1.

A Letter to God
-- G L Fuentes
1. What did Lencho hope for?

A. Lencho hoped for a rain shower for his crop field.

2. Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?

A. 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.

3. How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?

A. Soon after the rainfall had begun, the wind became strong leading to a hailstorm. As a
result of which, Lencho’s crop fields withered, the trees had shed their leaves and the
flowers had fallen.

4. What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?

A. Lencho was extremely disheartened and his soul was filled with immense sadness.

5. Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?

A. 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.

6. Who read the letter?

A. A postman who was also an employee of the post office read the letter.

7. What did the postmaster do then?

A. 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.

8. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?

A. 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.

9. What made him angry?

A. Lencho was displeased when he found that the money was less than what he had asked
for.

10. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
 A. 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 what he had requested.

11. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’?

A. The postmaster does not want to shake the writer’s faith in the almighty, and thus, out of
virtuous intentions, decides to collect money for “an act of charity”. He also signs the letter
in the name of God to conceal his identity as he wants Lencho to think it is actually a reply
from God.

12. Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?

A. 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.

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. Lencho thinks that it is the postmaster or the employees of the post-office who have 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 is actually the
postmaster and the employees who have 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.

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.

Greedy, naive, stupid, ungrateful,

Selfish, comical, unquestioning

A. 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 does 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, complains about the missing 30
pesos.
15. There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature, and between
humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?

A. 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 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.

Long Answer questions:

1. Writing a letter to God for help really shows not only the unshaken faith in God of the
writer Lencho but also shows his utter simplicity and innocence. Comment.

OR

Draw a character sketch of Lencho.

A. Lencho was a simple and hardworking farmer who worked like an ox in his fields. Being a
farmer, he had a deep knowledge about the weather, the winds and the rains of his region.
He was a man of limited means and earned his living by farming his fields. Lencho was
highly religious. He was simple hearted. He was rustic and thoughtful. He was a little
educated and could write a letter. He had unshaken faith in God. He believed that God
always helps people with a clear conscience. When the hailstorm destroyed his corn fields
totally, he and his family were rather on the verge of starvation, he was left with one hope -
help from God. He believed that God was all-merciful and thought to get help from God. He
showed his innocence by trying to have a correspondence directly with God requesting him
to send a hundred pesos immediately to help him sow his fields and also help his family to
live on until the fresh crop came. His innocence and firm belief in God's mercy even deeply
impressed and influenced the postmaster who decided to help him by collecting money.
Lencho had so much faith in God and his mercy that he didn't show any surprise when he
received the money sent to him. While he had unshaken faith in God, he mistrusted the
motives of men. He could never know and nor did he ever try to know who had sent him
those seventy pesos to help him. It is quite ironic that he abused those who helped him by
calling them a bunch of crooks.
 2. Give a character sketch of the Postmaster in your own words. Don’t you think that he
should have deserved a better recognition and appreciation of his act of charity?

A. It takes all kinds of people to make this world. The postmaster has all that is good in human
thinking and behaviour. He has a thorough understanding of a sharp, sympathetic and
sensitive mind. He knows how the mind of a God-fearing rustic like Lencho works. He is
sensitive and sympathetic to human feelings. He doesn’t want to break the deep faith of the
writer in God. The fat and friendly postmaster had a large heart too. First, he laughed at the
man who wanted to have a direct correspondence with God. But he soon became serious.
After reading the letter, he was deeply moved and impressed by Lencho’s faith in God. He
knew that merely goodwill was not sufficient. The farmer needed financial help. So he
collected a sum of 70 pesos from his employees. He also contributed a part of his salary.
He did so as to keep Lencho’s faith in God. He wrote a single word as a signature: God.

It is ironic that a simpleton like Lencho could never know his real benefactor (supporting
financially). Nor did he ever try to know how and from whom he received those seventy
pesos. Naturally, his work of charity deserved better recognition and appreciation from the
receiver. Ironically, the postmaster and his employees who had sent seventy pesos were
called ‘a bunch of crooks’ by Lencho.

Homework:

1. Write a brief summary of the story ‘A Letter to God’.

2. Write a letter as Lencho to your friend and tell him about the destruction of your crops, the
letter you wrote to God and the reply with money you received. Express your irritation about
the post office employees also.

3. Lencho and his family knew the implications the hailstorm would have on their lives. Write a
conversation between Lencho and his wife as they watched the downpour turn to a
hailstorm.

Answer the following extracts:

1. The house- the only one in the entire valley- sat on the crest of a low hill. From this height
one could see the river and the field of ripe corn dotted with the flowers that always
promised a good harvest. The only thing the earth needed was a good downpour or at least
a shower. Throughout the morning Lencho - who knew his fields intimately- had done
nothing but see the sky towards the north-east.
i. Where was Lencho’s house located?
ii. The field of corn dotted with flowers means that

(a) not a single flower was bigger than a dot

(b) the flowers were scattered across.
 (c) the flowers were shaped like dots.
(d) the flowers had shrunk in size.

iii. Find the word from the passage which means ‘very closely’.
iv. Based on the given extract, what is Lencho not likely to think while looking at his field?

(a) Option (i)

(b) Option (ii)
(c) Option (iii)
(d) Option (iv)

v. Which quote supports the idea in the given extract?

(a) “Farming is a profession of hope.”
(b) “I would rather be on my farm than be emperor of the world.”
(c) “Farming looks mighty easy when your plough is a pencil, and you’re a thousand
miles from the corn field.”
(d) “Those too lazy to plough in the right season will have no food at the harvest.”

2. “He wrote “To God” on the envelope, put the letter inside and, still troubled, went to town. At
the post office, he placed a stamp on the letter and dropped it into the mailbox. One of the
employees, who was a postman and also helped at the post office, went to his boss
laughing heartily and showed him the letter to God. Never in his career as a postman had
he known that address. The postmaster—a fat, amiable fellow—also broke out laughing,
but almost immediately he turned serious and, tapping the letter on his desk, commented,
“What faith! I wish I had the faith of the man who wrote this letter. Starting up a
correspondence with God”
i. Lencho had immense faith in God as he addressed a letter to God. What made the
postmaster wonder?

1. A letter to God at his office

2. Saw the postman laughing
3. A letter of request to God
4. None of the above
(a) option 1 only
 (b) option 2 only
(c) option 1, 3 and 4 only
(d) option 3 only

ii. The postman saw the envelope and laughed. What made him do so ?
iii. Fill in the blank with ONE WORD only. Lencho’s _____ could easily be seen when ‘At the
post office, he placed a stamp on the letter and dropped it into the mailbox.’
iv. What according to the post master was unusual about the letter?

(a) It did not have a proper address.

(b) Lencho did not stamp it properly.
(c) Lencho was an illiterate and could not read and write.
(d) His faith in God to strike a conversation.

v. Select the option that correctly captures the application of the word ‘heartily’ as used in line
5 of the extract.
(a) My younger brother ate his meal heartily.
(b) My younger brother laughed heartily at the joke cracked by the teacher.
(c) My younger brother enjoyed the situation heartily.
(d) My younger brother heartily engaged himself in the task.