The free ncert class 12 english vistas pdf chapter 5 On the Face of It is the official Reprint 2026-27 release from NCERT, aligned to the CBSE 2026-27 English Core syllabus. The chapter, written by the British novelist and playwright Susan Hill (b. 1942), runs to about 14 pages inside the Vistas supplementary reader and is the fifth literature piece of Class 12 Vistas - a one-act radio play in three scenes.
- CBSE Weightage: 6 marks per Vistas Long Answer in Section C, drawn from the four Reading with Insight questions
The chapter carries 4 Reading with Insight questions at the end - all CBSE Vistas Long Answers are pulled from this block. Read the source PDF before the Solutions or Notes on Collegedunia.
The play is set largely in Mr Lamb's garden, where a fourteen-year-old boy named Derry, whose face has been disfigured by acid, climbs the wall expecting an empty house. Mr Lamb, an old man with a tin leg who calls himself Lamey-Lamb, refuses to pity the boy and instead shows him crab apples, sun-flowers and weeds. The play explores the social pain of disability, loneliness, the gaze of others, and friendship across age and difference.
This page is the entry point to the official NCERT source material. Pair it with the Collegedunia NCERT Solutions and Notes for active practice and revision.
Also Check:
- On the Face of It Class 12 NCERT Solutions PDF
- On the Face of It Class 12 Vistas Notes
- CBSE Class 12 English Syllabus 2026-27
What's Inside the Chapter 5 On the Face of It NCERT PDF
The Reprint 2026-27 edition keeps Chapter 5 of NCERT Class 12 Vistas intact at about 14 pages. One Before-you-Read note, the full radio play in three scenes by Susan Hill, and one Reading with Insight question block cover the chapter end to end.
| NCERT Block | Pages | What It Covers |
|---|---|---|
| Before you Read and Notes block | 1 | Susan Hill (b. 1942); the play's premise; key question on the bond between the two characters |
| Scene One - Mr Lamb's garden (first half) | 5 to 6 | Derry climbs the wall; "Mind the apples"; Derry's acid burn back-story; Mr Lamb's tin leg; the "where's the difference?" equation |
| Scene Two - Derry's house | 2 | Derry argues with his mother; refuses her instruction; "If I don't go back there, I'll never go anywhere in this world again" |
| Scene Three - Mr Lamb's garden (fall) | 2 to 3 | The crab-apple ladder; the creak-crash-thump-silence; Derry's return; "Lamey-Lamb. I did... come back" |
| Reading with Insight | 1 | Four Long-Answer prompts on Derry's motivation, Mr Lamb's loneliness, the disability-alienation value question, and the open ending |
On the Face of It Video Chapter Walkthrough
Source: Magnet Brains on YouTube
Class 12 Vistas Chapter 5 End-of-Chapter Question Inventory
The chapter ends with four Reading with Insight questions. CBSE pulls one 6-mark Long Answer from this block every Vistas slot. The table maps every question to the concept it tests.
| Q# | Prompt | Skill Tested |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | What is it that draws Derry towards Mr Lamb in spite of himself? | Character motivation; honesty vs pity; the garden as a refuge |
| Q2 | In which section of the play does Mr Lamb display signs of loneliness and disappointment? How does he overcome them? | Close reading of Scene One; open gate, dictionary reading, "I'll be here" |
| Q3 | The actual pain of physical impairment is often less than the sense of alienation. What behaviour does the person expect from others? | Value-based reasoning; social model of disability |
| Q4 | Will Derry get back to his old seclusion or will Mr Lamb's brief association effect a change? | Open-ending interpretation; weighing evidence on both sides |
How to Use the NCERT Class 12 Vistas Chapter 5 PDF
- Read the play aloud once. On the Face of It is a radio play, written for voice and sound, not for visual stage. Reading it aloud (or hearing a recorded reading) gives you the sound texture Hill wrote for - the rustle of leaves, the creak of the ladder, Derry's panting.
- Mark the stage directions. The most important moments of the play are stage directions, not lines: the crash of the ladder, Derry's weeping at the end. Underline every stage direction in your printout.
- Map the three scenes. Scene One (garden, first meeting), Scene Two (Derry's house, showdown with mother), Scene Three (garden, fall). Each scene does specific structural work.
- Pair with the Collegedunia Solutions. Once you have read the source PDF, work through the four Reading with Insight questions using the Collegedunia NCERT Solutions PDF for the model long-answer shape.
- Use the handwritten notes for the last-week refresh. The 5-page handwritten-notes notebook compresses the entire chapter into a 20-minute revision.
Related Resources for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 5
- On the Face of It Class 12 NCERT Solutions
- On the Face of It Class 12 Vistas Notes
- On the Face of It Handwritten Notes
FAQs on On the Face of It NCERT PDF
FAQs on On the Face of It NCERT PDF
Is the On the Face of It NCERT PDF free to download?
Yes. The official NCERT PDF of Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 5 On the Face of It is published by NCERT under the Reprint 2026-27 edition and is free for student download. Collegedunia hosts a clean copy of the PDF directly in this article.
Who wrote On the Face of It in Class 12 Vistas?
On the Face of It was written by Susan Hill (born 1942), a British novelist and playwright. The chapter is a one-act radio play originally written for BBC radio in the 1970s. Hill is also the author of the novel The Woman in Black.
How many pages is Chapter 5 in the NCERT Class 12 Vistas PDF?
Chapter 5 On the Face of It runs to about 14 pages in the NCERT Class 12 Vistas Reprint 2026-27 PDF. This includes the Before you Read note, all three scenes of the radio play, and the four Reading with Insight questions at the end.
How many questions are in Reading with Insight for On the Face of It?
There are four Reading with Insight questions at the end of Chapter 5 in Class 12 Vistas, covering Derry's motivation, Mr Lamb's loneliness, the disability-alienation value question, and the open ending. CBSE typically pulls one 6-mark Long Answer from this set in Section C of the board paper.
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