On the Face of It by Susan Hill
Quick answer: On the Face of It by Susan Hill, CBSE Class 12 Vistas chapter 5: Derry's burnt face, Mr Lamb's garden and tin leg, the crab apples, the ending on the ladder, exam answers.
A boy climbs into a garden he thinks is empty and is greeted by an old man who says there is nothing to be afraid of, though the boy's face is scarred by acid and the man's leg is made of tin.
Susan Hill's radio play is chapter 5 of Class 12 Vistas.
The play in brief
Derry, fourteen, has one side of his face burnt by acid. Mr Lamb, whose leg was blown off in a war and whom children call Lamey-Lamb, keeps a garden with an open gate, bees, and crab apples he turns into jelly. He tells Derry that a face is only a face, that a man who locked himself away from every danger was killed by a picture falling on his head, and that hating people is worse than acid.
Derry goes home to tell his mother he will return to help Lamb pick crab apples. His mother forbids it; he defies her and runs back. Lamb, alone, has climbed a ladder to reach the fruit. When Derry arrives he finds the ladder fallen and the old man dead on the ground. Derry kneels beside him and weeps.
The people in it
Two damaged people and an open gate.
- Derry: bitter, defensive, quoting the cruel things people say.
- Mr Lamb: talkative, open, lonely behind his cheer; he says people call but nobody comes.
- Derry's mother: heard offstage, protective, warning against strangers.
Themes and meaning
Exam readings include appearance and self-acceptance, loneliness, and the cruelty of casual remarks. The sharper point is that Lamb's optimism is a discipline rather than a fact: he admits his gate stays open because nobody comes. Lamb's death means the lesson must now be lived without a teacher.
The craft: a garden scene and a fall
Hill writes almost entirely in dialogue, so every idea arrives as talk between two people who begin as strangers. The turn is Derry's defiance of his mother, which is the first thing he has chosen for himself. The ending is a fall we do not see, reported by the boy who finds it. Writers can steal the two-hander form and the ending that withholds the accident and shows only its discovery.
For the exam
Quick material for the Class 12 exam.
- Word meanings: acid, corrosive chemical; tin, cheap metal; crab apples, small sour apples; peculiar, strange; hermit, one who lives alone; scarred, marked by a wound.
- Character sketch of Mr Lamb in 60 words: An old man with a tin leg, called Lamey-Lamb by children, Mr Lamb lives alone in a house with no curtains and a garden whose gate is always open. He welcomes Derry without pity, insists that a face is only a face, and argues that hatred harms more than acid. His cheer hides loneliness. He dies falling from a ladder while picking crab apples.
- Q: What does Mr Lamb teach Derry? A: That his face need not define him, that hating people is worse than any injury, and that a life spent avoiding hurt is not a life.
- Q: Why does Derry defy his mother? A: He has found the first person who treats him as more than his scar, and he has promised to help pick crab apples.
- Q: How does the play end? A: Derry returns to find Mr Lamb dead beneath a fallen ladder and kneels beside him weeping.
- Summary in 100 words: Derry, a boy of fourteen with a face burnt by acid, climbs into Mr Lamb's garden expecting to be alone. The old man, who has a tin leg and is mocked as Lamey-Lamb, welcomes him and talks about bees, crab apples and how people choose to live with what they are. He tells Derry that hating people is worse than acid. Derry goes home determined to return, defies his mother and runs back. Meanwhile Lamb climbs a ladder for the crab apples and falls. Derry finds him dead on the ground and weeps beside the man who first treated him as whole.
What writers can take from this
- Keep the two injuries distinct: Derry's burnt face, Lamb's tin leg, and note that both are visible.
- Quote in paraphrase Lamb's parable of the man killed by a picture; it is a favourite question.
- Read Lamb's cheer as chosen rather than natural, and cite his admission that nobody comes.
- Writers, try a two-character scene in which each person changes the other through talk alone.
- Withhold the accident and show only its discovery; the fall we do not see hits harder.
Try it yourself
Write a two-character scene in which a young person with a visible injury meets an older one with a different injury, and the older one talks them out of hiding. End with the young person returning to find the older one gone, without showing how.
Questions
What is the theme of On the Face of It?
The play is about appearance and self-acceptance: Derry, scarred by acid, learns from the one-legged Mr Lamb that a face is only a face and that hatred and withdrawal damage a person more than injury. It also treats loneliness behind cheerful talk.
Why is Mr Lamb's gate always open?
He says he welcomes anyone who wants to come in, children, strangers, Derry. Yet he also admits that people call out to him but nobody actually comes, so the open gate is both hospitality and a sign of his solitude.
What happens at the end of On the Face of It?
Derry defies his mother and returns to help pick crab apples, but Mr Lamb has already climbed a ladder alone and fallen. Derry finds him dead in the garden and kneels beside him, weeping.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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