Extracts of On the Face of It | Susan Hill | Chapter 6 | Vistas | English |

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Extracts of On the Face of It by Susan Hill

Extract 1

1. DERRY: You think…. ‘Here’s a boy.’ You look at me…and then you see my face and you think. ‘That’s bad. That’s a terrible thing. That’s the ugliest thing I ever saw.’ You think, ‘Poor boy.’ But I’m not. Not poor. Underneath, you are afraid. Anybody would be. I am. When I look in the mirror, and see it, I’m afraid of me.

a) Why does Derry not want to be called ‘Poor’?
• For he was rich
• For he was well off
• For he had ample resources to earn
• None of these

b) Name the chapter.
Indigo
On the face of It
Evans Tries an O Level
The Rattrap

c) Why is everyone afraid of Derry according to him?
• For he was physically disabled
• For he had burnt body
• For he had tin leg
• For he had half-burnt face

d) Who is the author of this chapter?
• Selma Lagerlof
• Susan Hill
• Colin Dexter
• None of these

Answers:

a. None of these

b. On the Face of It c. For he had half-burnt face

d.  Susan Hill

Extract 2

2. MR LAMB: Later on, when it’s a bit cooler, I’ll get the ladder and a stick, and pull down those crab apples. They’re ripe for it. I make jelly. It’s a good time of year, September. Look at them….orange and golden. That’s magic fruit. I often say. But it’s best picked and made into jelly. You could give me a hand.

a) What does Mr. Lamb pick apples?
• To make Jellies
• To make toffees
• To make sweets for kids
• All of these

b) With whom is Mr. Lamb talking to?
• Derry
• Derry’s mother
• Woman at a bus stop
• None of these

c) What does Mr. Lamb mean by ‘You could give me a hand’?
• He is asking for his help
• He is asking Derry for changing himself
• He is asking Derry not to be afraid
• All of these

d) For whom Mr. Lamb made jellies?
• Derry
• Himself
• Kids
• Derry’s mother

Answers:

a. All of these b. Derry c. He is asking for his help

d. Derry

Related

Extract 3

3. MR LAMB: Some call them weeds. If you like, then….a weed garden, that. There’s fruit and there are flowers, and trees and herbs. All sorts. But over there….weeds. I grow weeds there. Why is one green, growing plant called a weed and another ‘flower’? Where’s the difference. It’s all life…. growing. Same as you and me.

a) What are weeds?
• Unwanted flowers
• Wanted flowers
• Unwanted plants
• Wanted plants

b) What is the difference between weeds and flowers according to Mr. Lamb?
• Both are poles apart
• Both are same
• Both are different
• None of these

c) What does the speaker mean by ‘All sorts’?
• All flowers
• All weeds
• All kinds
• All of these

d) How does Mr. Lamb view his weeds?
• As same as flowers
• Not same as flowers
• As Derry views
• None of these

Answers:

a. Unwanted Plants

b. Both are same c. All kinds

d.  As same as flowers

Related

Extract 4

4. DERRY: You needn’t think they haven’t all told me that fairy story before. ‘It’s not what you look like, it’s what you are inside. Handsome is as handsome does. Beauty loved the monstrous beast for himself and when she kissed him he changed into a handsome prince.’ Only he wouldn’t, he’d have stayed a monstrous beast. I won’t change.

a) Which literary device has been used in ‘Handsome is as handsome does’?
• Alliteration
• Allegory
• Repetition
• Paradox

b) Find out the synonym of the word ‘Monstrous’ from the following.
• Huge
• Hale and Hearty
• Bruiser
• All of these

c) Why does Derry say ‘I won’t change’?
• For he thinks his face will remain the same
• For he thinks people will always make fun of him
• For he thinks people will always criticize his face
• All of the above

d) What happened to the beast in the story?
• He died
• He married to princess
• He got changed into a prince
• His condition deteriorated

Answers:

a. Repetition

b. All of these c.  All of the above

d. He got changed into a prince

Extract 5

5. DERRY: And no one’ll kiss me, ever. Only my mother, and she kisses me on the other side of my face, and I don’t like my mother to kiss me, she does it because she has to. Why should I like that? I don’t care if nobody ever kisses me.
MR LAMB: Ah, but do you care if you never kiss them.

a) What does Derry think of his mother?
• That she was partial
• That she was just
• That she was fair
• All of these

b) Why does no one kiss Derry?
• Because of his shabby appearance
• Because of his half-burnt leg
• Because of his outdated clothes
• None of these

c) What kind of attitude Derry has towards life?
• Optimistic
• Pessimistic
• Balanced
• Positive

d) What is the tone of the speaker in the first line?
• Pleasure
• Displeasure
• Inquisitive
• Anxious

Answers:

a. That she was partial b. None of these c. Pessimistic

d. Displeasure

Extract 6

6. DERRY: It won’t make my face change. Do you know, one day, a woman went by me in the street — I was at a bus-stop — and she was with another woman, and she looked at me, and she said…. whispered….only I heard her…. she said, “Look at that, that’s a terrible thing. That’s a face only a mother could love.”

a) Who called Derry ugliest?
• Derry’s mother
• Derry’s neighbor
• Derry’s friend
• None of these

b) What does the word ‘Whisper’ mean?
• To speak loudly
• To speak slowly
• To speak whole heartedly
• To speak politely

c) What has been called ‘Terrible’ here?
• Mr. Lamb’s leg
• Derry’s face
• Derry’s shabby appearance
• None of these

d) How did people treat Derry?
• Made fun of his mother
• Made fun of him
• Made fun of his half burnt face
• All of these

Answers:

a.  None of these

b. To speak slowly c. Derry’s face

d. Made fun of his half burnt face

Extract 7

7. MR LAMB: You could lock yourself up in a room and never leave it. There was a man who did that. He was afraid, you see. Of everything. Everything in this world. A bus might run him over, or a man might breathe deadly germs onto him, or a donkey might kick him to death, or lightning might strike him down, or he might love a girl and the girl would leave him, and he might slip on a banana skin and fall and people who saw him would laugh their heads off. So he went into this room, and locked the door, and got into his bed, and stayed there.

a) What happened to that man ultimately?
• He survived
• He died
• He committed suicide
• He married again

b) Why was the man afraid?
• For he did not want to die
• For he did not want to get married
• For he did not want to leave the girl he loved
• For he did want to get into the bus

c) What does the speaker mean by ‘Laugh their heads off’?
• To laugh less
• To laugh a lot
• To cry a lot
• To cry less

d) Why does the phrasal verb ‘Run over’ imply?
• Injure or kill
• To run out of petrol
• To run out of money
• To embrace someone

Answers:

a. He died

b. For he did not want to die c. To laugh a lot

d. Injure or kill

Extract 8

8. DERRY: How could I? You pass people in the street and you might even speak to them, but you never see them again. It doesn’t mean they’re friends.
MR LAMB: Doesn’t mean they’re enemies, either, does it?
DERRY: No they’re just….nothing. People. That’s all.
MR LAMB: People are never just nothing. Never.
DERRY: There are some people I hate.
MR LAMB: That’d do you more harm than any bottle of acid. Acid only burns your face.

a) Why does Derry hate some people?
• Because of their growth
• Because of their behavior
• Because of their way of pleasing others
• None of these

b) What happened to Derry’s face?
• Acid fell upon his face
• Acid destroyed his face
• Acid ruined his face
• All of these

c) What does Mr. Lamb mean by ‘That’d do you more harm than any bottle of acid?’
• His pessimism was hurting him more than acid
• His optimism was hurting him more than acid
• His acid was hurting him more than his optimism
• His acid was hurting him more than his pessimism

d) What is the tone of Derry in ‘People are never just nothing’?
• Worried
• Scary
• Frightening
• Pessimistic

Answers:

a. Because of their behaviour

b. All of these c. His pessimism was hurting him more than acid

d. Pessimistic

Extract 9

9. DERRY: You’re like the others, you like to say things like that. If you don’t feel sorry for my face, you’re frightened of it, and if you’re not frightened, you think I’m ugly as a devil. I am a devil. Don’t you? [Shouts] [Mr Lamb does not reply. He has gone to his bees.] DERRY: [Quietly] No. You don’t. I like it here. [Pause. Derry gets up and shouts.] I’m going. But I’ll come back. You see. You wait. I can run. I haven’t got a tin leg. I’ll be back.

a) Which literary device has been used in ‘I’m ugly as a devil’?
Metaphor
Alliteration
Pun
Simile

b) What had happened to Mr. Lamb’s leg?
• Real one got blown off in a duel
• Real one got blown off in a war
• Real one got lost in an accident
• None of these

c) Why was Derry angry with Mr. Lamb?
• For he wanted Derry to leave his garden forever
• For he wanted Derry to go against his mother
• For he wanted Derry to leave his mother
• For he wanted Derry to accept his challenge

d) What does Derry mean by ‘I’ll be back”?
• He will reach his mother’s home soon
• He will reach Mr. Lamb’s garden soon
• He will never come to Mr. Lamb’s garden
• None of these

Answers:

a. Simile

b. Real one got blown off in a war c. For he wanted Derry to accept his challenge

d. He will reach Mr. Lamb’s garden soon

Extract 10

10. DERRY: It’s got nothing to do with my face and what I look like. I don’t care about that and it isn’t important. It’s what I think and feel and what I want to see and find out and hear. And I’m going back there. Only to help him with the crab apples. Only to look at things and listen. But I’m going.

a) Whom is Derry talking to?
• To his mother
• To Mr. Lamb
• To his father
• None of these

b) Where does Derry want to go?
• To an empty garden
• To a vacant place
• To bus stop to meet that woman again
• To Mr. Lamb’s garden

c) What does Derry’s mother think of Mr. Lamb?
• She thinks ill of him
• She thinks good of him
• She doesn’t think of him
• None of these

d) What does Derry mean by ‘Look at things and listen’?
• Derry wants to look at flower and listen to bees
• Derry wants to look at girls and listen to them
• Derry wants to look at people and listen to them
• None of these

Answers:

a.  To his mother

b. To Mr. Lamb’s garden c. She thinks ill of him

d. Derry wants to look at flower and listen to bees

Extract 11

11. DERRY: You see, you see! I came back. You said I wouldn’t and they said….but I came back, I wanted…. [He stops dead. Silence.] Mr Lamb, Mr….You’ve….. [He runs through the grass. Stops. Kneels] Mr Lamb, It’s all right….You fell….I’m here, Mr Lamb, It’s all right. [Silence] I came back. Lamey-Lamb. I did…..come back. [Derry begins to weep.]

a) What makes Derry weep?
• Fallen apples of Mr. Lamb
• Death of his mother
• Death of Mr. Lamb
• Death of his father

b) What does the word ‘Kneel’ mean?
• To raise up
• To bend down
• To call for
• To call off

c) Why does Derry call Mr. Lamb lamey?
• For he was lame
• For he was visually disabled
• For he was sad at his death
• For he was happy at his death

d) What happened to Mr. Lamb in the end?
• He fell all his apples down
• He fell off the ladder and got up
• He fell off the ladder and died
• He fell down the ladder to pick crab apples.

Answers:

a. Death of Mr. Lamb

b. To bend down c. For he was lame

d. He fell off the ladder and died

We would love your reading of Indigo, Should Wizard Hit Mommy, On the Face of It, Evans Tries an O Level, The Rattrap, A Thing of Beauty, Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers for better understanding of the chapters and poems.

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