Loneliness and Alienation Theme Analysis

The play largely consists of a single conversation between an old man, Mr. Lamb, and a boy, Derry, who had previously never met but who eventually find a sense of connection and companionship with each other. A large part of the poignancy of this brief connection (brief because Mr. Lamb presumably dies before their relationship can grow further) is the fact that both characters live in a society that makes them feel alienated and alone. Because of their respective physical disabilities, Derry and Mr. Lamb are treated differently from other people, and this leads them to lives of relative isolation, whether willingly or not. On the Face of It explores some of the ways people separate themselves from others and alienate certain people, and shows just how damaging loneliness and isolation can be.

Derry has secluded himself mostly willingly, as he hates how people treat him because of his badly burned face. When he enters the garden and first sees Mr. Lamb, he immediately makes an excuse and tries to leave, despite the old man’s welcoming words. Soon after, Derry says, “I don’t like being with people. Any people.” He assumes that others find him hideous, and he doesn’t like to “see them being afraid of [him].” It’s also implied that Derry’s mother contributes to his isolation, as she refuses to let him return to Mr. Lamb’s house and seems to purposefully keep him at home because of his disability. These isolating measures are meant to protect Derry from pain—he doesn’t want to be rejected by others, and so he avoids others altogether—but he is clearly lonely, and this leads him to bitterness and even anger.

Mr. Lamb is a more complicated figure. He lives alone in a big house, but leaves his garden gate open and welcomes visitors of all kinds. He claims that he has “hundreds” of friends, and that people come and go in his house and garden, but it’s also unclear if this is true, and he does admit that the neighborhood children mock him and call him “Lamey-Lamb.” At one point Derry says, “I don’t think anybody ever comes. You’re here all by yourself and miserable and no one would know if you were alive or dead and nobody cares.” To this Mr. Lamb says only, “You think what you please,” but he also seems to confirm Derry’s harsh assessment in his later musings to his bees, saying that none of “them” (presumably other brief visitors like Derry) ever come back. Lamb is not bitter about this, but he does seem to feel a great sadness and longing for conversation and connection. He is lonely, alienated by others, and resigned to his fate.

The central point about isolation comes towards the end of the play. When Mr. Lamb invites Derry to help him pick crabapples later in the day, the idea of “coming back” (since Derry has to go home first and tell his mother where he is) comes to represent human connection and breaking the cycle of isolation. Both characters are lonely, but they have found a brief bond with each other, and the question then becomes whether or not they will pursue this connection further or return to their respective states of aloneness—whether Derry will “come back” or not. Mr. Lamb makes this clear when Derry tries to insult him, and Lamb says, “That’s a good excuse. […] Good excuse not to come back. And you’ve got a burned-up face, and that’s other people’s excuse.” The point he’s making here is that people find reasons to separate themselves from others for fear of being hurt. Whether this is avoiding someone because of a physical disability they have or refusing to get closer to someone because of the way they challenge one’s beliefs, people long for connection but also isolate themselves in an attempt to avoid pain. Of course, Derry does “come back,” making the bold choice to go against his mother’s wishes and his own reclusive tendencies, but he is too late to further his connection with Mr. Lamb, and is left alone again.

On the Face of It portrays characters who have many good reasons to avoid other people, but it also illustrates how human beings long for connection with others, and how isolation and alienation can lead to great suffering. Alienating others and secluding one’s self can be a means of self-preservation, but as the play shows, this isolation only leads to greater unhappiness in the end.