A. TEXTUAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS :
1. What is that draws Derry towards Mr. Lamb inspite of himself ?
Ans - Derry is a young boy who suffers from a sense of inferiority complex. He has a burnt face . This makes him lonely and withdrawn . He avoids men and their company . He can't stand their uncharitable remarks . He comes to Mr. Lamb's garden in search of loneliness . He meets Mr. Lamb . it is a meeting of two minds with totally opposite views . Derry is withdrawn . Mr . lamb is very social . He is very ready to welcome anyone who enters his garden . Mr. Lamb has a tin leg . One of his legs was blown off in the war . Children tease him by calling "Lamey - Lamb ". But he doesn't mind it .
Derry takes time to open up before Mr. Lamb . But he finds a patient listener in him . Mr Lamb accepts life as it comes . He is always cheerful and tries to comfort others.
Mr. Lamb leaves the stamp of his personality on Derry . He shown the young boy the ways of the world . He motivates him to move forward in life . He should stop caring what others say about his face . Locking oneself up in the room and closing eyes from the world is no solution .
2. 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 ?
Ans - Mr. Lamb displays signs of loneliness and disappointment when Derry leaves him . He feels lonely because people promise to come back but do not come back . Mr. Lamb is a optimist . He has ways to overcome his disappointment . He keeps himself busy . He makes jelly of crab apples and toffee with honey . He reads books . He listens to the music of the bees. He watches his plants and trees .
3. The actual pain or inconvenience caused by a physical impairment is often much less that the sense of alienation felt by the person with disabilities . What is the kind of behaviour that the person expects from others ?
Ans - The right word for ' physical impairment ' is 'differently - abled '- a word framed to view them in a more positive light . But it is cruel that over 90 million physically-challenged children worldwide , of whom 36 million are in India , are being physically frequently also face alienation even within their own families .
The least they would expect is more acceptance of and no ostracism of the disabled . They would expect us to understand that they can be highly productive , contributing citizens . Issues of physical accessibility are just the tip of the iceberg . Instead of questioning the need for civil rights for people with disabilities we must question a society in which these rights are not the norm . We must question whether the people who can now are confronted with metaphors in which blindness and deafiness are equated with imperfection . The most important thing we can do is value the voices of the people with disabilities themselves . History is fraught with well meaning individuals who truly desired to assist people with disabilities , but in their haste to help they neglected to empower these people to be their own advocates . We must allow people with disabilities to become the subjects rather than the objects of their own history .
4. 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 ?
Ans - I don't think there is any possibility of Derry's going back to his old seclusion . His mother tries to stop him at home . She says, " You are best off here ." At this Derry says , " I hate it here " . He had already suffered much . Everybody looked at him with a feeling of shock or fear . He was always reminded of his burnt face . He was thought of as a burden by his own people . They would say , " What will he never do ? How ever will he get on in this world ?" But his brief association with Mr. Lamb changes his whole attitude towards life . Now he does not care a fig what he looks like . He wants to live the way Mr. Lamb has been living . He wants to see , hear and think in his own way . He doesn't care about what other say. He has his own eyes to see , his own brain to think and his own hands and legs. He can do whatever he likes . He has no need to depend on others . Now he has no need to feel lonely because he knows how to occupy himself in a positive manner .
B. ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS :
1. Who is Mr. Lamb ?
Ans - Mr. Lamb is an old man with a tin leg . He lives alone in a big house with a big garden in front of it .
2. What is meant by ' Handsome is as handsome does '?
Ans - The saying "handsome is as handsome does " means that a person's quality can only be judged by his behaviour , not from his appearance or look .
3. What kind of ' face ' does the 'world' have ?
Ans - The world has a whole face and it is there to be looked at .
4. What do people tell Derry to make him forget his pain ?
Ans - People tell Derry that the best way to forget his own pain is to think about those people who are in more pain and brave it and never cry or complain and who never feel sorry for themselves .
5. Why aren't there any curtains at the windows of Mr. Lamb ?
Ans - There are no curtains at the windows of Mr. Lamb's house because Mr. Lamb is not fond of them . He thinks curtains shut things out or in . He has no problem with light or darkness and he likes his windows open to hear the wind .
