ON THE FACE OF IT

 ON THE FACE OF IT

Susan Hill's play On the Face of It addresses issues of identity, discrimination, and the power of human connection. The plot centres on two characters:

Derry is a little child who has been horribly wounded by an accident that burned half of his face. This physical deformity has made him introverted and self-conscious, prompting him to isolate himself from others.

Mr. Lamb is an old guy with a tin leg caused by a wartime injury. Despite his physical limitations, Mr. Lamb emanates acceptance and empathy. 

The play begins when Derry, in search of tranquilly, stumbles into Mr. Lamb's garden. Derry is first sceptical of the elderly guy, but eventually opens up to him, expressing his anxieties and concerns of being judged by others. Mr. Lamb, in turn, challenges Derry's assumptions, proving that genuine connection goes beyond outward appearance.

Through their encounters, the play emphasises the harmful effects of prejudice and the value of empathy. It urges us to look past superficial judgements and recognise each individual's innate value.

1.     How does Mr. Lamb keep himself busy when it is a bit cool?

Answer: When the weather was cool, Mr. Lamb would take a ladder and a stick and pull down the crab apples. He would make jelly with the ripened oranges and golden apples to keep him occupied.

2.     As told by Mr. Lamb, why did a man lock himself up in his room and what happened to him?

Answer: The man locked himself up in his room because he was afraid that a bus might run him over or a man might breathe deadly germs onto him, or a donkey might kick him to death or lightning might strike him down or he might slip on a banana skin and fall and people would laugh at him. But despite locking himself in the room, he died as a picture fell off the wall on his head.

3.     If you were to give a different ending to the story ‘On the Face of It’ how would you end it?

Answer: I would have given a happy ending to the story. I would not like Mr. Lamb to die at the end. Instead, Derry would be received by Mr. Lamb and they both would become good friends.

4.     How does Derry interpret the fairy tale ‘Beauty and the Beast’? What does he feel about himself?

Answer: Derry says Beauty loved the Beast and so she kissed him and he changed into a handsome prince. But this would not happen to him because no one was going to kiss him. Even his mother kissed him on the other side of the face.

5.     Why did Mr. Lamb help Derry?

Answer: Mr. Lamb himself was handicapped. He knew the difficulties faced by people like him. But he was very optimistic and wanted to motivate and inspire others. He wanted Derry to look at things from a different perspective. It was his nature of generosity, love, and altruism that compelled him to help Derry.

6.     In what sense is the friendship between Mr. Lamb and Derry fruitful?

Answer: For Derry his friendship with Mr. Lamb proved very fruitful. Mr. Lamb changed Derry’s attitude to life and gave him the courage to face the challenges of life bravely. His way of living a life to its utmost productivity proved to be an inspiration for Derry who finally came out of his inferiority complex and started living a normal life.

7.     Why does Derry tell Mr. Lamb that he is afraid of seeing himself in the mirror?

Answer: Half of the face of Derry was burnt due to spilling of acid. This left an ugly scar on his face. He was afraid of seeing his ugly face in the mirror as it reminded him of his ugliness and made him feel scared and depressed.

8.     According to Derry, what did people think and say about him?

Answer: Half of Derry’s face was burnt and disfigured due to the spilling of acid. People either ignored him or pitied him. Some even made fun of him and called him ugly and the devil. They were scared of him.

9.     What did Derry’s mother think of Mr. Lamb?

Answer: Derry’s mother did not have a good opinion about Mr. Lamb as she had heard many things about him. She didn’t want Derry to go and meet him. She believed Mr. Lamb to be a dangerous person who lived alone in a big home.

10.                        What qualities of Mr. Lamb attracted Derry to him?

Answer: Mr. Lamb’s positive attitude attracted Derry to him. He always looked at life positively and realistically. He was motivating and inspiring. His zeal to live life fully in all circumstances brought Derry closer to him. 11.     Why does Mr. Lamb leave his gate open? Answer: Mr. Lamb was always on the lookout for the company of good friends. That’s why he kept his gate open. He wanted people to come and meet him anytime. This is symbolic of his openness to accept the world. 12.      Which peculiar things does Derry notice about Mr. Lamb? Answer: Mr. Lamb appeared to be a peculiar person to Derry because he could not understand many of the things Mr. Lamb said. Mr. Lamb told Derry to keep his ears shut and ignore what the people said. His positive approach to life, despite his handicap, was a peculiar thing for Derry. 13.      “It ate my face up. It ate me up,” says Derry to Mr. Lamb. What is this a reference to and how does the play bear out the later part of the statement? Answer: Derry’s face is scarred and disfigured due to the spilling of acid. He is pitied by others. In fact, the acid ate up his face. It also disfigured his personality. This led him to self-pity. He could not face the people and their unkind and insensitive remarks. 14.     ‘The world’s got a whole face, and the world’s there to be looked at.’ How does this statement reflect Mr. Lamb’s state of mind and how does this help in changing Derry’s outlook to life? Answer: This statement reflects Mr. Lamb’s optimism and positive attitude to life. He believes that one must face life with positivity and accept everything courageously. The world is a beautiful place and we must enjoy its beauty by interacting with people. This positive attitude of Mr. Lamb changed Derry’s state of mind and he was able to overcome his inferiority complex and low self-esteem. 15.      Despite all that the old man says, he is yet a lonely old man. How is this brought out in the course of the play? How does Mr. Lamb overcome this? Answer: Mr. Lamb is an old man with a tin-leg. He is alone and lives in a big house with a big lawn. Though he is very optimistic and accepts everything very positively, his loneliness is evident from the fact that he leaves his gate and windows open so that people can come in whenever they want. He overcomes this loneliness by getting himself involved in making toffees, jelly, etc. with the crab apples that grow in his garden. He loves to talk and spend time with the children who come to his lawn. 16.     ‘Because if I don’t go back there, I’ll never go back anywhere in the world’ says Derry to his mother. How do these words reflect Derry’s state of mind? How does he come to feel this way? Answer: These words show that Derry’s state of mind has changed. Motivated and inspired by Mr. Lamb, Derry has become confident and bold enough to accept and face the world despite his deformity. He is no more a pessimist and has started taking life as a challenge. 17.      How did Mr Lamb’s conversation and company change Derry’s desire to isolate himself from the world? [CBSE 2022] Answer: Derry will not go back to isolation or indulge in self-pity. He now wanted to live his life with confidence and hope. Mr Lamb’s positive attitude had transformed his outlook for good. With the rest of the body and brain intact, he was raring to conquer the world. 18.      How does Mr Lamb cope with his loneliness? [CBSE 2021 (C)] Answer: Mr Lamb keeps himself busy in gardening, rearing trees, and making apple jam. He always keeps his door open for visitors. He sits in the garden, listens to the bees singing, and reads books to keep himself busy. 19.     Why does Derry’s mother not want him to go back to visit Mr Lamb? [CBSE 2018] Answer: Derry’s mother claims to have heard many things about Mr Lamb. She has been told and warned by the people. She thinks he is not a good person. She asks Derry not to go back there. Derry asks her not to believe all she hears. But Derry is determined to go there. 20.  How does Mr Lamb react when Derry enters his garden? [All India 2017] Answer: Mr Lamb introduces himself and tries to make a very casual conversation, cautions Derry about the fallen fruit so that he doesn’t trip on it and tries to comfort him putting his doubts at rest. 21.     What kind of garden does Mr Lamb have? Why does he like it? [All India 2017] Answer: Mr Lamb has an orchard full of fruit trees. He likes it because gardening keeps him busy and children also come there to play. He longs for human company as he suffers from loneliness. 22.     How do people react to Derry’s face? [Foreign 2017] Answer: Derry was a fourteen-year-old boy who had a scared face. People were afraid of him and stared at him because he had an ugly burnt face. They pretended to be sympathetic but actually, the attitude of the people reflected the callousness of the society towards the physically impaired. 23.     How do people console Derry when they look at his face? Answer: When people looked at Derry’s face, some people were sympathetic and some were not. People told him inspiring stories to console him but no one ever kissed him except his mother. Lamb clarified to Derry that people with the same deformity were also different. It is incorrect to judge people by what they look like. 24.     Why does Mr Lamb always leave the gate of the house open? [Delhi 2020] Answer: Mr Lamb was always on the lookout for the company of good friends. That’s why he kept the gate of his house always open. He wanted people to come and meet him anytime. This is symbolic of his openness to accept the world. 25.     How does Mr. Lamb’s brief association with Derry affect the latter? Or How did Mr. Lamb’s meeting with Derry become a turning point in his life? Answer: Derry was a fourteen-year-old boy who had his one side of face burnt due to the spilling of acid. He was dejected. People pitied him. He was pained due to the horror, disgust, and pity shown to him by the alienated people. As a result, he had become bitter. He had withdrawn himself from people and had developed a pessimistic attitude to life.   When he met Mr. Lamb and spent some time in his company, his entire perspective changed. Mr. Lamb was a person, full of life. He told Derry to embrace life fully and not to be bothered about what people said about him. He advised him to keep his ears shut to what was unpleasant to hear but not to shut himself in. He inspired Derry by keeping himself busy in spite of his tin-leg and by being open and cheerful.   Mr. Lamb’s advice motivated Derry to come out of his shell of isolation, thus turning point in his life. 26.     What is the bond that united the two—the old man, Mr. Lamb, and Derry, the small boy? Answer: Derry is a small boy who has a burnt face due spilling of acid. He is very withdrawn and defiant. He runs away from the world as he hates others staring at him. He thinks people are afraid of his deformity. Similarly, Mr. Lamb, too is a handicapped person. He lost one leg in a bomb explosion during the war years ago. He lives alone. The two of them have deformities and are rejected by the people. Both have a vacuum in their hearts for not having company. Mr. Lamb is a man full of positive energy. When Derry meets him, he finds himself drawn to him. Mr. Lamb seems to be the only one who gives him a new line of thought about his physical disfigurement. Thus they both shared a bond that unites the two of them. 27.     What benefits did Derry reap from his association with Mr. Lamb? Answer: Derry was a fourteen-year-old boy whose face was partly burnt due to spilling of acid. As a result, he became conscious of his ugly face. He found that people either ridiculed him or pitied him. He developed a negative attitude to life. He became frustrated. But when he met Mr. Lamb, he got inspiration from him to live life as it came. Derry was encouraged by Mr. Lamb to look at the world and to take an interest in things around him. He found truth, sense and inspiration in Mr. Lamb’s words. He learnt from Mr. Lamb how to handle his handicap and loneliness. In fact, it was Mr. Lamb who brought Derry back to life. Derry learnt the way to live life fully by dealing with his deformity in an appropriate manner. 28.     What was Derry’s deformity? How had it made him withdrawn and defiant? Answer: Derry was a fourteen-year-old boy. He had half of his face burnt due to spilling of acid. This made him look so ugly that everyone either pitied him or ridiculed him. This made him bitter. He detested the world and suffered from an inferiority complex, lack of self-respect and rejection. Derry’s deformity made him so frustrated that he evaded people. He came to Mr. Lamb’s garden because he thought it to be empty. When he saw Mr. Lamb, he wanted to go away. He was extremely sensitive and even had a grudge against his mother for kissing him only on the other side of his burnt face. Thus, due to his handicap, Derry became defiant and withdrawn. He was frustrated at his rejection by the people and became so withdrawn that he didn’t want to meet and talk to anyone. 29.     Justify the title ‘On the Face of It’. Answer: The title of the story ‘On the Face of It’ seems to be very appropriate. The idiom ‘On the Face of It’ means from appearance alone or apparently. In the play, Derry is frustrated and has lost self-esteem due to people’s attitude to him. Everyone thought that his burnt face was terrible and he was handicapped. Similar was Mr. Lamb’s case. He had lost one leg in a bomb explosion. Apparently, both Mr. Lamb and Derry had deformities. But Mr. Lamb enabled Derry to have faith in himself look at the bright side of things and learn to live with his deformity. Their physical handicap was an apparent thing for them as well as for the world. But the most significant thing is the strength of one’s soul. Mr. Lamb was a mentally strong person who handled his own handicap and loneliness very effectively. He became instrumental in Derry changing his views about himself and his deformity and started taking things positively. The play deals with the acceptance of the fact that things are not always as they appear, i.e. physical handicap has nothing to do with mental strength and a positive attitude to life. 30.     How do Mr. Lamb and Derry differ in their thoughts, traits and attitudes to life? Or Both Derry and Mr. Lamb suffer from handicaps, yet their attitude to life is totally different. Discus. Answer: Mr. Lamb and Derry both are handicapped. Mr. Lamb has lost his leg in a bomb explosion and Derry has a deformed face due to spilling of acid. They differ in their thoughts, traits and attitudes to life. Derry is not able to cope with his disfigured face and people’s uncharitable remarks. As a result, he keeps himself withdrawn and isolated from the world and has a very negative attitude to life. Derry keeps to himself and is extremely sensitive. He can’t stand people staring at him. On the other hand, Mr. Lamb is not much affected by his handicap. He enjoys reading books and tending plants and flowers. He has a positive attitude to life and accepts everything as it comes. He is open-minded and welcomes people. He is not affected when children call him ‘Lamey Lamb’. Thus, both Derry and Mr. Lamb are in contrast to each other. Finally, Mr. Lamb was able to inspire Derry and change his attitude to life. 31.     What kind of atmosphere is created by Mr. Lamb to look welcoming and invite people to him? Answer: Mr. Lamb has a very positive attitude to life. He keeps the door of his home open to welcome people into his house. He always speaks positively. Many children come to his garden to steal apples. He never rebukes them but wants to talk and spend time with them to overlook the mischiefs of others. He never gets annoyed or disturbed by the comments of children who call him ‘Lamey Lamb’. He accepts life as it comes to him. He never puts curtains on his windows and makes toffees and jelly for others. As a lonely man, Mr. Lamb wants to have company. He never discloses his loneliness to anybody and always speaks encouraging words. It is due to the welcoming attitude of Mr. Lamb that Derry promised to return to his garden. 32.     Both Derry and Lamb are physically impaired and lonely. It is the responsibility of society to understand and support people with infirmities so that they do not suffer from a sense of alienation. As a responsible citizen, write in 120–150 words what you would do to bring about a change in the lives of such people. Answer: Both Derry and Lamb are physically impaired and lonely. It is only due to the insensitive attitude of the society that they feel alienated and lonely. Derry, a boy of fourteen years, always gets either pitied or has uncharitable remarks made against him by others and Mr. Lamb seeks to get some company. In fact, as educated members of society, we need to come forward to make these people realise that they are also wanted and are significant to us. We have to change our attitude toward such people and realise that just one deformity cannot affect a person's other talents and capabilities. Actually, these people are very sensitive and feel dejected. We must give them love and comfort and show our faith in them by providing them equal opportunities and responsibilities. 33.     Mr Lamb stands as a symbol of optimism and hope. Support your answer with examples from the text. [CBSE 2023] Answer: Mr Lamb stands as a symbol of optimism and hope. He has a positive attitude towards life. He keeps the door of his house always open to welcome people in his house. He gladly accepts the friendship of Derry despite his disfigured face. Appearances are always deceptive. He gives Derry a place of refuge in his garden where he can feel safe and accepted. Derry always keeps himself isolated from this world. But Mr Lamb also supports him and tries to bring him into the mainstream of life. He tells Derry to explore the world and to be afraid of setting goals and achieving them. Mr always motivates Derry to enjoy life fully ignoring his deformity, appreciating and enjoying the beauty of the world. Mr Lamb is open-minded and always has optimistic views towards life. 34.     How does Mr Lamb’s brief association with Derry affect the latter? [Foreign 2012] Or How did Mr Lamb’s meeting with Derry become a turning point in his life? [Hots] Answer: Derry was a fourteen-year-old boy who had his one side of face burnt due to the spilling of acid. He was dejected. People pitied him. He was pained due to the horror, disgust and pity shown for him by the alienated people. As a result, he had become bitter. He had withdrawn himself from people and had developed a pessimistic attitude to life. When he met Mr Lamb and spent some time in his company, his entire perspective changed. Mr Lamb was a person, full of life. He told Derry to embrace life fully and not to be bothered about what people said about him. He advised him to keep his ears shut to what was unpleasant to hear but not to shut himself in. He inspired Derry by keeping himself busy despite his tin-leg and by being open and cheerful. Mr Lamb’s advice proved to be a great motivation for Derry and he came out from his shell of isolation. Thus it proved to be a turning point in his life. 35.     MR LAMB: Lamb’s my name. Mind the apples. Crab apples those are. Windfalls in the long grass. You could trip. DERRY: I....there....I thought this was an empty place. I didn’t know there was anybody here.... MR LAMB: That’s all right. I’m here. What are you afraid of, boy? That’s all right. Derry: I thought it was empty... an empty house. (a)  Complete the sentence appropriately. Mr Lamb is a handicapped man ________. Answer: who has lost his leg in a bomb explosion during the war. (b) What kind of a person does Mr Lamb appear to you after reading the above extract? (i)                Kind and friendly (ii) Caring and considerate (iii) Both (i) and (ii) (iv) Selfish and talkative Answer: (iii) Both (i) and (ii) (c)  Who is Derry? Answer: Derry is a fourteen-year-old boy, who is disfigured and ugly because half of his face is burnt due to spilling of acid. (d) What is it that draws Derry to Mr Lamb in spite of himself? Answer: Mr Lamb was not scared of Derry’s burnt face. He wanted to be in his company and talk to him. He spoke in a friendly manner to Derry and inspired him to think positively. Thus, Derry got drawn to Mr Lamb.