The Face on the Wall By Edward Verrall Lucas
-Watch this Video for detailed Explanation-
The Face on the Wall is mostly set in an old house in Great Ormond Street in London. Lucas spent most of his life in London which is the commercial hub of England. Many non - Londoners live in rented apartments in London. The youth in the story too takes a rented room where most of the events of the story take place. During his stay, he noticed the damp wall had discolored patches on them. One particular patch resembled a human face. Therefore, guest becomes obsessed with the face.
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- SHORT SUMMARY -
A man stays in a house in Great Ormond Street, of London. The walls of the room were painted but were damp and patchy. The man found it strange that one of the patch resembled a face of a man. As days passed, the face became real with the lines of a human face. Real and uncommon with a face of remarkable features. The man was convinced that this face on the wall existed in real life.
He curiously want to meet the man with the face. He went searching for the face. He wandered from one crowd of people to another, from Churches to Railway stations, Cinemas to shopping streets.
The tired man seemed about to give up the search, when he saw the face in the crowd. He was in a social gathering. This man seemed to be a millionaire, he thought. He had to meet him. He followed the man with the face. He waited for hours but just managed to ask for his business card.
He was shocked to read the name on the card. It said … Mr. Ormond Wall, with an address in the USA.!!!! He tried to find out more details about Mr. Ormond Wall from various sources, but all in vain. Time passed by. The face on the wall became a roomie for the man. But it remained a mystery to him that a patch on the wall of a house in London could resemble a face of man who lived in the USA!!
One fine morning the man woke up and saw that the face on the wall had faded. It was bright and clear the previous evening!! He got up confused. As a routine he browsed the Daily. The headlines in the Newspaper said, Mr. Ormond Wall, a millionaire from the USA had met with a Motor accident in Italy the previous night. His condition was critical. The man was dumb-struck. He sat staring at the face on the wall. Suddenly it completely disappeared. Later he found that at this same moment, Mr. Ormond Wall had died of his injuries.
- EXPLANATION -
The narrator and a group of people were talking about unusual events that seemed to have no natural explanation. There was a stranger among those speakers. He was a little man with a pale face. He was watching them carefully, but didn't say a word. Dabney included the stranger in the talk. Dabney include him in the talk and asked the stranger if he had any experience, describe a story which couldn't be explained.
The stranger began to talk. He said that he had a true story which happened to him personally and completed itself only that afternoon. The stranger said that truth may be outside the realms of imagination.
The storyteller said that he rented a room in Ormond Street of London a year or two years ago. The wall of the room were painted but there were a lot of patches on the wall because of the dampness. But there was a patch resembled as a face of a man! As days passed, the face becomes real. It had lines of a human face and was an uncommon face with remarkable features. He was convinced that this face on the wall existed in real life.
The face began to control him. The storyteller used to watch the face and began to think of it as real as his fellow lodger. The face got firmer hold of him and grew more and more remarkable. The nose had a curious turn and the shape of the head was unusual. It was the face of a very unusual man, a man in a thousand.
A curiosity to meet the man with the same face began to grow in him. He went searching for the face. He wandered from one crowd of people to another, from churches to railway stations, cinemas to shopping streets.
The tired man seemed to give up the search, But one day he saw the face in the crowd. He was in a Social gathering. the lines on the face were exactly the same as the face on the wall. This man seemed to be a millionaire, he thought. He had to meet him. He followed the man. He waited for his turn to speak to him. He waited for hours but just managed to ask for his business card.
When the little man read the card and knew that the man's name was "Ormond Wall" from Pittsburg -U.S.A. he fainted and was taken to the hospital at Boulogne for some weeks.
After a month, the storyteller went back home and collected as much information as possible about Mr. Ormond wall. He knew that he was a millionaire with English parents who had lived in London. He knew this information from some Americans and some American Newspaper men.
One fine morning the man woke up and saw that the face on the wall had faded. It was bright and clear the previous evening!! He got up confused. He went out, bought the newspaper it said, Mr. Ormond Wall, a millionaire from the USA had met with a motor accident in Italy the previous night. his condition was critical.
After reading this, he returned back to his room, he was greatly shocked because he found that the face had completely disappeared. Later, he found that Mr. Ormond wall had died at that movement.
He becomes silent !!
Then the little man said to the audience that there were three extraordinary, most remarkable things about the story -
One is - The Face on the Wall in the room looked like the face of a true American gentleman and the man's name had a relation to the place Ormond Street.
Another one is - The Face on the Wall becomes faint when Mr. Ormond had an accident and disappeared when he died.
He finished talking and said goodnight. But, when he was at the door, the people in the room reminded him of the third thing. The stranger said - The third extraordinary thing about the story is that he made it up about half an hour ago.
And then he left....
- WORD MEANINGS -
- Anxious - Worried
- Tenant - One who lives in a rented house.
- Lodger - Paying Guest
- Influenza - Bad cold
- Stammered - Spoke with pauses.
- Supernatural - Unreal, Not of this world
- QUESTION /ANSWERS -
Q. What was the topic of discussion at Dabney’s ?
Q. What did the people at Dabney’s ask the little man to do? What was his reply?
Q. How was the narrator affected by the image on the wall?
Q. What did he find on the wall of his room?
Q. How did the author notice change in the face on the wall during influenza?
Q. What was the outcome of the narrator's hunt for the man?
Q. Why and where all did the narrator look for the man?
Q. What was the third point addressed by the author?
Q. What did the narrator ask the man? What happened after the narrator read the card ?
Q. What happened to the face on the wall?
Q. There were three things that were extra ordinary about the story . What were they?
Q. Answer the following questions with reference to the context.
A.
“The search became madness with me. I stood at busy corners
watching the crowd until people thought me mad,
and the police began to know me and be suspicious.”
Q. Who is the speaker?
Q. Which search became madness?
Q. Why he went to the crowded places?
B.
“Most remarkable”,
we said, “most extraordinary.
“We meant it too.
Q. “We “refers to whom?
Q. What was remarkable?
Q. How was it most extraordinary?
C.
Truth, I always believe, is not only stranger than fiction,
but also more interesting.
Q. Who said this and to whom?
Q. When did the speaker say this?
Q. What was he taking about?
D.
It was then that face began to get firmer hold of me.
It grew more and more real and remarkable.
Q. What is referred to as 'the face' here?
Q. When did face begin to get a firmer hold of the speaker?
Q. Why did the speaker call the face 'remarkable' ?
- ANSWERS -
- SELF EVALUATION TEST -
This is a quiz based test which is consist of 20 Multiple Choice Questions to test your Understanding about this Chapter...
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