SRI SRI RAVISHANKAR VIDYA MANDIR -BANGALORE EAST

Class:X (2022-23)
ENGLISH
Book- First Flight
L-1 A Letter to God-G. L . Fuentes

A. Answer the following Questions

1.What is the central idea of the story the letter to God?
Ans:The story revolves around the idea of having unquestionable faith in God. The story here
is the one taking place in a Latin American country. Lencho, a farmer, who is the protagonist
of the story, writes a letter to God.

2. What is the Message conveyed in the lesson 'A Letter to God'?

Ans: The lesson 'A Letter to God' by G.L. Fuentes conveys the following message:
1. Faith and belief in God The story revolves around a poor farmer named Lencho who
believes in the power of God. He writes a letter to God asking for money to help him during
the difficult times. This shows his faith and belief in God. Although he is illiterate, he knows
that God will understand his letter and help him.
2. The power of prayer Lencho's belief in the power of prayer is evident in the story. He
prays for rain and believes that God will send rain to save his crops. He also prays for help
and believes that God will send him the money he needs. The story shows that prayer can be
a powerful tool in times of need.
3. The importance of gratitude The story also teaches us the importance of gratitude. When
Lencho receives the money he asked for, he believes it is a miracle from God. He is grateful
for the help he has received and thanks God for it. This shows that we should always be
grateful for the blessings we receive in life.
4. Trust in others The story also highlights the importance of trust in others. When Lencho's
letter is delivered to the postmaster, he reads it and is moved by Lencho's faith in God. He
decides to collect money from his colleagues and sends it to Lencho anonymously. This
shows that there are still good people in the world who are willing to help others in need.
5. The impact of honesty The postmaster's honesty in delivering the money to Lencho has a
significant impact on him. He believes that God has sent him the money and is grateful for it.
This shows that honesty can have a positive impact on others and can help build trust and
faith in humanity.
Overall, the story 'A Letter to God' conveys the message of faith, belief, gratitude, trust, and
honesty. It teaches us that these values are important in life and can help us overcome
difficult times

3. Write the character sketch of ‘Lencho’ and ‘The Post Master’?

Lencho: Lencho was a man of limited means and earned his living by farming his fields. He
had an unshaken faith in God. He believed that God always helps people with a clear
conscience. Therefore, when he lost all hopes and he and his family were on the verge of
starvation, he looked towards God for help. His deep faith in God even impressed the
postmaster who decided to help him.
He was a little educated to write a letter. He shows his innocence by trying to have a
correspondence with God directly.
While he had an 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 his helpers by calling them ‘a bunch of crooks’.
2. Postmaster: 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 doesn’t want to break the deep faith of
Lencho in God. First, he laughed at the man who wanted to have a direct correspondence
with God. 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
and sent the money to Lencho.

4.What is the theme of ‘A Letter to God’?

The theme of the story, “A Letter to God” is gratitude. The faith urges the farmer to have
expectations but when he observed that his demands are only partially fulfilled, he omits
expressing gratitude for what he received. Furthermore, the story contains irony. Reality is
highly juxtaposed with what Lencho thinks. For him, Postmen and Postmaster could have
theft the money sent to him by God but in actuality, it was the Postmen and Postmaster who
made monetary compromises and donations to help him. It is vital to understand that
humanity still plays a role and prevails.

5. 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.]
Ans: Lencho had all his doubts on people working in the post office. The irony of the
situation is that Lencho blames those who had tried to help him out. In real life also we come
across such situations. Many a time you would have tried helping someone and he may get a
wrong message. Lencho thinks that the post office people have taken the money. But the fact
is that they only tried to help him by sending money. But, on the other hand, Lencho thinks
they have stolen his money. He even calls them crooks. Thus ,there is an element of irony in
this situation.

6. 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
Ans: Humans as a civilization have always worshiped or looked upon a greater power for
assistance during challenging times but Lencho’s faith was beyond comprehension. I do not
think people like him exist in the world who would actually write a letter to God and demand
him for money. He was very naive and unquestioning in his reasoning by displaying such
blind faith in God.

7. There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature, and
between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
Ans: Lencho’s destruction of crops by nature is a sheer display of power that nature has over
us. His crops were ripe and ready for harvest but were destroyed by the hailstorm and he
could not do anything about it apart from cursing his luck and blaming God for it. He was
very gloomy after the incident and had no resort other than writing a letter to God,
complaining about the same and asking him to compensate.
Conflict between human and human is displayed by the conflict the postmaster and Lencho
had. The postmaster felt bad for Lencho for having written a letter to God and having such
blind faith in him. He did not want to shatter his hope and hence collected seventy pesos for
him and sent it under the name of God. His good deed was not reciprocated well by Lencho,
and he accused him of stealing money from his envelope. It shows the deep distrust humans
have amongst themselves.

II. HOTS:

1.Describe Lencho as a farmer. How did the rain gladden (filled with happiness) his
heart but the heavy hailstones that followed left him a worried man?