Std X Le 1: A Letter to God

– by G.L. Fuentes
Creative Page

Characters Theme: The

- Lencho, a hardworking immense power in
farmer. man’s innocent
A Letter to
- Post office officials faith in God. It
God
- Post master, a kind teaches us that if
and benevolent man. man has child-like
faith in God, he can
accomplish
anything
considered
impossible.

Faith in the
Almighty, can give
you a ray of hope
even in the darkest
times.

Character sketch of Lencho.

 Hard Working / Determined – Lencho worked tirelessly cultivating the land. He is a
determined man who does not give up easily, as seen in his unwavering belief in God’s
ability to provide him with the help he needs.
 Great Faith God / Devout – Lencho is deeply religious and has a strong faith in God,
which is evident in his letter to God for help in the story.
 Optimistic / Strong- Despite facing a heavy loss due to the hailstorm, Lencho does
not lose hope and continues to work hard to support his family. He states that no one
would die of hunger and is confident that God would help them.
 Honest – Lencho is an honest man who never cheats or lies, as seen by his trust in
the postman to deliver his letter to God.
 Simple – Lencho is a simple man who leads a simple life and has simple aspirations,
which is shown in his letter to God asking for just enough money to survive.

Character Sketch of the Postmaster.

 Dutiful – The postmaster takes his job seriously and is dedicated towards his duty.
 Empathetic – Despite being initially surprised by Lencho’s letter to God, the
postmaster shows kindness towards Lencho’s situation and tries to help him.
 Pragmatic – The postmaster understands the limitations of the system (Lencho writing
a letter to God) and makes a sensible decision to collect money from his mates to help
Lencho.
 Helpful – The postmaster goes out of his way to collect money from his mates to help
Lencho, even though he is not required to do so.
 God Fearing– He does not want Lencho to lose his Faith in God.

Character sketch of the post office employees.

The post-office employees make every effort to help Lencho, although initially they found it
quite amusing for they had never come across anyone like him. They believed that only an
innocent and foolish farmer could write a letter to God. They were considerate and full of
compassion. They wondered at the faith of the man who wrote that letter. But they
contributed something as an ‘act of charity’. They couldn’t collect the hundred pesos, only
seventy pesos for Lencho.

Questions and Answers

1. What did Lencho hope for?

Ans. Lencho hoped for a good amount of rain as it was much needed for a good harvest of
corn.
2. Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?
Ans. Lencho compared the raindrops with new coins because their appearance resembled
that of coins. Furthermore, he hoped that the rain would bring him a good harvest resulting in
prosperity for him and his family.
3. How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?
Ans. They was a steady downpour at the beginning. But suddenly, a strong wind began to
blow and huge hailstones began to fall along with the rain. The hailstorm continued for an
hour and destroyed all the crops in Lencho’s field. Not a single flower was left on the plants,
nor a leaf on the trees. The field was white, as if covered with salt.

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

Ans. Lencho was filled with grief after the hail stopped as everything was ruined. He felt
hopeless and worried about not being able to feed his family. He could see a bleak future for
him and his family and was sad and angry.

5. Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?
Ans. Lencho had a firm faith in God. He believed that God sees everything, even what is
deep in one’s conscience and helps everyone in need. He wrote a letter to God asking him
for a hundred pesos to sow his field which was destroyed by the hailstorm.

6. Who read the letter? What did he/she do then?

Ans. The Postmaster read the letter. He initially laughed when he read the letter but soon he
became serious and was moved by Lencho’s faith in God. He didn’t want to shake Lencho’s
faith. So, he came up with an idea to collect money from his employees and friends. He also
contributed a part of his salary, put all the money in an envelope and send it to Lencho with
the signature, ‘God’.

7. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?
Ans. Lencho was not surprised to receive a letter from God with money. He had strong faith
and believed that God would grant his request help him.

8. What made him angry?

Ans. When Lencho counted the money, there were only seventy pesos in the envelope
instead of the hundred pesos that he had asked for. He was confident that God could have
neither made a mistake nor could he have denied his request. Therefore, he came to the
conclusion that the post office employees must have taken the remaining thirty pesos, which
made him angry.
Thinking about the Text
4. Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money? What is the irony in the
situation?
Ans. Lencho thinks that the post office employees have taken the rest of the money as he
had asked for a hundred pesos from God. But in the letter there was only seventy pesos and
God could not have made such a mistake. The irony in this situation is that Lencho suspects
the very people who had contributed the money to help him with his problem and wanted to
keep his faith in God alive. Lencho had so much faith in God but did not trust the common
man.
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