NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 5 On the face of it

Read and find out (Page No. 56)
Read and find out (Page No. 62)
Reading with Insight (Page No. 69)

Mr. Lamb was an old man who lived alone in his house. Years ago he lost his one leg in a battle and now he was using an artificial leg to walk. He had a garden which was full of different types of crab apples. Though the gate was open, but Derry climbs the wall to get into the garden. That’s where both of them met for the first time.

Do you think all this will change Derry’s attitude towards Mr. Lamb?

When Derry meets Lamb, he thinks of Lamb as ordinary like everyone else.Because Derry’s life was shrouded in the mental darkness he had created. Hence everyone looked the same to him. He didn’t talk to anyone for a long time because some people used to make fun of him and some used to give false consolation to him for his burnt face.But when Derry starts talking to Mr. Lamb, he thinks Lamb is a different person.Despite being disabled, he thinks very positive about life.He is very happy with what he has. A brief meeting changes the attitude of Derry towards Mr. Lamb.

What is it that draws Derry towards Mr. Lamb in spite of himself?

Lamb shows him a new picture of life which no one had shown him till now. He cares for weeds like flowers because he saw life in both. He did not look at the weeds as if they were of no use and because of his wonderful ideology; he very quickly made a special place in Derry’s mind.When Derry says that he dislikes some people, Lamb immediately corrects him and says that such thinking is more harmful to the body than acid as it hurts us firstly from inside. He puts emphasis on inner happiness and not on how we look from outside or what the world thinks about us. Mr. Lamb’s thinking was pretty different from Derry and he tries to develop a new attitude towards life to change his thinking. All these things draw Derry towards Mr. Lamb.

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?

Well this story revolves around the loneliness of Derry, there are many instances where it turns out that even Mr Lamb feels lonely. Since Derry was also physically challenged, Mr. Lamb feels that they both have similarities so he shares with him how he lost his leg in a war. How challenging his life is post this accident and how he manages to read books all the time while he is at home. He tells that there is no one at his house and he spends his time only in the garden and in the books. Mr. Lamb’s loneliness and disappointment can also be gauged from the fact when he says that people meet him very often but never return. That’s why he wasn’t expecting Derry to come back when he goes three miles to ask his mother. Mr. Lab tries to come out of these things by keeping himself busy with books and gardening and keeping negative thoughts away.

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?

In this story we come to know about the dilemma of two different physically challenged people. There is emptiness in both of their lives, which is a bit difficult to fill.This is because both of them had major accidents. One had lost his leg in the war and was fascinated by basic to basic work. Tinleg did some compensation but it could only compensate and nothing more.
Mr. Lamb too felt that he is not like other people and that too when people used to call him Lamey-Lamb. Instead of people supporting him, people used to make fun of him which hurt him more. Similar was the case with Derry also whose burnt face caused serious troubles. His burnt face used to separate him from the society and made him think that he is not a normal person.He was very sad and depressed after facing such disregard from the society at a young age.
Such people only expects little love and care from others. They can never describe what they feel in their heart. People often say that physical impairment causes physical pain but I feel it causes mental pain more. If such people are treated normally in offices, public places and everywhere, then amazing changes can be seen in their life.

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?

Well there are both the possibilities. The speed with which Derry runs towards his house to meet Mr. Lamb again clears that Lamb’s words had awakened his slept feelings and amazing energy had started coming out of him.He runs away happily and excitedly to meet him as he feels that today he has found a special friend.This friend could change his life forever. Post this he will love himself and will not care what people think or say about him. Maybe that’s why today he came to this garden that his perception is about to change towards life.
Mr. Lamb on the other hand had filled him with confidence and taught the art of loving himself and then he passed away. Maybe Derry just needs Lamb’s long support which was missing till date which causes him to go back to the seclusion. If he had got a little more time to spend with Mr. Lamb, his world could have changed forever. His friendship was not even to the next level that Mr. Lamb said goodbye to the world.I can’t rule out the possibility that Derry might go back to the seclusion.

Who was Derry? Why did he go to Mr. Lamb’s garden?

Derry was a 14 years old child whose one side of the face was burnt due to acid. He looked ugly and he felt very sad because kids usually made fun of him.He used to avoid those children because they used to make him realize that he is not normal.One day he thought to get away from these children and climbed the wall and entered Mr. Lamb’s Garden. He sees tall grass and trees of crab apples. That’s when he meets Mr. Lamb.

Why did Derry want to run away from the garden as quickly as possible after meeting Mr. Lamb?

Derry had come to the garden thinking that garden was empty and no one lived in that house. When he saw that Mr Lamb lived in that house, he immediately thought of leaving it. Derry neither came to meet him nor to befriend anyone nor to break apples. He thinks that Mr. Lamb will also turn out like the rest and will dislike him. However,the exact opposite happens when Mr Lamb shows interest and likes to talk and things go on-but because of Derry’s nature, he tries to run away from situation.

Why does Derry say that he is not afraid of people, people are afraid of him?

When Mr Lamb was happy to see Derry in his garden and starts talking and latter being introvert was trying to leave garden as quickly as he could. Then Mr Lamb asks if he is afraid of people who want to leave so soon because despite Mr Lamb’s best efforts, it was a difficult task to stop Derry in garden. When Mr Lamb says so, Derry’s inner soul gets a challenge and he said people are afraid of me. Actually, Derry’s thinking was that the world is afraid of his one sided burnt face. He has no fear what so ever.

How Mr Lamb make Derry understand how he should love himself and others?

Mr Lamb says many such things to Derry, which proves that former taught latter to love himself and the people around us. He tries to take the fear out of his contemplation that he looks ugly and he looks a little different from the rest. He moreover puts emphasis on inner beauty. He says outer beauty makes a person insecure and uncertain but inner beauty makes a person strong and makes him feel invincible. According to Mr Lamb, it is our skill and talent that makes us par with others.He also gives him an example of weed, which people often throw away considering it as waste but because he used to see life in everything and find happiness, he also cultivated weed with flowers and fruits. He also shares with him the story of a terrified man who isolates himself from the world and locks himself in a room and later a picture falls on him in the room and he dies thereafter.

Does Derry agree with Mr Lamb’s words?

Mr Lamb taught Derry to love himself and the people around us. Derry is not completely impressed but still very much influenced by the words and positive attitude of Mr Lamb. He argues on many things with the old man when he sees him happy even after losing a leg and how he had accepted reality and found a reason to be happy was all a surprise to him.This was the reason why Derry ran away to get permission from mother and did not stop despite stopping and returned to Mr Lamb on time. He accepted Lamb as his new friend therefore he returned with the hope of new dawn in his own life otherwise he preferred to be isolated.

What does Mr Lamb mean by giving an example of weed?

Mr Lamb wants to convey a message to Derry that nothing in this world is waste or useless. People often consider weed as waste and throw it away however if we look at them from other perspective, the same can be used as fodder for animals or it can work as nutrient to the soil or it may have medicinal value as well. Similarly Derry should not underestimate himself because of one sided burnt face. Rather, he should show his potential and credibility and set an example to the world like Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Rowan Atkinson among others have shown. He inspired Derry to believe in himself and ignore people who let him down.

When does Mr. Lamb tell that he too is another Derry in the eyes of the world?

When Derry tells him about his burnt face and the kinds of misbehavior by people ,Mr Lamb realizes there is not much difference between Derry and a physical impaired person like him. He too faces similar reactions from society. After losing his original leg, his condition was similar to that of Derry. As he talk about his loneliness, he realizes that he too was broken from inside, but the only difference was that he used to think positive all the time.

What peculiar things does Derry notice about the old man?

This happens twice in this story when Derry finds the old man’s words as peculiar. First when Derry narrates the story of two women who are talking among themselves that only his mother would love such a child. Hearing this, old man says that does he pay attention to all such rubbish. Second, the story of a man who was always scared and died one day due to a picture falling on his head in the room. Old man’s out of the box things are peculiar to Derry.

Why does Derry suddenly think of his mother?

Derry always tell his mother about his whereabouts especially when he is away for a longer duration. Now since he was away from house that too three miles away which his mother can’t search, he thought of telling this to his mother before helping Mr Lamb in plucking apples from trees which was a time consuming task. So, leaving that conversation in the middle, he runs away to his mother.

Why did Derry go to Mr. Lamb despite his mother’s refusal?

Meeting for a while with Mr Lamb had brought a sea of positive thoughts in him. He knew that when his mother came to know the reality of Mr. Lamb, she would be happy with her son’s decision.Because she didn’t know the old man yet, so she was refusing Derry to go.And Derry knew that if this friendship goes further, then his life will change forever.He himself also wanted to renounce his negative thoughts hence he decided to go to Mr Lamb despite his mother’s refusal.

Apart from this, what other ending could this story have?

The end of this story could have been such that Mr. Lamb would not have died and Derry would have helped him a lot in garden chores. Their friendship would go a long way and Mr. Lamb would have changed this negative teenage child forever.This would have given Derry a bright future and would have changed his life and that of his mother.One aspect of this was that Mr Lamb would find a new partner to spend time with, which was also very important at this age.Despite the generation gap, both the physically impaired people could have set a different example in the society.

What difference do you see in both characters?

The two main characters of the story are completely different from each other. There is a circle of negative thoughts throughout the day around Derry. He avoids people and talks very minimum. To some extent he is also right because he is young and cannot fight with the society when they tease him over his looks and he finds himself distinct and alone from others.And when his mother kisses him on one cheek and not on the other, his thought gets further strengthened.
On the other hand, there is a person who is very old and ignores the criticism of the world. He keeps himself busy at home in books or gardening.He doesn’t care about any sarcasm made on him.He himself leads a good life and inspires others too.Even after such a big accident in life, he did not give up his life.

Name few physically impaired people who are inspiration to the world.

There are many people in history who showed a new perspective to the world despite their physical disabilities and got their name written in golden words.
One such name in the list is of Sudha Chandran. When she was only 16 years old she met with a horrific accident in Tamil Nadu which resulted in the amputation of her right leg. She says that this period was the toughest time of her life. She subsequently regained some mobility with the help of a prosthetic foot and today she is widely known for her accomplishments as a Bharatanatyam dancer.
Stephen Hawking is another name in the list who was born in Oxford, into a family of physicians in 1942. In 1963, Hawking was diagnosed with an early-onset slow-progressing form of motor neurone disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – ALS, for short) that gradually, over the decades, paralyzed him. After the loss of his speech, he communicated through a speech-generating device initially through use of a handheld switch, and eventually by using a single cheek muscle. After he became paralyzed, he spent the rest of his life on a wheelchair. His book A Brief History of Time appeared on the Sunday Times bestseller list for a record-breaking 237 weeks. In 2002, Hawking was ranked number 25 in the BBC’s poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. He died on 14 March 2018 at the age of 76, after living with motor neurone disease for more than 50 years. He is regarded as the greatest scientist of the world.
Last but not least is the name of Rowan Atkinson also known as Mr Bean who is an English actor, comedian and writer. He suffers from a disease called stuttering. He was also teased and bullied at his school because of his looks. His bullies thought he looked like an alien. Then he was soon marked as a strange and became a very shy, withdrawn kid who did not have many friends.

But despite many rejections, he never stopped believing in himself. He has a great passion for making people laugh. He knew that he was very good at it. So he started focusing more and more on his original comedy sketches. And soon realized that he could speak fluently whenever he played some character.
So despite all the obstacles, he faced because of his looks and his speaking disorder. He proved that even without a Heroic body or a Hollywood face one can become one of the most loved and respected actors. Atkinson was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest actors in British comedy in 2007 and among the top 50 comedians ever, in a 2005 poll of fellow comedians.