NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 5 “On the Face of It” provide detailed, precise, and easy-to-understand answers to all textbook questions. This complete study guide covers Read and Find Out and Reading with Insight, along with an imaginative alternative ending. Be sure to read On the Face of It Summary to grasp Susan Hill’s moving exploration of physical impairment, social alienation, and healing human connections more effectively!
On the Face of It Class 12 Questions and Answers
Read and find out Questions
Q.1. Who is Mr Lamb? How does Derry get into his garden? (Scene One)
Ans. Mr Lamb is a lonely old man with a tin leg (his real leg was blown off in the war). He lives in a big house with no curtains and a garden full of fruit, flowers, herbs and even “weeds”. He is gentle, wise and friendly, and his gate is always open to everyone. Derry, a fourteen-year-old boy with a badly burned face, climbs over the garden wall because he thought it was an empty, deserted place, and liked what he saw when he looked over the wall.
Q.2. Do you think all this will change Derry’s attitude towards Mr Lamb? (p. 53)
Ans. Yes. Derry begins by being defensive, angry and suspicious. He calls Mr Lamb “peculiar”, “daft” and “crazy”, and he thinks that Mr Lamb will be like all others, who stare, pity or fear him. But Mr Lamb does not pity or fear him. He treats Derry as a normal person, talks about the garden, bees and apples, and accepts him as a friend. Derry laughs at the story of the man who locked himself in a room, and says “I like it here.” By the end, he promises to come back, and in Scene Two he defends Mr Lamb to his mother. His attitude changes from distrust to liking and trust.
Reading with Insight (page 60–61)
Q.1. What is it that draws Derry towards Mr Lamb in spite of himself?
Ans.
- Acceptance: Mr Lamb does not stare at his face, pity him or fear him. He treats him as an equal (“You’re a boy who came into the garden. Plenty do.”).
- Honesty: He answers Derry directly and does not pretend or avoid the topic once Derry asks him to speak. He says Derry “got burned in a fire”.
- Shared experience: Mr Lamb also has a physical disability (the tin leg) and is teased as “Lamey-Lamb”, but he is not troubled by it. Derry finds in him someone who understands.
- Fresh outlook: He sees beauty in everything, including “weeds”, and says that all life is the same. He shows Derry that there is a whole world to look at.
- Warmth and freedom: The open gate, the bees that “sing”, the house without curtains, and the offer of friendship without conditions make Derry feel welcome and safe. Derry says, “I want a place like this.”
- Humour and conversation: Mr Lamb’s stories and “peculiar” remarks make Derry laugh, perhaps for the first time in a long while.
Derry is drawn by Mr Lamb’s wisdom and kindness, though he tries to resist because he is afraid of being hurt.
Q.2. 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?
Ans.
- Where: In the last part of Scene One, when Derry leaves. Derry doubts that anyone ever visits Mr Lamb (“You’re here all by yourself and miserable and no one would know if you were alive or dead”). Mr Lamb says nothing and goes to his bees. After Derry leaves, he says to himself, “I’ll come back. They never do, though. Not them. Never do come back.” This shows his loneliness and disappointment that people, even those who say they will, do not return. Derry’s remark about falling off the ladder and dying alone also touches on this loneliness.
- How he overcomes it:
- He keeps his gate always open and welcomes everyone, even children who come for apples, pears and honey toffee.
- He keeps himself busy with the garden, making crab-apple jelly, honey toffee and looking after the bees.
- He reads books, and fills his life with interests (“inside, it’s full”).
- He finds friends and beauty in nature: the bees, the sunflowers, the spider on its silken ladder.
- He accepts his handicap with humour (“Lamey-Lamb… doesn’t trouble me”) and refuses to feel sorry for himself.
- He talks to the bees as “my dears” and has a positive attitude towards life.
Q.3. 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?
Ans. A person with a disability does not want pity, fear, staring, whispering, or special treatment. Derry hates the pity (“Poor boy”) and the cruel comments (“a face only a mother could love”). He also hates being avoided, or having people change the subject to avoid mentioning it. They also do not want to be advised that they should be brave or “think of those worse off”, or told to stay with “others like himself”. What they expect is:
- Acceptance and equality: To be treated as normal human beings, like anyone else.
- Honesty and openness: To be asked or spoken to directly, without pretence, and for their disability to be treated as a simple fact.
- Respect and sensitivity: No stares, jokes, or cruel remarks.
- Friendship and inclusion: To be part of the community and not isolated or kept apart. Mr Lamb says, “What kind of a world would that be?” when Derry’s neighbour suggests that the disabled should live apart.
- Encouragement to be independent: To be encouraged and given chances to live a full life.
Mr Lamb shows this behaviour, and that is why Derry is drawn to him.
Q.4. 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?
Ans. Opinion (Mr Lamb’s influence will change Derry):
- Derry has already begun to change. He argues with his mother and insists on going back, saying, “If I don’t go back there, I’ll never go anywhere in this world again.” He cries out, “I want the world… I want it.”
- He has learned from Mr Lamb to look, listen and enjoy things around him, and has found a friend who accepts him. He has even laughed and made a choice (to be a friend) on his own.
- He runs back to the garden despite his mother’s refusal, which shows new courage and determination.
- Mr Lamb’s death at the end is a shock, but Derry’s tears show that he cares and has become capable of love and friendship. The garden, which Mr Lamb said was “anybody’s”, may become his own place, and he may carry forward Mr Lamb’s attitude towards life.
Counter-view: The loss of his only friend may push him back into isolation. But the lessons of acceptance and courage that Mr Lamb gave him will probably stay with him, so he is more likely to move forward than to go back to his old shell.
How about…
Using your imagination to suggest another ending to the story.
Sample alternative ending:
[Derry opens the garden gate, still panting. He finds Mr Lamb lying beside the fallen ladder, groaning, with apples scattered all around.]
Derry: Mr Lamb! Mr Lamb! Are you hurt?
Mr Lamb: [Faintly, with a smile] Only my pride, boy. And the tin leg has come loose. Tin doesn’t hurt, you know.
Derry: I told you someone should be here. I’ll run and get help.
Mr Lamb: Not yet. Help me up first. Steady… that’s it.
[Derry helps him to sit on the bench. Mr Lamb sits, breathing hard, and then laughs.]
Mr Lamb: You see, you came back. They never do, I said. I was wrong.
Derry: I told you I’d come. I haven’t got a tin leg. Now, where is that stick? I’ll get the rest of the crab apples down. You can tell me how to make the jelly.
Mr Lamb: Then the gate stays open for you, always.
[They both laugh. The sound of bees and birdsong rises, and the garden is full of life again.]
The End
