NCERT CBSE for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 5 The Hundred Dresses - I Important Questions
The Hundred Dresses Part 1 Extra Questions and Answers Very Short Answer Type
Question 1.
Who was Wanda Petronski?
Year of Question:(2014)
Answer:
Wanda Petronski was a poor Polish girl.
Question 2.
Where did she usually sit?
Year of Question:(2012)
Answer:
She usually sat in the comer next to the last seat in the last row.
Question: 3.
What fun did Peggy start?
Year of Question:(2008)
Answer:
Peggy used to ask Wanda mockingly how many dresses she had.
Question: 4.
What type of the students used to sit near Wanda?
Year of Question:(2017)
Answer:
Rough boys and girls who did not make good marks.
Question: 5.
Why was Peggy popular in her school?
Year of Question:(2006)
Answer:
She was pretty and had many pretty dresses.
Question: 6.
What did Peggy and Maddie notice?
Year of Question:(2015)
Answer:
Peggy and Maddie noticed that Wanda was not in the class.
Question: 7.
Why did they use to wait for Wanda?
Year of Question:(2002)
Answer:
They used to wait for her to have some fun.
Question: 8.
Why did Wanda not have any friend?
Year of Question:(2014)
Answer:
Wanda did not have any friend because she was a poor Polish girl.
Question: 9.
What did Wanda wear?
Year of Question:(2018)
Answer:
Wanda always wore a faded blue dress.
Question: 10.
What did Wanda use to see in the playground?
Year of Question:(2016)
Answer:
Wanda used to watch the little girls play hopscotch on the ground.
Question: 11.
Who asked Wanda about her dresses?
Year of Question:(2011)
Answer:
Question: 12.
What did Wanda reply to Peggy about her dresses?
Year of Question:(2006)
Answer:
Wanda replied that she had hundred dresses.
Question: 13.
How did Peggy treat Wanda?
Year of Question:(2015)
Answer:
Question: 14.
What lie did Wanda tell Peggy?
Year of Question:(2014)
Answer:
Wanda used to tell Peggy that she had a hundred dresses and sixty pairs of shoes.
Question: 15.
Why did Maddie feel embarrassed?
Year of Question:(2011)
Answer:
Maddie did not like Peggy to make fun of Wanda.
Question: 16.
What did Maddie feel about herself?
Year of Question:(2012)
Answer:
Maddie felt that she was not as poor as Wanda, perhaps, but she was poor.
Question: 17.
What was Maddie afraid of?
Year of Question:(2016)
Answer:
Maddie was afraid that she could be the next target of Peggy.
Question: 18.
Who had made all the drawings?
Year of Question:(2010)
Answer:
Wanda had made all the drawings.
Question: 19.
How many designs were made by Wanda?
Year of Question:(2008)
Answer:
There were a hundred designs made by Wanda.
Question: 20.
Who won the drawing contest?
Year of Question:(2009)
Answer:
Wanda won the drawing contest.
The Hundred Dresses Part 1 Extra Questions and Answers Short Answer Type
Question: 1.
Where did Wanda Petronski use to sit?
Year of Question:(2016)
Answer:
Wanda Petronski used to sit in the seat next to the last seat in the last row in the corner of the room thirteen where the rough boys who did not make good marks sat.
Question: 2.
Why did Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence?
Year of Question:(2018)
Answer:
They noticed that Wanda was absent because she had made them late to school. They had waited for her to have some fun.
Question: 3.
Why did Wanda always go back alone?
Answer:
She lived in Boggins Heights where no other student lived. She did not have any friend too. So she used to go and come home all alone.
Question: 4.
Why did the little girls exclaim?
Year of Question:(2011)
Answer:
The little girls exclaimed with surprise that Wanda, who wears only one dress every day, had a hundred dresses in her almirah. It was unbelievable.
Question: 5.
In what way was Wanda different from the other children?
Year of Question:(2012)
Answer:
Wanda was different from the other children. She was a poor girl. She did not have many friends, she did not have many dresses. She was very quiet and rarely said anything at all. And nobody had ever heard her laugh out loud.
Question: 6.
What do you think ‘to have fun with her’ means?
Year of Question:(2016)
Answer:
Peggy and Maddie were not bad girls. They had no bad intentions towards Wanda. They did not want to tease her but it was a way to enjoy and have a happy time.
Question: 7.
Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said she did?
Year of Question:(2011)
Answer:
No, Wanda did not have a hundred dresses. She had only one dress. Wanda was a creative girj. She had hundred designs of differents dresses in her mind. She said that she had a hundred dresses to arouse curiosity among the girls who asked her this question mockingly.
Question: 8.
Why is Maddie embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like Wanda, or is she different?
Year of Question:(2006)
Ans.
Peggy always makes fun of Wanda by asking her how many dresses and shoes she had. She was amused when Wanda told that she had hundred dresses and sixty pairs of shoes. Maddie was also a poor girl and used to wear old clothes given by others. Peggy’s questions to Wanda used to embarrass Maddie. She was not like Wanda. She did not have a funny name. She did not live in a slum colony.
Question: 9.
How did the children react when Wanda was declared winner of the contest?
Year of Question:(2002)
Answer:
The children suddenly and spontaneously clapped hands. Even the boys were glad to have a chance to stamp on the floor. They put their fingers in their mouths and whistled, though they were not interested in dresses.
Question: 10.
What was the opinion of the judges about Wanda?
Year of Question:(2001)
Answer:
Wanda had drawn one hundred designs of dresses, which were all different and all beautiful. In the opinion of the judges any one of the drawings was worthy of winning the prize. So she was declared winner of the girls medal.
Question: 11.
Where in the classroom does Wanda sit and why?
Year of Question:(2016)
Answer:
Wanda sits in the seat next to the last seat in the last row in Room thirteen. She sits in the corner where there is mud and dirt on the floor. The atmosphere is noisy as well. It is because she has to come from muddy area.
Question: 12.
Where does Wanda live? What kind of a place do you think it is?
Year of Question:(2012)
Answer:
Wanda lives at Boggins Heights. It is a place full of mud and dirt. There is earth all round. There are no metallic roads. The atmosphere must be unhygienic.
Question: 13.
When and why do Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence?
Year of Question:(2015)
Answer:
Peggy and Maddie notice Wanda’s absence on Tuesday. But on Wednesday again, Peggy and Maddie noticed that Wanda was not present in the class. They waited for her in the way and they became late on her account. Thus both noticed her absence.
Question: 14.
What do you think ‘to have fun with her’ means?
Year of Question:(2016)
Answer:
Here it means that Peggy and Maddie desired to enjoy with her. They did not want to tease her but it was a way to pass a happy time.
Question: 15.
In what way was Wanda different from the other children?
Year of Question:(2011)
Answer:
Wanda was different from other children. She had a funny name. It was hard to speak. Shg used to say that she had hundred of different dresses. She possessed sixty pairs of shoes.
Question: 16.
Did Wanda have a hundred dresses? Why do you think she said she did?
Year of Question:(2012)
Answer:
Wanda Petronski did not have a hundred dresses. She used to say that they were all lined up in closet. Wanda was not an ordinary person. She said so to arouse curiosity and she did. She had creative tastes.
Question: 17.
Why is Maddie embarrassed by the questions Peggy asks Wanda? Is she also like Wanda, or is she different?
Year of Question:(2010)
Answer:
Maddie is embarrassed when Peggy asks Wanda questions about different items like dresses, hats and other things. These questions are in Peggy’s funny voice. It is because Maddie is a poor girl. She wears the old clothes handed by others. Maddie is not like Wanda. She is quite different. She thanks herself that she does not live in Boggins Heights.
Question: 18.
Why didn’t Maddie ask Peggy to stop teasing Wanda? What was she afraid of?
Year of Question:(2017)
Answer:
One day Maddie was doing her arithmetic sums absentmindedly. She was happy that she had not made any fun of Wanda. She decided to write a note to Peggy requesting her to stop asking Wanda about her dresses. But she had no courage. She thought she would become the next target.
Question: 19.
Who did Maddie think would win the drawing contest? Why?
Year of Question:(2015)
Answer:
Maddie thought that Peggy would win the drawing and colour contest. It was because Peggy drew better than anyone else in the room. She could even copy a picture from a magazine or some film star’s head alike. Maddie was thus good at making pictures.
Question: 20.
Who won the drawing contest? What had the winner drawn?
Year of Question:(2014)
Answer:
The drawing contest was won by Wanda Petronski. There were drawings all over the room in dazzling colours. They were very brilliant and had lavish designs. For Wanda’s work, she was given a medal and applauses.
Question: 21.
How is Wanda seen as different by the other girls? How do they treat her?
Year of Question:(2012)
Answer:
Wanda is seen quite differently by the other girls. She lives in Boggins Heights. She remains quiet and rarely says anything at all. She never laughs loudly. Sometimes she would twist her mouth into a crooked sort of smile. The other girls made fun of her for hundred dresses.
Question: 22.
How does Wanda feel about the dresses game? Why does she say that she has a hundred dresses?
Year of Question:(2019)
Answer:
Wanda Petronski does not like the game of the dresses. The students bother her for the dresses. Wanda makes up the story about the dresses to show her taste. In the end she arranges hundreds of dress designs in the classroom and she is declared as the winner.
Question: 23.
Why does Maddie stand by and not do anything? How is she different from Peggy? (Was Peggy’s friendship important to Maddie? Why? Which lines in the text tell you this?)
Year of Question:(2006)
Answer:
Maddie does not want that Peggy should make fun of Wanda for her dresses and she thought Peggy would decide of her own accord to stop having fun with Wanda. She is different from Peggy. She wears old clothes while Peggy has her own dress. Peggy’s friendship was important to Maddie. She was her best friend. The following line says, "Peggy was the best liked girl in the whole room. Peggy could not possibly do anything that was really wrong."
Question: 24.
What does Miss Mason think of Wanda’s drawings? What do the children think of them? How do you know?
Year of Question:(2012)
Answer:
Miss Mason thinks that the drawings of Wanda were the best in the entire Room Thirteen. These were put up everywhere in the room. They were in dazzling colours and lavish designs. They must have been a hundred of them all lined up. The children stopped to look at them. They whistled and admired this marvellous work of art.
The Hundred Dresses Part 1 Extra Questions and Answers Long Answer Type
Question: 1.
Pen down the character sketch of Wanda Petronski.
Year of Question:(2013)
Answer:
Wanda Petronski was a Polish girl who had shifted to America from Poland with her parents. She was very poor and lived in Boggins Heights. She was very shy and quiet. She did not talk to anyone. She had no friends and sat in the last row of the class with some naughty boys so that nobody noticed her. She wore the same faded blue dress everyday which was not ironed but clean.
Everybody teased her in her class. In the anger, she claimed of having a hundred dresses and sixty pair of shoes at home. She was very determined and showed her determination in the drawing competition by displaying the hundred sketches of dresses she claimed to own. Each of them was so beautiful, that she won the competition and surpassed Peggy.
Question: 2.
How did the girls know that Wanda liked them even though they had teased her?
Year of Question:(2017)
Answer:
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 drawing very carefully, she realized that the dress had a face and a head, which looked like her own self. The head and face in the drawing given to Peggy looked just like Peggy. That is why the girls knew that Wanda liked them even though they had teased her.
Question: 3.
‘The Hundred Dresses-I’ is about teasing Wanda. It also focuses on ragging and racism indirectly. Explain, how it affects you and how you evaluate it.
Year of Question:(2012)
Answer:
The story ‘The Hundred Dresses I’ is really all about teasing of Wanda being Polish and having a strange name. They made fun of Wanda and made her feel inferior by asking her about her dresses. Their behaviour towards Wanda was completely undesirable as it shows racism and ragging. These are totally condemnable issues in the society which can not be accepted. Peggy and Maddie never thought of Wanda’s feelings and continued teasing her but her selection as a winner shows that colour, prejudice or racism are not parameters of talent as everybody clapped for her drawings.
Question: 4.
It disturbs you that Peggy and Maddie make fun of Wanda Petrouski. You. do not like it. You decide to speak about this as weak, ugly or students are usually mocked at. Express your thoughts,
Year of Question:(2010)
Answer:
I would like to express my thoughts about the issues of making fun of the students who are weak, ugly or poor by those who are bit superior to them in these aspects. But I would like to fetch your attention that being ugly or poor is not a personal choice or fault. God creates us with different qualities and we should see those qualities in others too. One may be poor or physically unattractive but he may have far better qualities than us. As in the story, Wanda Petronski is better than Peggy and Maddie in her creativity or drawings.
Question: 5.
Peggy and Maddie were inseparable friend; but middle never spoke against Peggy. Explain the important of being true to each other friendship.
Year of Question:(2018)
Answer:
All of us have that one special friend who is a confident, a good listener and an advisor. Most of us turn to our close friends whenever we need someone. But for a friendship to be true in all sense one must be truthful to the other. True friends are those who stop you from doing wrong. They never hesitate in criticizing the other, whenever required. A real friend is one who speaks his heart out and does not mind if the other feels bad about it. Hence, it does not matter if true friends are separated. What matters is that the distance never comes between the two.
Question: 6.
Wanda Petronski’was poor and did not posse";’’ fancy dresses. But she was never upset about it. Describe how important it is for one to be satisfied with what one’s got.
Year of Question:(2016)
Answer:
It is very important in life to be satisfied with what we have. Although being content is a very hard thing to accomplish, yet it is not impossible. We always tend to feel upset when we don’t get what we wish for; but there are some of us who know how to appreciate life. If we are happy with what we have, we will make the best possible use of things. This would result in finding happiness in life. Thus, it is important to learn to accept and appreciate. If we don’t find contentment in the simple things of life, we’ll never find it anywhere.
The Hundred Dresses Part 1 Extra Questions and Answers Reference to Context
Read the following passages and answer the questions that follow:
Question: 1.
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 Bzzoys 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.
Year of Question:(2018)
(i) Who was Wanda Petronski?
(ii) What had Peggy and Madeline started doing?
(iii) What type of the students used to sit near Wanda?
(iv) Pick out words from the passage that mean the same as ‘noisy movement of the feet on the ground.
Answer:
(i) Wanda Petronski was a Polish girl.
(ii) Peggy and Madeline had started all the fun about Wanda.
(iii) Rough boys who did not secure good marks sat in the comer near Wanda.
(iv) The words are ‘Scuffling of feet’.
Question: 2.
But on Wednesday, Peggy and Maddie, who sat down front with other children who go! 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.
Year of Question:(2010)
(i) What did Peggy and Maddie notice on Wednesday?
(ii) Why was Peggy popular in her school?
(iii) Why did they use to wait for Wanda?
(iv) Pick out a word from the passage which means the same as ‘to bring in with footsteps’.
Answer:
(i) Peggy and Maddie noticed the absence of Wanda in the class.
(ii) Peggy was popular in her school because she was pretty, her hair was curly and she had many pretty clothes.
(iii) They used to wait for her to have some fun.
(iv) The word is - track.
Question: 3.
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.
Year of Question:(2009)
(i) What kind of dress Wanda used to wear?
(ii) Why did Wanda not have any friends?
(iii) What did Wanda use to see in the playground?
(iv) Pick out phrase from the passage which means the same as ‘did not fit properly’.
Answer:
(i) Wanda always used to wear a faded blue dress.
(ii) Wanda did not have any friend because she was a poor girl.
(iii) Wanda used to watch the little girls play hopscotch on the ground.
(iv) The phrase is - ‘did not hang right’.
Question: 4.
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 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.
Year of Question:(2006)
(i) What shows that Peggy was not really cruel?
(ii) How would she justify that she was not cruel to Wanda?
(iii) What lie did Wanda tell Peggy?
(iv) Pick out a word from the passage which means the same as ‘People who frightens weaker ones’.
Answer:
(i) Peggy was not really cruel. She protected small children from bullies. She cried for hours if she saw an animal mistreated.
(ii) She would justify that she had never made her cry by her treatment. Wanda should not tell a lie.
(iii) Wanda used to tell Peggy that she has a hundred dresses and sixty pairs of shoes.
(iv) ‘bullies’
Question: 5.
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. (Page 67)
Year of Question:(2002)
(i) Why did Maddie feel embarrassed?
(ii) What was the dresses game? Who invented it?
(iii) What did Maddie feel about herself?
(iv) What was Maddie afraid of?
Answer:
(i) Maddie did not like Peggy to make fun of Wanda. When she asked Wanda about her dresses, Maddie felt embarrassed because she herself was very poor.
(ii) Peggy used to ask Wanda mockingly how many dresses she had. She knew that Wanda was poor but still she made fun of her. Peggy had invented the dresses game.
(iii) Maddie felt that she was not as poor as Wanda, perhaps, but she was poor.
(iv) She was afraid that she could be the next target of Peggy and others because she was also poor like Wanda.
Question: 6.
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.
Year of Question:(2012)
(i) What did Maddie want Peggy to stop?
(ii) What was the uncomfortable thought that Maddie wanted to push away?
(iii) What did she want to write in the note?
(iv) What did she think about Peggy?
Answer:
(i) Maddie wanted Peggy to stop making fun about dresses while having fun with Wanda.
(ii) Maddie thought that she was also poor like Wanda and Peggy could also start making fun of her.
(iii) She wanted to write in the note that Peggy should stop teasing Wanda.
(iv) She thought that Peggy was the best-liked girl in the whole room. She could not do anything that was really wrong.
Question: 7.
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.
Year of Question:(2015)
(i) What was Maddie thinking about Wanda?
(ii) What did the contest consist of?
(iii) Who did Maddie think was going to win the contest?
(iv) Pick out the word from the passage which means the same-‘Competition’.
Answer:
(i) Maddie was thinking about Wanda and her dresses all lined up in the closet.
(ii) For girls, the contest consisted of designing dresses.
(iii) Maddie thought that Peggy was sure to win the contest.
(iv) The word is - ‘contest’.
Question: 8.
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.
Year of Question:(2014)
(i) Who are ‘they’?
(ii) Why did they react so?
(iii) Who had made all the drawings?
(iv) Pick out word from the passage which means the same as ‘grand’.
Answer:
(i) They are Peggy, Maddie and other students of the school.
(ii) They saw drawings all over the room, on every ledge and windowsill, dazzling colours and brilliant, lavish designs all drawn on great sheets of wrapping paper.
(iii) Wanda had made all the designs.
(iv) ‘Lavish’.
Question: 9.
"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. 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."
Year of Question:(2011)
(i) How many sketches were submitted by most of the students?
(ii) How many designs had Wanda drawn?
(iii) What was the opinion of the judges?
(iv) Pick out a word from the passage .which means the same as ‘extremely beautiful and well-made’,
Answer:
(i) Most of the students had submitted one or two sketches.
(ii) Wanda had drawn one hundred designs.
(iii) The judges’ opinion was that each one of the hundred drawings, submitted by Wanda, was capable of winning the prize.
(iv) ‘Exquisite’
Question1.
What did Mr. Petronskis letter say?
Answer:
- Wanda and Jake would no longer attend school
- The family had moved to a big city
- They were leaving to escape teasing like being called "Pollack" or being asked why they had a funny name
Question2.
How did Miss Mason react to the letter?
Answer:
- She was upset but not angry
- She thought the teasing was done thoughtlessly, not to deliberately hurt Wanda
- She asked the class to think about how unfortunate the situation was
Question3.
How did Maddie feel after hearing the letter?
Answer:
- Guilty for not standing up for Wanda
- She realized staying silent was as bad as Peggys teasing
- Maddie wished she could tell Wanda she didnt mean to hurt her and wanted to make amends
Question4.
What did Maddie and Peggy decide to do?
Answer:
- They decided to go to Boggins Heights to see if Wanda had really left town
- They hoped to tell her that she won the drawing contest and that everyone admired her talent.
Both girls felt the need to apologize to Wanda
Question5.
What excuses did Peggy make for her behavior?
Answer:
- Peggy believed she never directly insulted Wanda by calling her a foreigner
- She thought Wanda was too "dumb" to realize they were making fun of her
- Peggy tried to convince herself that by asking about the dresses, she gave Wanda ideas for her drawings.
Question6.
What important decision did Maddie make?
Answer:
- Maddie decided she would never stay silent again if someone was being picked on
- She resolved to speak up, even if it meant losing Peggys friendship
Question7.
What did the girls write in their letter to Wanda?
Answer:
- The letter told Wanda she had won the contest and admired her drawings
- It was meant to be a friendly letter but they didnt directly apologize
- They added lots of Xs (kisses) at the end, showing affection
Question8.
How did the girls know Wanda liked them despite the teasing?
Answer:
- In her letter, Wanda gave Peggy the drawing of the green dress and Maddie the blue one
- This gesture showed that she still had positive feelings for them
- Peggy believed this was Wandas way of saying everything was okay
Question9.
What did Maddie discover in Wandas drawing?
Answer:
- Maddie realized the face in the drawing looked like her
- She understood that Wanda had drawn the picture with Maddie in mind
- This made Maddie feel more emotional, knowing that Wanda still liked her despite everything
Question10.
Why do you think Wandas family moved away?
Answer:
- Wandas family moved to escape bullying and teasing in a small town
- They wanted a fresh start in a big city where people might not pick on them for their name or background