies were extremely surprised to see how talented Wanda was. In the end, Peggy and Maddie were filled with regret and remorse as it took them so long to realize how talented Wanda was and they couldn’t even apologize to her as she was already gone.

Conclusion

If you follow the Class 10 English The Hundred Dresses Part 1 summary, you will find out that Wanda was silent to her bullies. She did not want to cause any trouble. Even though she was disturbed from the inside, she managed to answer them in the best way possible. She proved that she did not lie about her dresses. It was her dream that she presented in front of everyone in the class.