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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What color had Cecile's new items of clothing been on the day when the hundred dresses game began?

2. How often does the ringleader of the bullies look for and torment Wanda once the hundred dresses game begins?

3. Initially, what fear inspires Maddie to become apprehensive about the dresses game?

4. Which character is described as being not quite "as poor as Wanda perhaps" (17)?

5. How does Wanda get Peggy's attention before whispering something to her?

Short Essay Questions

1. What evidence suggests that English may not be Wanda's first language?

2. What is the major element of their lives that Maddie and Wanda have in common?

3. Describe an instance when Estes uses a simile to indicate a character's emotional state.

4. Unpack Maddie's disqualification of Wanda as "an ordinary person" (14). What does she truly mean?

5. Where does Wanda live and why is her neighborhood disparaged by others within the community?

6. How is the selfishness present within the human condition portrayed in the chapter entitled "The Dresses Game"?

7. What evidence does the narrator provide for the claim that Peggy is "not really cruel" (14)?

8. How does Wanda demonstrate courage in the face of great fear on the day of the hundred dresses game's invention?

9. Discuss the significance of names within the narrative.

10. Discuss the symbolism of Wanda's comment to Jake when she tells him, "I want to stay here" (24).

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

How is the theme of invisibility portrayed in The Hundred Dresses? Examine Estes's treatment of and messages regarding invisibility throughout the work.

Essay Topic 2

Sensory details are used frequently by Estes in order to create vivid pictures of each character's progression through the narrative of The Hundred Dresses. Choose three scenes in which sensory details are heavily used and discuss how the sensory details used serve Estes’s creation of vivid characters to populate the narrative.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze Estes from an Existential perspective. What elements of life does it suggest hold the most meaning and why?

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