Gujarat Board GSEB Class 12 English Textbook Solutions Vistas Chapter 6 On the face of It Textbook Exercise Important Questions and Answers, Notes Pdf.
Gujarat Board Textbook Solutions Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 6 On the face of It
GSEB Class 12 English On the face of It Text Book Questions and Answers
Read and Find Out (Textbook Page No. 56)
Question 1.
Who is Mr Lamb? How does Derry get into his garden?
Answer:
Mr Lamb is an old man with a tin leg. His real leg was blown off years ago during the war. He lives all alone in his house. There is a garden near the house. It has ripe crab apples looking orange and golden in colour. Mr Lamb is sitting in his garden when Derry climbs over the garden wall to get into his garden. Though the gate is open, the boy does not use it.
Read and Find Out (Textbook Page No. 62)
Question 1.
Do you think all this will change Derry’s attitude towards Mr Lamb?
Answer:
Mr Lamb’ learns from Derry that the latter does not like being near people. They stare at his face and feel afraid of him as half of it has been burnt by acid and looks very ugly. Mr Lamb offers him a new way of thinking. He tells him about a person who was afraid of everything and locked himself in a room.
A picture fell off the wall on his head and killed him. Derry finds that the old man says peculiar things. He is further surprised to learn about the old man’s habits. He loves to read book. His house has many books. There aren’t any curtains at the windows. He likes the light and the darkness. He keeps the windows open to hear the wind.
Derry says that he too likes to hear the sound of rain on the roof. But he also hears people talking about him and his future. The old man tells him that he has all the God-given organs. He will get on the way he wants, like the rest. He could even get on better than them if he made a firm decision. He tells Derry that hatred is worse than acid because it can burn man from inside.
He should not worry about his burned face or what people say about it. All this brings a positive change in Derry’s attitude towards Mr Lamb. He promises to come back after informing his mother. He asks Mr Lamb about his life and friends and recognises his loneliness and disappointment. He keeps his promise and returns only to find Mr Lamb lying on the ground.
Reading with Insight
Answer the following questions in about six to seven sentences each:
Question 1.
What is it that draws Derry towards Mr Lamb in spite of himself?
Answer:
Both Derry and Mr Lamb suffer from physical impairment. Derry has one side of his face disfigured and burnt by acid. The old man has a tin leg because his real leg got blown off diming the war. Apart from these physical disabilities, Derry finds signs of loneliness and disappointment in Mr Lamb’s life. The old man tries to overcome these feelings but the sense of alienation felt by him is more painful than the pain caused by physical disability.
Derry tries to avoid meeting people because they consider his face frightful and ugly. They avoid him as they are afraid of him. His parents seem worried about him and talk about him and his future. Mr Lamb provides him a new approach to things. He tells him to see, hear, feel and think about things around him. He should not hate others. Hatred is worse than acid because At burns the inside. He has all the God-given limbs. He must take a firm decision and work towards it. He will succeed. He should not be afraid of people and they will not be afraid of him. All these factors draw Derry towards Mr Lamb.
Question 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?
Answer:
It is in the middle section of the first scene of the play that Mr Lamb displays signs of loneliness and disappointment. He says that when it is a bit cooler, he will get the ladder and a stick, and pull down those crab apples. He makes jelly. Derry could help him. Then he says he is interested in anybody or anything that God made. It may be a person, flower, fruit, grass, weeds or rubbish. There are plenty of things to look at.
Some of them are his crab apples or the weeds or a spider climbing up a silken ladder or his tall sunflowers. He also likes to talk and have a company. He has a hive of bees. He hears them singing. He sits in the sun and reads books. He likes the light and the darkness. He hears the wind coming through open windows. There aren’t any curtains at the windows as they either shut things out or shut things in. These are the ways in which Mr Lamb tries to overcome his loneliness.
Question 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?
Answer:
The play ‘On The Face Of It’ focuses our attention on the physical pain and mental anguish of the persons suffering from some physical impairment. The playwright, Susan Hill, presents the two leading characters – an old man and a small boy-having different sorts of physical disabilities. The old man has a tin leg. It did hurt him when it came off. Then he got used to it. He feels pain now and then in wet weather, he finds it inconvenient to run, to climb a tree or a ladder. He lives all alone in a big house with a garden.
The boy has one side of his face badly burnt by acid. He felt the physical pain then. After discharge from hospital, he feels hurt at the attitude of the people. They regard his face as horrible and ugly, show signs of being scared and avoid his presence. In short, he is disliked, if not hated. He is not accepted as an ordinary member of society. So, he does not like people to look at him.
It is clear that the sense of alienation that these disabled persons feel causes them constant pain. Such persons expect kind and considerate behaviour from others. They do not want tears, sympathy or pity. They dislike being pointed at, nicknamed, mocked at or made a fun of. They only demand a reasonable behaviour from others, full of appreciation of their difficulties.
Question 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?
Answer:
(Two different answers are possible. One is being given below) Derry will not get back to his old seclusion. He has been associated with Mr Lamb for a short time only, but even this brief association will effect a change in the kind of life he will lead in future. Instead of being conscious of what people comment about the ugliness of his face, he will use his head and heart to achieve what he decides to do in life. It is also possible that with his firm determination and zeal to achieve his aim, he might do better than the rest, even those who do not suffer from any physical impairment.
By his persuasive manner and skilful use of anecdotes, Mr Lamb convinces Derry that a life of seclusion and withdrawal from the world is dull as, well as risky. The world has many beautiful objects to see and admire, sounds to hear and ideas to think. One should have an open mind and positive attitude. Hatred is worse than acid.
Derry’s mother tries her best to keep Derry with her. But Derry resolves to go back to Mr Lamb to look at things and listen to him. He no longer cares about his face. What he thinks and feels, and what he wants to see and find out and hear is more important. He does not want to remain at his home. He has got clear perception of things. If he does not go back there, he will never go anywhere in the world again. In short, Derry’s coming back to Mr Lamb is indicative of the change in the kind of life he is likely to lead in future.
On the face of It Summary in English
On the face of It Summary:
This play deals with the problem of the disabled people and depicts that merely the encouraging words may change our tensed feelings. It is for us to see and understand life in every organism. It does not matter what we look like but it matters how we can uplift a disabled man. It is not the actual pain or inconvenience caused by a physical impairment that troubles a disabled man but the behaviour of the people around him.
People discard him as a useless limb and refuse to accept him in the mainstream of life. So he feels alienated from the society and wants to live in seclusion. In a way, Derry suffers from inferiority complex. Mr Lamb motivates him to think positively about life, people and things.’ It is a fine day and Mr Lamb is in his garden. He is an old man with a tin leg. He leads a lonely life and is always ready to accept any visitor who comes in his garden.
One day Derry, a young boy of fourteen sneaks into Mr Lamb’s garden. He has a burnt face with acid so he looks very ugly. He has become defiant and withdrawn due to his disfigured face. He does not want to face the world with his ugly and disfigured face. Derry climbs over the wall and cautiously walks through the long grass. He is quite close to Lamb. He is scared when Lamb speaks to him.
Lamb asks him to tread carefully because the long grass is littered with wild apples dropped by wind. Derry is utterly confused as he has come there considering the place empty. Having been detected by Lamb, Derry panics and wants to go. Lamb asks him not to leave as he does not mind anybody’s coming into his garden. He keeps the gate always open. He advises to enter through the gate rather than by climbing over the garden wall. Lamb tells that all who come to his garden, are welcome.
But Derry says that he has not come to steal but he wants only to come into garden. He rather tells Derry not to afraid of anything but Derry points out that the people are afraid of him because of his ugly and disfigured face. Derry adds that he is afraid of himself when he sees his face in the mirror. Lamb tries to console him. He asks him to face the harsh realities of life bravely. He tries to divert the views of Derry from his burnt face to the fruits in the garden, but Derry keeps on talking about his ugly face.
Lamb tries to make him understand that it is the inner beauty of a person that matters, not his outer beauty. Derry does not agree with it. He tells Lamb that it is important to be handsome from outside also. He says that even his mother kisses him on the other side of his face.
He says that he has to spend whole of his life with his half face. Mr Lamb points out that there is no difference between a flower plant and at %eed since both are living and growing plants. Derry remarks that Mr Lamb can put on trousers and cover up his tingle. Then Mr Lamb reminds Derry of a fairy tale of Beauty and The Beast in which the princess kisses the Beast who in turn changes into a handsome prince.
This makes Derry understand that ugliness is only skin deep. A man is not what he looks like but what he really is. Handsome is that handsome does. This story is to inspire Derry and he should not care for his burnt face. But Derry tells that people stare at his face and they are afraid of him. Derry tells Lamb that women talk of his ugly face. They say that none will kiss except his mother. Mr Lamb tells him that he must have heard so many other things also. The best thing is to keep his ears shut and need not pay attention to such talks.
Mr Lamb talks about the bees in his garden. Some people like their buzzing while others hate. But Lamb calls it sweet music. It is only the difference of attitude. Derry tells that people stare at his face so he avoids them. But Mr Lamb tells that keeping alone is not a fine thing. He tells a story about a man who was always afraid of being run over or getting infected or meeting with some accident. So he locked himself in a room. There a picture fell on his head and killed him. Derry says that his family often talks about him downstairs when he is not there. They are worried to think what is going to happen to him when they are gone and how he will get on in this world.
Mr Lamb does not agree with him. Lamb encourages him that he has got two arms, legs, eyes, ears, a tongue and a brain. He can achieve whatever, he likes. He can be better than others. He tells Derry that he has got a full body and can be better than others. He can do anything like other people or may do better than others. He asks Lamb several questions to know more about him. Mr Lamb says that he sits in the sun and reads the books. He likes the windows open to hear the wind. Lamb tells that he has a lot of friends everywhere.
Everybody who comes in his garden is his friend. Derry wonders how a person can be his friend about whom he knows nothing. Derry says that there are some people he hates. But Lamb remarks that hatred would do him more harm than any bottle of acid. Acid only burns our face or so but hatred can burn us away inside. Lamb asks him to be a friend. Derry asks how they can be friends only in one meeting. But Lamb tells him that he can come there at any time even if he is out. Derry thinks to help him.
He tells Lamb that with one leg he can fall off a ladder and die. Derry offers to help him but he wants to inform his mother where he is since she will be worried. Lamb doubts if he would come back. Derry assures him to return but Lamb says to himself that people never come back though they say that they will come back. Derry goes back to his house and tells everything to his mother. Derry says that he wants to go there, sit and listen to things and look. Nobody else has ever said the things the old man has said.
His mother stops him from going to the old man’s house. She tells that she has heard strange stories about the old man. She urges him not to go there again. Derry insists that he must go there otherwise he will never go anywhere in this world. In spite of his mother’s strong resistance, Derry slams the door and runs away to help Lamb in collecting crab apples. In the meantime, Mr Lamb climbs on the ladder for the apples. The. ladder falls back and Mr Lamb is killed. Derry opens the gate and says excitedly that he has come back. Suddenly he catches sight of Mr Lamb. He runs through the long grass and says, “I came back, Lamey Lamb. I did come back.” But there is no response. Derry kneels by him and weeps and realizes that he has lost his only friend in this world.