The 100 Dresses: Get Over It and Study, Maddie

THE HUNDRED DRESSES

Hidden Message: It's ok to bully kids, as long as you bottle up your guilt forever and ever, and as long as you remain passive about the whole thing. 

Pleasure rating: 3/5 stars mainly because of the beautiful ilustrations

Critical rating: 1/5 stars

Would I buy it for a child I know?: No. I would not. 

My Message to Maddie: Get Over It and Study Harder

The foreword for The Hundred Dresses reveals that the author, Eleanor Estes, harbored guilt into her adulthood about accepting the bullying of a girl in her hometown. The novel, which centers around Maddie's guilt over not standing up for a bullied child, can therefore be read as Estes’ attempt “to set things right” (A Letter to Readers) decades after her complicity. Estes' characterization of the guilt-ridden Maddie, combined with illustrator Slobodkin's drawings of girls in submissive roles, reveals the implied reader of the text: a compassionate,  guilt-ridden girl who neglects her own well-being for societal approval, just as Maddie does. But she does love fashion, so it's ok. (Barf.)

From the outset, an omnisceint voice narrates that Peggy and Maddie are girls who “sat in the front row with the children who got good marks and didn’t track a whole lot of mud” (Estes 11).  Ok, so naturally, the child reading this will align herself with these two girls, both of whom  end up bullying an autistic immigrant girl named Wanda. (I read Wanda as high-functioning autistic. Thoughts?)

Now, granted, these were different times. Estes published her work in 1906, when bullying and autism weren't even words, I don't think. At least they were not buzz words like they are now. But times change for a reason, so I feel that the readership of this beloved classic should dwindle.

Girls gather around Wanda in mock interest of her "100 dresses", which they know are imaginary. 

When Estes switches from an omniscient to a third person limited point of view, Maddie, the bully who is more passive and less of a leader, suddenly “remembers” and “is bothered by” Wanda’s bullying. Because Maddie’s insights and flashbacks are the only ones that Estes makes available, the reader latches onto Maddie. 

An assertive reader would become frustrated by the inclusion of statements like “eight times eight…let’s see….nothing [Maddie] could do about making fun of Wanda.” 

I mean, excuse me? Um, you could stand up to the ringleader of the bullies, Maddie. Get some pride, kiddo. Also, you could focus on your multiplication tables. 8 x 8 = 64. Come on. 

 Since the reader is supposed to allign herself with Maddie, I see this reluctance to do schoolwork and other comments about the child's internal dialog as very problematic. Maddie’s lack of willpower is bearable to the meek, approval-seeking child reader implied by the text, who could maybe understand why Maddie "tore the [anti-bullying] note she had started into bits.” It's ok to be approval-seeking to some degree, but not if the approval is a of a group of girls who bullied someone relentlessly for her accent and mental/social differences. 

Wanda, the victim of bullying.

Slobodkin’s illustrations of Maddie echo the construction of the reader as not only submissive, but also guilt-ridden to the point of self-neglect. Many of the pictures also characterize Maddie as so consumed with guilt that she cannot pay attention to her studies:

 On the other hand, Slobodkin depicts Peggy, the ringleader bully, as studying hard while Maddie looks around the room with a concerned expression. So, bullies (the villains in this story) are associated with female studiousness and assertiveness. Hmm. I don't like that. At all. 

All of that said, I really did love this book as a kid. Again, I am a little confused as to why. I was a pretty assertive, and a pretty studious child. So I think it is a testament to Estes' writing ability that I sided with Wanda and Maddie and not Peggy. That said, for me, reading this book with a child would  involve a critical discussion about why Maddie sucks. Sorry Estes. Or maybe that's what she wanted, after all.

Peggy, the ringleader bully, depicted as assertive and bold, while Maddie cowers on the far right.

Works Cited

Chambers, Aidan. “The Reader in the Book in Booktalk; Occasional Writing on Literature and

            Children. Children’s Literature.1990. 91-113. Print.

Estes, Eleanor. The Hundred Dresses. New York: Harcourt, Inc. 1944. Print.

Estes, Helen. “A Letter to Readers.” The Hundred Dresses. New York: Harcourt, Inc. 1972.

            Print.

Fish, Stanley. “Interpretive Communities.” Literary Theory: An Anthology. 2nd ed. Ed. Rivkin,

            Julie and Michael Ryan. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 1998. 418-429. Print.