Class 12 English Previous Year: Short Questions with Answers - On The Face Of It

Q. 1. Why does Derry’s mother not want him to go back to visit Mr. Lamb? [Delhi / Outside Delhi 2018]
Ans. Being new to the area, Derry’s mother knew little about Mr. Lamb. Moreover, he lived all alone and had no contact with the outside world. She had seen children tease him and had heard people talk adversely about him. So, she does not want Derry to be in his company. Was new to the place and had not much personal information about him/ had heard adverse remarks made by people about Mr. Lamb/ Lamb leading a lonely life, no contact with outside world/ earlier, children used to tease and chase him, so would not be a healthy company for her son.

Q. 2. Why does Derry tell Mr. Lamb that he is afraid of seeing himself in the mirror in the story ‘On The Face of It’?
Ans. Derry’s face is burnt with acid. Derry says that people are afraid of him. They look at his face and find it terrible and ugly. So, he says that he too is afraid of himself when he sees his face in the mirror.

Q. 3. What consolation did people give Derry when they saw his acid burnt face? [CBSE, SQP I, 2012, Comptt. Outside Delhi Set-I, 2010]
OR
How do people console Derry when they look at his face? [Foreign Set III, 2017]
Ans. Value Points:
- people console him
– by quoting the fairy tale- ‘Beauty and the Beast’
- said ‘it is not what you look like but what you are inside is important’
Detailed Answer: People often asked him to look at those people who were in pain, are brave, never cry, never complain and don’t feel sorry for themselves. They also asked him to think of those who were worse off. He was better off than those people who were blind, born deaf, or are confined to a wheel-chair, or are crazy and dribble.

Q. 4. How do people react to Derry’s face? [Foreign Set II, 2017]
Ans. Value Points: 
– they stare at him
– feel afraid of him
– pity him
Detailed Answer: When people looked at Derry’s burnt face, they kept staring at him. They often reacted as if they were afraid of him. Some of them pitied him and consoled him by saying sympathetic words.

Q. 5. How did Mr. Lamb keep himself busy when it was a bit cool?
Ans. Value Points: Gets a ladder and a stick and pulls down the crab apples / makes jelly / enjoys the humming of bees in his garden / sits in the Sun / reads books / makes toffee with honey.
Detailed Answer: When it’s a bit cool, Mr. Lamb keeps himself busy by getting a ladder and a stick and pulling down the crab apples. He then makes jelly out of them. He keeps enjoying the humming of bees, reading books and sitting in the sun.

Q. 6. What peculiar things does Derry notice about the old man, Lamb?
Ans. Value Points: That he leaves the gates always open / welcomes strangers / the way Derry was treated / received by Lamb / he spoke things that others never did / lives in a huge house and a garden without curtains.
Detailed Answer: Mr. Lamb always leaves his gates open to welcome strangers. He lived in a big house without curtains. Derry also found Mr. Lamb’s conversation peculiar. He did not understand the questions Mr. Lamb asked him. He asked Derry to always keep his ears shut. Then, he told him the story of the man who locked himself in his room to escape from any kind of danger and died when a picture fell off the wall on his head and killed him.

Q. 7. Why does Derry stay away from people?
OR 
How did Derry’s handicap damage his life?
OR
Why does Derry say: “I’m not afraid. People are afraid of me?”
Ans. Derry suffers from the complex that most of the physically impaired persons suffer from. He has become withdrawn and defiant. He has got a burnt face. He thinks that he is the ugliest person on the earth. People find his face very terrible. So he is not afraid of the people but they are afraid of him.

Q. 8. What changes took place in Derry when he met Mr. Lamb?
Ans. When Derry met Mr. Lamb, his perspective towards life and himself changed. Derry had an acid burnt face due to which people either used to pity him or were scared of him. This had made Derry bitter and he had withdrawn into his own shell. He avoided meeting people, talking to them or being in anyone’s company. He had come to Mr. Lamb’s garden thinking that it was an isolated place.
But Mr. Lamb made him see a different side of life. He told him what is outside is not important, rather we should focus on what is inside. He made Derry see the beauty of life again. The sound of the rain, blossoming trees, chirping birds, everything was beautiful around him. Derry realized that it doesn’t matter how he looked. What matters is how he treats himself and life. He became positive again.

Q. 9. In what sense is the friendship between Mr. Lamb and Derry fruitful?
Ans. Value Points: 
— Lamb helps Derry overcome his sense of inferiority
— advises him not to pay too much attention to what others thought about him; to open up his heart to let love enter / to celebrate life and its wonders
— brings about a positive change in Derry’s attitude
— Mr. Lamb got the company of Derry to enjoy more often
Detailed Answer: Mr. Lamb is optimistic whereas Derry is pessimistic and has an inferiority complex. Mr. Lamb helps him overcome his inferiority complex and advises him not to pay much attention to what others thought about him. He asked him to enjoy life and the beauty of nature. He brings about a positive change in Derry.

Q.10. Who was Derry? What problems did he have? [Comptt., Outside Delhi Set-III, 2017]
OR
Who was Derry? What did he suffer from? [Comptt., Delhi Set I/II/III, 2012]
Ans. Value Points: 
– fourteen year old boy with one side of his face disfigured with acid
– kept to himself, did not mix with people
– full of frustration and anger
– could not take criticism
Detailed Answer: Derry is a young boy who came to Mr. Lamb’s garden. One side of his face had been burnt by acid.

Q. 11. Why did Derry insist that he would go back to Mr. Lamb?
OR
What qualities of Mr. Lamb attracted Derry to him?
Ans. Derry is a young boy who suffers from a sense of inferiority complex because of his burnt face. He comes to Mr. Lamb’s garden in search of loneliness, where he met Mr. Lamb. Mr. Lamb is very social. He keeps the gate open for everybody. Mr. Lamb has a tin leg, children tease him by calling “Lamey-Lamb”. But he does not mind it. Derry is surprised to see a man who has a problem and suffers from no complex. Mr. Lamb motivates Derry to move forward in life.

Q. 11. Why did Mr. Lamb help Derry?
Ans. Value Points:
— out of empathy and concern
– both were handicapped; understood each other’s plight
— to save the boy from self–pitying habit
Detailed Answer: Mr. Lamb and Derry both were handicapped. So, out of empathy Mr. Lamb understood Derry’s plight and helped him to come out of his self-pitying habit.

Q. 13. If you were to give a different ending to the story, ‘On the face of It’ how would you end it?
Ans. A different ending to the story would be on a happy note. Both Derry and Mr. Lamb collected crab–apples and lived merrily together. We should accept life as it comes.