A LETTER TO GOD

BY – G. L FUENTES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

López y Fuentes was born in a ranch called "El Mommy" in the Huasteca region of Veracruz in 1895.
He started writing at the age of 15, when the Mexican Revolution began. Many of his books are related
to the civil conflict.
Later on he became a teacher of literature at a school in Mexico City. In 1921 he began writing for
the El Universal often under the Tulio F. Peseenz pseudonym. His stories were seen as exciting,
humorous, and symbolic of Mexico. A realist, many of his works concerned the oppression of Native
Americans. He was a contemporary of Mariano Azuela and Martín Luis Guzmán.
He has written many books including La siringa de cristal (1914), Claros de selva (1921), El vagabundo
(1922), El alma del poblacho (1924), Campamento (1931), Tierra (1932), ¡Mi general! (1934), El Indio
(1935), Arrieros (1937), Huasteca (1939), Una Carta a Dios (1940) “A LETTER TO GOD”, and many
more
He was awarded the National Prize of Arts and Sciences in 1935.
THEME
The story ‘A Letter to God’ by G.L. Fuentes highlights immense power in man’s innocent faith in God.
It teaches us that if man has child-like faith in God, he can accomplish anything considered impossible.
If with this faith man asks God for help, God responds, though through His own peculiar channels, and
fulfils man’s any urgent legitimate desire.
The story depicts unwavering faith of a farmer in God. It begins with a farmer, named Lencho expecting
for a rain shower to nourish his field of corn. He is confident that his harvest is going to yield him huge
profits just like it does every year.
MESSAGE
The main message imparted through this chapter is that no matter what situation one is in, they should
have complete faith in God. Even if they don't achieve the desired results, one should never lose their
faith in God and always believe that all their problems would be solved in due course of time.
SYNOPSIS
The story, "A Letter to God" by G.L. Fuentes depicts unwavering faith of a farmer in God. It begins
with a farmer, named Lencho expecting for a rain shower to nourish his field of corn. He is confident
that his harvest is going to yield him huge profits just like it does every year. To his utmost excitement,
rainfall did happen but sooner, it turned into a hailstorm destroying his entire crop field. The damage
posed a threat to the family's survival as their entire livelihood was dependent on the year's produce.
Although disheartened, the family had robust belief in the almighty. Lencho, despite having worked
day and night at the field, knew how to write and thus, decided to write a letter to God explaining his
situation and asking for help. He went to town to post his letter addressed "To God". The letter on being
noticed by the postmaster, at first amused him, but then motivated him want to do something for the
farmer so as to keep his immense belief intact. He contributes from his salary and collects money from
his colleagues and friends who willingly contributed for an act of charity. To his dismay, he could only

Click on this link to buy latest Educart Books on Amazon - https://amzn.to/3OFHQkO

 collect 70 pesos which he wrapped in an envelope to make it seem like a reply from the deity. On having
found the letter, the writer (Lencho) is not at all shocked, but instead, he gets angry on finding that the
amount is less than what he had expected. He again writes a letter to God conveying his disappointment
and distrust in the employees of the post office who he thought had stolen the remaining amount.
GLOSSARY

• crest- top of a hill

• dotted- full of
• downpour- heavy rain
• intimately- closely
• exclaimed- cry out suddenly in surprise, strong emotion, or pain
• regarded- consider or think of in a specified way
• draped- adorn, cover, or wrap (someone or something)
• hailstones- a pellet of hail
• resemble- have a similar appearance to or qualities in common with (someone or
something); look or seem like
• exposing- make (something) visible by uncovering it.; reveal
• plague- a destructively numerous inflow or multiplication of a harmful animal,
infestation
• locusts- insects which fly in big groups and destroy crops
• solitary- existing alone; lonely
• conscience- an inner sense of right and wrong
• ox of a man- hardworking
• daybreak- the time in the morning when daylight first appears
• pesos- the basic monetary unit of Mexico, several other Latin American countries, and
the Philippines
• amiable- friendly and pleasant
• correspondence- communication by exchanging letters with someone
• goodwill- friendly, helpful, or cooperative feelings or attitude
• resolution- a firm decision to do or not to do something
• obliged- grateful
• contentment- satisfaction

QUESTION AND ANSWERS

Q.1. What did Lencho hope for?
A.1. Lencho hoped for a rain shower for his crop field.
Q.2. Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like 'new coins'?
A.2. After the rain shower, everything was going as per Lencho's plan and he had immense
confidence that his harvest would yield substantial profits. Thus, he referred to the droplets as
"new coins, the larger ones being equivalent to ten pesos and smaller ones, five pesos.
Q.3. How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho's fields?
A.3. Soon after the rainfall had begun, the wind became strong leading to a hailstorm. As a
result of which, Lencho's crop fields got withered, the trees had shed their leaves and the
flowers had fallen.
Q.4. What were Lencho's feelings when the hail stopped?

Click on this link to buy latest Educart Books on Amazon - https://amzn.to/3OFHQkO

 A.4. Lencho was extremely disheartened and his soul was filled with immense sadness.
Q.5. Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?
A.5. Lencho had unwavering faith in God. Thus, he decided to write a letter to God conveying
his grievances and asking for 100 pesos for survival and rejuvenation of crops.
Q.6. Who read the letter?
A.6. A postman who was also an employee of the post office read the letter.
Q.7. What did the postmaster do then?
A.7. The postmaster was amazed at Lencho's unshakeable faith in the deity and thus, to retain
it, he decided to collect money for him from his friends and colleagues.
Q.8. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?
A.8. Lencho was not at all surprised on seeing the letter because this is what he was expecting.
Instead, he was angry when he found that the amount was less than what he had asked for.
Q.9. What made him angry?
A.9. Lencho was displeased when he found that the money was less than what he had asked
for.
Q.10. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you
this?
A.10. Lencho has immense faith in God. These lines are evident to this fact: "Lencho showed
not the slightest surprise on seeing the money; such was his confidence - but he became angry
when he counted the money. God could not have made a mistake, nor could he have denied
Lencho what he had requested.
Q.11. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter 'God'?
A.11. The postmaster did not want to shake the writer's faith in the almighty, and thus, out of
virtuous intentions, decided to collect money for "an act of charity". He also signed the letter
in the name of God to conceal his identity as he wanted Lencho to think it was actually a reply
from God.
Q.12. Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?
A.12. No, Lencho did not try to find out the sender because he was very optimistic about the
existence of almighty and that, his letter is actually received and replied to, by God. It was his
unshakeable faith that made him not question the identity of the sender.
Q.13. Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money? What is the irony in the
situation? (Remember that the irony of a situation is an unexpected aspect of it. An ironic
situation is strange or amusing because it is the opposite of what is expected.)
A.13.Lencho thought that it is the postmaster or the employees of the post-office who had
stolen his remaining amount, as is evident from his second letter to God where he requests the
deity not to send money by mail next time. The irony here is that, it was actually the postmaster
and the employees who had collected the money out of their clean intent to keep Lencho's faith
intact, but are the ones who ended up getting blamed for stealing the missing amount.
Q.14. Are there people like Lencho in the real world? What kind of a person would you
say he is? You may select appropriate words from the box to answer the question.

Click on this link to buy latest Educart Books on Amazon - https://amzn.to/3OFHQkO

 Greedy, naive, stupid, ungrateful,
Selfish, comical, unquestioning

A.14. No, it is hard to find people like Lencho in reality. Lencho is naive and unquestioning
because of his lack of judgement about the actual physical existence of God. He did not
question receiving an actual reply from the almighty. Also, he is ungrateful in some manner
because on seeing 70 pesos, he is not happy but instead, complained about the missing 30
pesos.
Q.15. There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature, and
between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
A.15. The story "A Letter to God" depicts two types of conflicts; one between man and nature
and the other among men themselves. In the beginning of the story, the farmer hopes for a rain
shower for the benefit of his corn field. On actually receiving rain, he becomes overjoyed and
starts thinking about all the profit that would come in. Not much later, his joy is turned into
sorrow when the wind becomes strong leading to a hailstorm. This depicts the disagreement
between man and nature wherein humans want the nature to act according to their aspirations.
The second divergence arises when Lencho starts doubting the honesty of the post-office
employees who actually helped him with the money anonymously. This is the conflict among
men themselves, wherein, we are ready to trust in the idea of God's existence but we are not
ready to trust each other.

CHARACTERSKETCHES OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS

LENCHO - Lencho is the main character of the story “The Letter to God.” He is a poor farmer
who is the sole bread-earner of the family. He had faith in God. Lencho lived in a small house
which was situated on the crest of a low hill in the valley. Throughout the morning Lencho sat
in his house and waited for the rain to come. He wished for the rain or the shower for his field
in which he had grown his crops. Lencho wrote the letter to God as he thought that he would
be the only one to help him in his bad times. He wrote a letter addressing to God to send him
100 pesos so that he and his family can survive in such a difficult situation.

POSTMAN - The postman in the story "A Letter to God" was of a very humble and kind in
nature. When he saw that a person had written a letter addressing to the God he read the letter
and decided to help the innocent person. He very well knew that there is no address of God to
which he will deliver Lencho's letter. Hence he decided to not let Lencho's emotions down and
help him by contributing money. But after seeing Lencho second letter everyone including the
postman felt very sad as he had complained to God about the people working the post office.

Click on this link to buy latest Educart Books on Amazon - https://amzn.to/3OFHQkO

Click on this link to buy latest Educart Books on Amazon - https://amzn.to/3OFHQkO