THE LETTER TO GOD | QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS |

  

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A letter to God

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

A LETTER TO GOD

 

Oral comprehension

 

1.    1.   What did Lencho hope for?

 

Lencho hoped for a downpour or at least a shower, to water his ripe cornfields.

 

2.      2. Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like “new coins”

 

Lencho believed that the rain will help him to have a better harvest and thus will bring more money and prosperity. So Lencho compared the raindrops with ‘new coins.’ He said that the big drops were ten-cent pieces and the little ones were five cents.

 

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

 

The rain changed into a heavy hailstorm which lasted for an hour.

Lencho's field got fully covered with hailstones and it destroyed his cornfield. All the leaves from the trees and all the flowers from the plant had fallen.

 

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

 

When the hailstorm stopped, he regarded the cornfield with a heart full of sadness, at the same time he was also feeling anxious about his future, he was thinking that all his hard work went into vain, and there was no one to help him.

 

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

 

Lencho had full faith in God.

With deep faith, he wrote a letter to God, where he had asked God to help him and his family to survive the loss of their crop. He asked God to send hundred pesos to help cover up his loss.

 

6.      6. Who reads the letter?

 

The letter was read by the postman first and then it was read by the postmaster.

 

7.     7.  What does the postmaster do then?

 

The postmaster who was a fat, amiable person burst into laughter at first and then suddenly become severe and appreciated Lencho’s faith in God and he came up with an idea to retain his faith in God. He gave a part of his salary and also collected some money from his employees and friends and send it with a letter and signed it as “God.”

 

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

No, Lencho was not surprised to find a letter for him with money in it, as he had very deep faith in God and he truly believed that God would reply to him with money.

 

9.   9.    What made him Angry?

 

When Lencho counted the money and found that it was less than what he had asked for, he thought God definitely had sent him what he had asked for it was the employees of the post office who had stolen the rest of the amount and this incident made him angry.

 

Thinking about the text

                                                                                                                                 

1.       Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?

 

Lencho has complete faith in God.

 

We can tell this from the lines given below-

“But in the hearts of all who lived in that solitary house in the middle of the valley, there was a single hope; help from the God.”

“ All through the night Lencho thought only of his one hope: the help of the God, whose eyes as he was instructed, see everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience”

“God, if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this year.”

“Lencho showed not the slightest of surprise on seeing the money; such was his confidence.”

 

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

 

The postmaster is deeply touched by Lencho’s faith in God and the Purity of his heart and the postmaster does not want Lencho’s faith to be shaken, so he sends the money to Lencho.

 

He signs the letter ‘god’ to make him believe that it was actually ‘God’ who had read his letter and sent him the money.

 

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

 

No Lencho didn’t try to find out who had sent him the money, because he was utterly confident in his belief that it was sent by God himself.

 

4.       Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money? What is the irony in this situation?

 

Lencho thinks that the employees working in the post office have taken the rest of the money.

 

The irony in this situation is that the very people who had tied their best to help Lencho and who had donated money for him were being accused of theft of the rest of the money.

 

5.        There are two kinds of conflict in the story between humans and nature and between humans and themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?

 

The conflict between humans and nature is demonstrated with the incident of hailstones destroying Lencho’s cornfield. Lencho hoped for a little shower to help his harvest but when the rain turned into a hailstorm, it ended up destroying his crop totally.  On the other hand, the conflict between humans is demonstrated when Lencho inadvertently blames the very people who had tried to help him. He had much faith in God’s goodness but not much in the goodness of his fellow human beings and so blames them for stealing his money not knowing they had sent him the money in the first place.