NCERT SOLUTIONS FOR CLASS 10 - ENGLISH NOTES - A LETTER TO GOD - G.L. FUENTES - QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS - CBSE

 

A LETTER TO GOD

G.L. FUENTES

ORAL COMPREHENSION CHECK

1)  What did Lencho hope for?

Ans: Lencho hoped for a rain shower for his crop field.

 

2) Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like 'new coins'?

Ans: After the rain shower, everything was going according to Lencho's plan and he had massive certainty that his harvest would return significant benefits. As a result, he alluded to the drops as new coins, the bigger ones being identical to ten pesos and more modest ones, five pesos.

 

3) How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho's fields?

Ans: The rain changed to a hailstorm, soon after the rainfall had begun. Lencho’s fields got withered; the trees had shed their leaves and the flowers.

 

4) What were Lencho's feelings when the hail stopped?

Ans:  When the hailstorm had stopped, Lencho was extremely depressed and his soul was filled with immense grief.

 

ORAL COMPREHENSION CHECK

1) Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?

Ans: Lencho had firm faith in God. He chose to compose a letter to God passing on his complaints and requesting 100 pesos for survival and restoration of crops.

 

2) Who read the letter?

Ans: A postman of the post office read the letter.

 

3) What did the postmaster do then?

Ans: The postmaster was stunned at Lencho's resolute faith in the god and hence, to hold it, he chose to gather money for him from his colleagues and companions.

 

ORAL COMPREHENSION CHECK

1) Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?

Ans:  Lencho was not at all surprised on seeing the letter since this is the thing that he was anticipating. All things considered, he was angry when he tracked down that the sum was not as much as what he had requested.

 

2) What made him angry?

Ans: Lencho was disappointed when he tracked down that the money was not as much as what he had requested.

 

THINKING ABOUT THE TEXT

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

Ans: Lencho has firm faith in God. These lines are apparent 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."

 

2) Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter 'God'?

Ans: The postmaster would not like to shake the author's firm faith in the God, and consequently, out of worthy purpose, chosen to gather money for an act of charity. He composed the letter for the God to cover his way of life as he needed Lencho to think it's anything but an answer from God.

 

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

Ans:  No, Lencho did not try to find out who had sent the money to him. He was optimistic about the presence of God and that, his letter is really received and answered to, by God. It was his firm faith that made him not question the personality of the sender.

 

4) 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 believed that it is the postmaster or the workers of the post office who had taken his leftover money, as is apparent from his second letter to God where he demands the God not to send money by mail later. It was really the postmaster and the workers who had gathered the money out of their spotless expectation to keep Lencho's firm faith unblemished, but is the ones who wound up getting reprimanded for taking the missing money.

 

5) 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 bracket to answer the question.

 (Greedy, naïve, stupid, ungrateful, selfish, comical, unquestioning)

Ans: No, it is hard to find people like Lencho in real world. Lencho is naive and unquestioning due to his absence of judgment about the actual presence of God. He didn't address getting a real answer from the omnipotent. He is dissatisfied in some way on the grounds that on seeing 70 pesos, he is unsettled yet all things considered, griped about the missing 30 pesos.

 

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

Ans: The story "A Letter to God" portrays two sorts of struggles; one among man and nature and the other among men themselves. In the beginning of the story, the farmer expects a rainfall to help his corn field. On really getting precipitation, he gets excited and begins contemplating all the benefit that would come in. Very little later, his happiness is transformed into distress when the wind becomes strong prompting a hailstorm. This portrays the conflict among man and nature wherein people need the nature to act as per their goals. The subsequent disparity emerges when Lencho begins questioning the honesty of the post master and remaining workers of post office who really assisted him with the money secretly. This is simply the contention among men, wherein, we are prepared to trust in the possibility of God's presence yet we are not prepared to trust in one another.

 

THINKING ABOUT THE LANGUAGE

I. Look at the following sentence from the story.

Suddenly a strong wind began to blow and along with the rain very large hailstones began to fall.

‘Hailstones’ are small balls of ice that fall like rain. A storm in which hailstones fall is a ‘hailstorm’. You know that a storm is bad weather with strong winds, rain, thunder and lightning.

 

There are different names in different parts of the world for storms, depending on their nature. Can you match the names in the bracket with their descriptions below, and fill in the blanks? You may use a dictionary to help you.

 

{Gale, whirlwind, cyclone, hurricane, tornado, typhoon}

 

1) A violent tropical storm in which strong winds move in a circle: __ __ c __ __ __ __

Ans: Cyclone

 

2) An extremely strong wind : __ a __ __

Ans: Gale

 

3) A violent tropical storm with very strong winds: __ __ p __ __ __ __

Ans: Typhoon

 

4) A violent storm whose centre is a cloud in the shape of a funnel: __ __ __ n __ __ __

Ans: Tornado

 

5) A violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the western Atlantic Ocean: __ __ r __ __ __ __ __ __

Ans: Hurricane

 

6) A very strong wind that moves very fast in a spinning movement and causes a lot of damage: __ __ __ __ l __ __ __ __

Ans: Whirlwind

 

 

 

II. Notice how the word ‘hope’ is used in these sentences from the story:

(a) I hope it (the hailstorm) passes quickly.

(b) There was a single hope: help from God.

In the first example, ‘hope’ is a verb which means you wish for something to happen. In the second example it is a noun meaning a chance for something to happen.

 

Match the sentences in Column A with the meanings of 'hope' in Column B.

 

A	B
1. Will you get the subjects you want to study in college? I hope so.	- a feeling that something good will probably happen
2. I hope you don't mind my saying this, but I don't like the way you are arguing.	- thinking that this would happen (It may or may not have happened.)
3. This discovery will give new hope to HIV/AIDS sufferers.	- stopped believing that this good thing would happen
4. We were hoping against hope that the judges would not notice our mistakes.	wanting something to happen (and thinking it quite possible)
5. I called early in the hope of speaking to her before she went to school.	- showing concern that what you say should not offend or disturb the other person: a way of being polite
6. Just when everybody had given up hope, the fishermen came back, seven days after the cyclone.	- wishing for something to happen, although this is very unlikely

Answer:

A	B
1. Will you get the subjects you want to study in college? I hope so.	- wanting something to happen (and thinking it quite possible)
2. I hope you don't mind my saying this, but I don't like the way you are arguing.	- showing concern that what you say should not offend or disturb the other person: a way of being polite
3. This discovery will give new hope to HIV/AIDS sufferers.	- a feeling that something good will probably happen
4. We were hoping against hope that the judges would not notice our mistakes.	- wishing for something to happen, although this is very unlikely
5. I called early in the hope of speaking to her before she went to school.	- thinking that this would happen (It may or may not have happened.)
6. Just when everybody had given up hope, the fishermen came back, seven days after the cyclone.	- stopped believing that this good thing would happen

 

 

III. Relative Clause

Look at these sentences

(a) All morning Lencho — who knew his fields intimately — looked at the sky.

(b) The woman, who was preparing supper, replied, “Yes, God willing.”

 

The italicised parts of the sentences give us more information about Lencho and the woman. We call them relative clauses. Notice that they begin with a relative pronoun who. Other common relative pronouns are whom, whose, and which.

 

The relative clauses in (a) and (b) above are called non-defining, because we already know the identity of the person they describe. Lencho is a particular person, and there is a particular woman he speaks to. We don’t need the information in the relative clause to pick these people out from a larger set.

 

A non-defining relative clause usually has a comma in front of it and a comma after it (some writers use a dash (—) instead, as in the story). If the relative clause comes at the end, we just put a full stop.

 

 

Join the sentences given below using who, whom, whose, which, as suggested.

 

1) I often go to Mumbai. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India. (which)

Ans: I often go to Mumbai, which is the capital city of India.

 

2) My mother is going to host a TV show on cooking. She cooks very well. (who)

Ans: My mother, who cooks very well, is going to host a TV show on cooking.

 

3) These sports persons are going to meet the President. Their performance has been excellent. (whose)

Ans: These sportspersons, whose performance has been excellent, are going to meet the President.

 

4) Lencho prayed to God. His eyes see into our minds. (whose)

Ans: Lencho prayed to God, whose eyes see into our minds.

 

5) This man cheated me. I trusted him. (whom)

Ans: This man, whom I trusted, cheated me.

 

 

Sometimes the relative pronoun in a relative clause remains ‘hidden’. For example, look at the first sentence of the story:

 

(a) The house — the only one in the entire valley — sat on the crest of a low hill.

 

We can rewrite this sentence as:

(b) The house — which was the only one in the entire valley — sat on the crest of a low hill.

 

In (a), the relative pronoun which and the verb was, are not present.

 

 

IV. Using Negatives for Emphasis

We know that sentences with words such as no, not or nothing show the absence of something, or contradict something. For example:

(a) This year we will have no corn. (Corn will be absent)

(b) The hail has left nothing. (Absence of a crop)

(c) These aren’t raindrops falling from the sky, they are new coins.

(Contradicts the common idea of what the drops of water falling from the sky are)

But sometims negative words are used just to emphasise an idea. Look at these sentences from the story:

(d) Lencho…had done nothing else but see the sky towards the northeast.

(He had done only this)

(e) The man went out for no other reason than to have the pleasure of feeling the rain on his body. (He had only this reason)

(f) Lencho showed not the slightest surprise on seeing the money.

(He showed no surprise at all)

 

Now look back at example (c). Notice that the contradiction in fact serves to emphasise the value or usefulness of the rain to the farmer.

 

Find sentences in the story with negative words, which express the following ideas emphatically.

1) The trees lost all their leaves.

Ans: "Not a leaf remained on the trees."

 

2) The letter was addressed to God himself.

Ans: "It was nothing less than a letter to God.”

 

3) The postman saw this address for the first time in his career.

Ans: "Never in his career as a postman had he known that address."

 

 

V. Metaphors

The word metaphor comes from a Greek word meaning ‘transfer’. Metaphors compare two things or ideas: a quality or feature of one thing is transferred to another thing. Some common metaphors are

• the leg of the table: The leg supports our body. So the object that supports a table is described as a leg.

• the heart of the city: The heart is an important organ in the centre of our body. So this word is used to describe the central area of a city.

 

In pairs, find metaphors from the story to complete the table below. Try to say what qualities are being compared. One has been done for you.

 

Answer:

OBJECT	METAPHOR	QUALITY OR FEATURE COMPARED
CLOUD	Huge mountains of clouds	The mass or 'hugeness' of mountains
RAINDROPS	New coins	The draping or covering of an area by a curtain
HAILSTONES	New silver coins /frozen pearls	The resemblance in colour and hardness to a pearl
LOCUSTS	A plague of locusts	An epidemic (a disease) that spreads very rapidly and leaves many people dead
MAN (LENCHO)	An ox of a man	The working of an ox in the fields (hard work)

 

 

 

A LETTER TO GOD SUMMARY

A Letter to God is a story composed by G.L. Fuentes which portrays the firm faith of a poor and simple-minded named Lencho in God. Lencho was poor but a dedicated farmer. He was expecting a decent crop. Regrettably, a hailstorm came abruptly and obliterated every one of his yields and crop completely. Seeing the damage, poor farmer was shocked and felt miserable. Notwithstanding, he had a firm faith in God. He was an educated man who realized how to peruse and compose. Because of his direct nature, he was sure that God would help him. Subsequently, he chose to draft a letter to God while addressing his financial worries to him. In the letter, he mentioned God to send him hundred pesos to sow his fields again and save his family from starvation. Before long he composed a letter and went to the post office. He put a stamp on the letter and dropped it into the post box.

 

When the postman took out the letter from the letter-box, he laughed generously subsequent to understanding it. He quickly hurried to the postmaster and showed him the peculiar letter. The postmaster read the letter however roared with laughter when he saw that the letter was addressed to God. Nonetheless, he was additionally moved by the faith of the farmer with which the letter was kept in touch with God. He praised the helpless farmer's undeniable faith in God and chose to help him. Before long, he requested the representatives from the post office to contribute some money as a cause and furthermore gave a piece of his compensation so that Lencho's faith in God isn't shaken. Be that as it may, the money gathered was somewhat less than what Lencho had mentioned from God. The postmaster then, at that point put all the money gathered in an envelope and addressed it to the helpless farmer.

 

The next Sunday, Lencho went to the post office to check if there was a letter for him. The postmaster delicately gave over the letter to him. Lencho was not astounded at all to see the letter with money inside the envelope. He unhesitatingly opened the envelope to check the money, yet lost control when he saw that there was just seventy pesos in it. He was certain that God might have never committed a particularly grave error. He immediately went to the window to request paper and ink and composed another letter to God and dropped it into the letter-box.

 

At the point when Lencho had left the spot, the postmaster opened and read his letter right away. In it, Lencho had raised a complaint to God that he had at first mentioned for 100 pesos, yet he was vexed to discover seventy pesos in particular. Moreover, he scrutinized the post office representatives and felt that they probably taken the leftover thirty pesos from his envelope. He asked God to send him the remainder of the money since he was in earnest need of it. Notwithstanding, he mentioned God not to send the money through the mail on the grounds that Lencho felt that the post office employees were a lot of hooligans who may have taken the leftover money from the envelope.