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 a weed since both are living and growing
plants. Derry remarks that Mr. Lamb can put on trousers and cover up his
tin-leg. 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 a 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. 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. Lambs 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.
Main
Points
1. Derry was a teenager, highly pessimistic and
withdrawn from the mainstream society.
2. He developed this attitude after one side of
his face was disfigured by acid. He avoided company of others and remained
lonely lest he be noticed by other people.
3. He believed that no one loved him and his
mother loved him because she was supposed to.
4. Once he heard two women commenting about his
monstrous appearance. They said only a mother could love a face like his.
5. On another day Derry heard his parents
conversing that he would not survive after their death because he was deformed.
6. The shock he received from these words was
big.
7. On another occasion Derry heard his
relatives saying that in their opinion a deformed boy like Derry could
accommodate himself with other deformed boys and girls. Derry had his ears
always open for such comments and used to respond to them in his silent way.
8. He concluded that the world altogether
didn’t need a boy like him.
9. One day Derry accidently met a man called
Mr. Lamb.
10. Mr. Lamb was an old man with a lame leg.
After he became lame, Mr. Lamb began to develop a positive attitude with his
deformity.
11. He worked hard to defeat this impairment
and learnt to walk and climb ladders. He was happy to be alive and ignored his
lameness.
12. He made everyone his friend and had a house
with no curtains and open doors. He welcomed anyone who came to him.
13. While Mr. Lamb took his impairment as a
challenge and tried to overcome it, Derry believed that he was unwanted and
lost. His pain was physical and mental. Being a child he was not as strong as
Mr. Lamb about suffering.
14. He couldn’t take the sneering and
sympathizing world as taken by Mr. Lamb. Mr. Lamb was able to sit smart and
unaffected as long as he wore trousers and sat but Derry had no way to hide his
face.
15. After meeting Mr. Lamb Derry realized how
foolish he had been to believe his parents.
16. For him Lamb was a man who opened the doors
of his closed world in an hour’s time the same of which were shut on him by his
parents and therefore believed that his company with Lamb would make him a
perfect person.
17. At the end Derry goes back to his house
where his mother cross questioned him. She had instructed him not to step out
of the house.
18. Derry tried to convince his mother that Mr.
Lamb was an extremely good man but she was not ready to listen.
19. Ignoring his mother’s thoughtless
restrictions, Derry left his home and ran to Mr. Lamb’s garden.
20. On reaching, Derry found a motionless Mr.
Lamb fallen from the ladder. He had fallen while pulling the crab apples down
from the tree.
Short Answer Type Questions
Q1. Who
is Mr. Lamb? How does Derry get into his garden?
Ans. Mr. Lamb is an old man
who has lost his leg in the war. He lives by himself in a big house, tending to
his apples and enjoying his garden. Derry does not know that the gate of the
house is wide open, and climbs over the wall into Mr. Lamb’s garden hoping for some
solitude.
Q2. What
is the attitude of Mr. Lamb to the small boy who comes to his garden?
Ans. Mr. Lamb’s attitude to
the small boy is quite gentle, protective and accommodating. Like an elder in
the family, Mr. Lamb advises the young boy to mind the apples lest he should
trip and not to feel afraid.
Q3. What
is it that draws Derry towards Mr. Lamb in spite of himself?
Ans. Mr. Lamb is a good inspirer, a
motivator and a patient listener. He holds a positive attitude to life. On
seeing Derry he neither asks anything about his face nor does he look disgusted
rather he makes Derry feel comfortable with his burnt face. He instills confidence
in Derry. He wants him to understand the world and see the difference by
watching and listening. Due to these qualities, Derry is drawn towards
Lamb.
Q4. “I’m,
not afraid. People are afraid of me,” says Derry. What do people think on
seeing his face? How do they react then?
Ans. People think that it
is the ugliest thing they have ever seen. They call him a poor boy as one side
of his face has been burnt by acid. Some of them are afraid of his ugly and
horrible face.
Q5. How
does Mr. Lamb change the subject from ugly face to ripe apples?
Ans. There is a momentary
pause in the conversation. Then Mr. Lamb changes the subject. He says that when
it is a bit cooler, he will get the ladder and a stick. Then he will pull down
those ripe crab apples. He makes jelly. He calls these orange coloured and
golden apples magic fruit. September is a good time to make jelly. He tells the
boy that he could help him.
Q6. What does Mr. Lamb tell about himself?
Ans. Lamb tells that he is old and has a
tin leg. Children tease him calling Lamey-Lamb but still they come to his
garden. They are not afraid of him because he is not afraid of them. He is
never bothered about his old age or tin leg as life has many more things to
offer.
Q7. It’s all relative, beauty and beast. Justify the
statement.
Ans. Mr. Lamb means to say
that different people have different view points to look at the same thing.
Some find one thing beautiful, others find it ugly. It all depends on outlook
and attitude. It is, therefore, important to adopt a positive attitude towards
everything just like the Princess Beauty who loved the monstrous Beast in the
fairy tale. Mr. Lamb tells Derry there are
plenty of things to stare at and if people look at their handicap they should
not mind, as they will be tired of soon. Beauty or ugly depends upon
individual’s perceptions.
Q8. How does Derry’s attitude change?
Ans. Due to his burnt face Derry had
withdrawing attitude. He curses his handicap and is afraid of people’s stare at
him. But Lamb changed his attitude. Lamb instilled courage in him to live life
as it is. He cited his own example. Children call him Lamey Lamb but he does
not mind. He has a tin leg but that does not stop him from making friends.
Q9. Why
do these arguments fail to console Derry?
Ans. Derry says all these
consolations will not make his face change. He feels more hurt and pained by
the comments of persons or what he overhears. Once he heard a woman in the
street whispering to another, “Look at that, that’s a terrible things. That’s a
face only a mother could love.” Derry calls it cruel of them.
Q10. What
peculiar things does Derry notice about the old man?
Ans. Derry thinks that the old man is peculiar.
He says peculiar things. He asks questions which Derry does not understand.
There are no curtains at the windows in his house. He likes the light and
darkness and hears the wind with the windows open.
Q11. How
should people be judged?
Ans. People should not be
judged by what they look like. They must be judged by their actions.
Appearances may be deceptive. On the other hand, people with physical
impairments overcome their disabilities and perform wonderful feats in
different spheres.
Q12. “There’s
plenty of other things to stare at.” Which ‘things’ are worth staring at and
why?
Ans. According to the old
man there are plenty of things to stare at. These include crab apples or the
weeds or a spider climbing up a silken ladder, or his tall sun-flowers. All of
them are beautiful and growing. Derry is surprised at the mention of ‘things’. Mr.
Lamb tries to convince him that it is all relative. Then he mentions ‘Beauty
and the Beast’.
Q13. How
does Derry convince his mother for going to the old man’s garden?
Ans. Derry says that the
old man has a tin leg. He lives in a huge house without curtains. He has a
garden. Derry wants to be there and listen to things that matter. Things nobody
else has ever said. Things he wants to think about. They are not about his face
and how he looks.
Q14. What
makes Derry resolve to go to the old man?
Ans. He no longer cares
about his face and looks. He is more concerned with what he thinks and feels,
what he wants to see and find out and hear. He knows that if he does not go
back there, he will never go anywhere in that world again.
Q15.
Comment on the moral value of the play.
Ans. The moral of the play
is very loud and clear. The physically disabled should focus on the brighter
side of life and not to brood over the shortcomings. The society should accept them as they are
and expand their social interactions .In this way they can fight out the
loneliness, depression and disappointment.
Long Answer Type Questions
Q1. What
is the bond that unites the two—Mr. Lamb and Derry? How does the old man
inspire the small boy?
Ans. It is the bond of
physical impairment that unites old Mr. Lamb and the small boy, Derry. He got
his leg blown off during the war and since then he has a tin leg. Derry got one
side of his face burnt by acid. Their respective disabilities have not only
caused pain and suffering to the body but to their mind and soul as well. They
have to live with their physical impairment. Mr. Lamb has adjusted himself to
the ways of the world and stopped bothering about what people call him. He
keeps himself busy in meaningful activities like picking apples, making jelly,
bee-keeping and preparing toffee from honey. He loves reading books, hearing
music, observing beautiful things and thinking about them. He inspires the
small boy by saying that he has all the God-given organs intact. He has to
decide what to do. He must work for it and then he can outshine even the
others. Derry admits that ‘Handsome is he as handsome does.’ For him his face
or how he looks does not matter now.
Q2.
Compare and contrast the characters of Mr. Lamb and Derry.
Ans. Both Mr. Lamb and the
young boy Derry have one thing in common—their physical impairment. Both are
victims of these disabilities after birth. The leg of Mr. Lamb was blown off
during the war. Derry’s face was burnt by acid. One side of his face looked
very ugly and frightful.
Apart from this, they have nothing in common.
Mr. Lamb is old, Derry is a young boy of fourteen. Mr. Lamb enjoys company and
wants to talk. Derry is very withdrawn and defiant. He does not want to come in
contact with people.
Mr. Lamb does not bother about his lameness. He
has developed love for reading books, hearing music, seeing beautiful things
and thinking about them. He is calm and patient. He asks peculiar questions. He
forces Derry to see that actions are more important than mere looks. In spite
of his lameness he picks apples, makes jelly, maintains a beehive and makes
toffees from honey. The gate of his garden is always open. Derry develops a new
vision of life under his guidance.
Q3. What
impression do you form of Derry?
Ans. Derry is a fourteen
year old boy who is very withdrawn and defiant. One side of his face has been
burnt by acid and it looks very ugly and frightful. This incident has made him
a victim of inferiority complex. He is highly sensitive to what others say
about him. Their anxiety, concern, fear and revulsion pains him most.
Derry is quite intelligent. When Mr. Lamb
mentions the story ‘Beauty and the Beast’, Derry at once comes out with its
moral: ‘Handsome is as handsome does.’ He, however, evokes self-pity by saying,
“I won’t change... and no one’ll kiss me ever.”
Derry is sensitive to the sufferings of others.
He arouses sympathy for himself by making enquiries about the old man’s leg,
pain and how he passes his life alone. Derry has the capacity to learn. He is
impressed by the old man’s way of life in spite of physical handicap. In the
end, he does not bother about his face or looks and wants to see, hear, learn
and think and do what no one else has done.
Q4. What impression
do you form about Mr. Lamb?
Ans. Mr. Lamb is the
protagonist in the play. He dominates the play from beginning to end. He
impresses us as a sensitive, watchful, kind, considerate and sympathetic
person. He is quite gentle, accommodating and protective. He is more concerned
about the boy’s well-being than the apples.
He is a victim of alienation due to his
physical impairment. Though he keeps his gates open and says he has many
friends, actually he lives alone and is quite miserable. He loves company and
wants to talk. He shares his thoughts even with the young boy.
Mr. Lamb is like a modern communicator and a
psychologist who believes in drawing out the best of an individual. His tactful
handling and peculiar questions make Derry shed some of his firmly fixed
notions and respond to the things of the world around him. Thus he is a source
of inspiration to Derry.
Q5. How
far do you find the ending of the play quite effective and meaningful?
Ans. The ending is quite
dramatic and stage worthy. Mr. Lamb, who has been picking apples, falls down
along with the ladder. As Derry reaches the garden, he finds Mr. Lamb lying on
the ground. He kneels by Lamb and cries that he has come back. He implores the
old man to get up and talk. As the old man does not respond, he begins to weep.
Mr. Lamb is dead.
It is a pathetic ending, no doubt, but it does
not spread gloom. It is like a soldier making an exit with the satisfaction of
mission accomplished. The old man has handed over his philosophy of life to
Derry and inspired him to find out what he wants to be. Thus, though the old
man expires physically, his ideas inspire Derry to pursue higher goals and
achieve them. In this sense, the ending is quite effective and meaningful.
Q6. Mr.
Lamb displays signs of loneliness and disappointment. What are the ways in
which Mr. Lamb tries to overcome these feelings?
Ans. Mr. Lamb displays
signs of loneliness and disappointment and tries to overcome these feelings by
doing different things. 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 sun-flowers. 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.