Class | Subject | Book | Chapter | Session | Questions covered |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
XII | English | Vistas (NCERT) | 5 – On the Face of It | 2026-27 | 5 of 5 |
Chapter at a glance
Aspect | Key point |
|---|---|
Author | Susan Hill (a play) |
Characters | Mr Lamb — an old man with a tin leg (lost in the war) who lives alone in a big house with an open garden; Derry (Derek) — a fourteen-year-old boy whose face was burned by acid; Derry’s mother |
Theme | Physical disability, alienation, loneliness, and the healing power of friendship and a positive attitude |
Mr Lamb’s philosophy | “The gate’s always open”; “People are never just nothing. Never.”; hatred “That’d do you more harm than any bottle of acid” |
Ending | Derry returns (“I came back”), but Mr Lamb has fallen from the ladder while picking crab apples and lies dead; Derry weeps |
Reading with insight
Question R1
What is it that draws Derry towards Mr Lamb in spite of himself?
Answer
- Acceptance: Mr Lamb is the first person who does not pity, fear or stare at Derry’s burned face. He treats him as a normal person and a friend — “Certainly you are. So far as I’m concerned.”
- Fellow-feeling: Mr Lamb too is disabled (a tin leg) and is called “Lamey-Lamb” by the kids, yet he is cheerful and unafraid.
- His wisdom and positive outlook: he talks of “Things that matter. Things nobody else has ever said. Things I want to think about” — the bees singing, the crab apples, the man who locked himself up in a room, the harm hatred does (“You can burn yourself away inside”).
- The open, welcoming garden — “The gate’s always open” — and the peace he feels there: “I like it here.”
Thus, despite his initial bitterness and suspicion, Derry is drawn to Mr Lamb’s warmth, understanding and zest for life.
Mr Lamb accepts him without pity or fear, shares a similar disability yet is cheerful, and talks of “things that matter” — about life, people, bees and hatred — in a welcoming garden. This acceptance and wisdom draw Derry to him despite his bitterness.
Question R2
In which section of the play does Mr Lamb display signs of loneliness and disappointment? What are the ways in which Mr Lamb tries to overcome these feelings?
Answer
At the end of Scene One, after Derry runs off promising “I’ll come back”, Mr Lamb says to himself: “There my dears. That’s you seen to. Ah….you know. We all know. I’ll come back. They never do, though. Not them. Never do come back.” This shows his loneliness and disappointment — people come but do not return. Derry also suspects it: “You’re here all by yourself and miserable”.
Ways he overcomes these feelings: 1. Keeps his gate always open and welcomes everyone — kids come for apples and pears and for toffee he makes with honey. 2. Busies himself with gardening, picking crab apples and keeping bees; he listens to the bees “singing”. 3. Takes a keen interest in nature and life — “Watching. Listening. Thinking.” 4. Makes friends with everyone, treating the kids’ teasing (“Lamey-Lamb”) as a game. 5. Keeps a positive, philosophical attitude and reads books.
At the end of Scene One, alone after Derry leaves, he mutters, “I’ll come back. They never do, though… Never do come back.” He overcomes loneliness by keeping his gate open to all, making friends with children (apples, honey toffee), gardening, keeping bees, and observing nature with a positive outlook.
Question R3
The actual pain or inconvenience caused by a physical impairment is often much less than the sense of alienation felt by the person with disabilities. What is the kind of behaviour that the person expects from others?
Answer
People with disabilities expect to be treated normally, with acceptance, dignity and respect — not with pity, fear, curiosity or rejection: 1. Not to be stared at, avoided or talked about (like the woman who said “That’s a face only a mother could love”). 2. Not to be pitied or lectured (“think of all those people worse off than you”). 3. Not to be segregated — one person said Derry would be “better off with others like himself”. 4. To be included in society and given opportunities, judged by their abilities, thoughts and feelings, not appearance — as Derry says, “It’s what I think and feel and what I want to see and find out and hear.” 5. Friendship, empathy and encouragement, like Mr Lamb offers.
They expect to be treated as normal individuals — with acceptance, respect and friendship, without pity, staring, fear or segregation — and to be valued for their thoughts, feelings and abilities rather than their appearance.
Question R4
Will Derry get back to his old seclusion or will Mr Lamb’s brief association effect a change in the kind of life he will lead in the future?
Answer
Mr Lamb’s brief association will change Derry’s life. Before meeting him, Derry was bitter, withdrawn and hated people. Mr Lamb’s words transformed his outlook: 1. He tells his mother, “It’s got nothing to do with my face and what I look like. I don’t care about that and it isn’t important.” 2. He defies his mother and returns: “if I don’t go back there, I’ll never go anywhere in this world again” and “I want the world….I want it”. 3. He has learnt to look, listen and think, and not to let hatred “burn” him inside.
Although Mr Lamb’s death is a shock and Derry weeps, he is unlikely to return to his old seclusion. Mr Lamb’s philosophy of life will live on in him and give him the courage to face the world.
He will not return to seclusion. Mr Lamb gave him a new outlook — his face no longer matters; he wants “the world”. Though shattered by Mr Lamb’s death, Derry will carry his lessons forward and live with confidence.
Question R5
How about using your imagination to suggest another ending to the above story?
Answer
(Sample alternative ending.)
Derry opens the garden gate, panting, and sees Mr Lamb lying beneath the fallen ladder, groaning. He runs to him, kneels and finds him conscious, with a sprained ankle and a bruised arm.
Derry: Mr Lamb! You fell! Don’t move. I’ll get help.
Mr Lamb: [Smiling weakly] You came back.
Derry: I said I would. Lamey-Lamb.
Derry runs to the neighbours, calls a doctor and later helps carry Mr Lamb inside. In the following weeks, Derry visits every day — picking the crab apples, tending the bees and making honey toffee for the children who come into the garden. The kids, seeing Derry with Mr Lamb, stop staring at his face. Even Derry’s mother, coming to fetch him one evening, sits by the fire and talks with Mr Lamb, and realises how wrong she had been. Derry has found a friend, and through him, the world.
A sample ending: Mr Lamb is only injured; Derry fetches help, visits him daily, picks the crab apples and tends the bees; the children accept Derry, his mother changes her opinion, and the friendship helps Derry rejoin the world.
Topic checklist
- ☒ Derry’s attraction to Mr Lamb (R1)
- ☒ Mr Lamb’s loneliness and how he copes (R2)
- ☒ Disability and alienation (R3)
- ☒ Derry’s future; alternative ending (R4–R5)