1: A letter to God

A Letter to God

By G.L. Fuentes

About the Author

The author of the story,” A Letter to God” is Gregorio Lopez Fuentes (1897- 2002).  He was the prominent Mexican writer, novelist , poet  and journalist of that era.

Character sketch of the main characters in the story

Lencho – Lencho is a poor, hardworking farmer with an unwavering and innocent faith in God as he writes a letter to God seeking help when his crop gets destroyed by the hailstorm. However, the story depicts his blind faith when suspects the post office employees who actually helped him with money without trying to get to know that who actually send him money.

Post master

The post master is a compassionate generous and amiable person.  When the letter addressed to God directly, he got amused but at the same time gets moved by the strong belief of the poor farmer and decides to help him.

A Letter to God Introduction

The story, “A Letter to God” by G.L Fuentes depicts   the idea that how an unwavering and innocent belief makes impossible things possible.

The story sets Latin American country. The protagonist of the story Lencho, the farmer, writes a letter to God seeking help to overcome the problem of great loss   of his entire crop caused   by a devastating hailstorm.

His wish gets fulfilled by the post office employees who being got moved by his innocent belief in God, could help him partially due to lack of money.

However, instead of being grateful at the end, Lencho gets very angry at the post office employees thinking that his rest of the amount must have been taken by them because God could not send him less money.

A Letter to God Summary

 The story, “A Letter to God” by G.L. Fuentes depicts the strong and innocent faith of a farmer in God.

In the story, a farmer, named Lencho is looking forward for a good amount of rain shower for his corn fields. He is hopeful that his harvest will yield him sound revenues.

However, as soon as the rainfall began

, it turned into a hailstorm destroying his entire crop field. That great damage was a threat to the family’s survival as their entire livelihood was dependent on the year’s produce. Although desperate due to this inconsolable loss, the family has had a firm belief in God’s mercy. Thus, Lencho, resolves to write a letter to God to seek his help in terms of money. He posts his letter with address “To God” demanding hundred pesos. The postmaster who is a kind-hearted person gets amused by noticing the letter, but after reading it, he gets inspired by the strong belief of the writer Lencho in   God.

 To keep his belief unimpaired, he decided to help the poor farmer, Lencho. He contributes from his salary and collects money from his colleagues and friends who willingly contributes for an act of charity.

To his disappointment, he could only collect 70 pesos

 He put it in the envelope in the name of God. On receiving the letter, Lencho gets very angry when he finds that the amount is less than what he had been expecting. He suspects that the post office employees must have stolen his money.

He again writes a letter to God asking to send rest of the amount by another means as the post office employees are a bunch of crooks.

Theme

Strength of faith

The story expresses that how a  strong belief in God or something by a man makes impossible things possible and accomplish his desire through it.

Distrust in fellow mankind.

The story also depicts how humans can easily suspect the honesty of others people as Lencho having blind faith in God blames the post office employees for the less amount of money than that of he demanded, without making any attempts to get to know who send him money actually.

 The story ends with an irony.

Explanation

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 downpour or at least a shower. Throughout the morning Lencho – who knew his fields intimately – had done nothing else but see the sky towards the northeast.

Word meanings

Crest: Top of a hill crest

Dotted: Full Of
Downpour: Heavy Rain
Intimately: Closely

 Lencho, the farmer, the only dweller of entire valley lived on the top of a low heighted hill. From there, he could see a river and his ready-to-harvest field full of ripe corns

. Lencho was sure    that the harvest would reap great profits if the crop received a good rainfall. So, he was hopefully waiting for rainfall and spent the entire morning by gazing at the sky in the north-east direction from where a drizzle was expected to shower on his field.

“Now we’re really going to get some water, woman. The woman who was preparing supper, replied, “Yes, God willing”. The older boys were working in the field, while the smaller ones were playing near the house until the woman called to them all, “Come for dinner. It was during the meal that, just as Lencho had predicted, big drops of rain began to fall. In the north-east huge mountains of clouds could be seen approaching. The air was fresh and sweet. The man went out for no other reason than to have the pleasure of feeling the rain on his body, and when he returned, he exclaimed, “These aren’t raindrops falling from the sky, they are new coins. The big drops are ten cent pieces and the little ones are fives.”

Word meanings

Exclaimed- cry out suddenly in surprise, strong emotion, or pain.

Lencho, confidently tells his wife that they are going to have a sound rain-shower to which the lady replies  that that depends upon the will of God. Their elder children were working at the field and the younger ones were playing near the house when Lencho’s wife calls everyone for dinner. In the mean time,  a downpour started as the farmer predicted.   The breeze was pleasant and clouds could be seen approaching from the north-east sky.

To get the pleasure by feeling droplets on his body, Lencho goes out of the house.

He attributes the droplets as new coins, large droplets being equivalent to ten cents and the smaller ones, five cents, since they would get good crop and eventually a good revenue by this sound shower.

With a satisfied expression he regarded the field of ripe corn with its flowers, draped in a curtain of rain. But suddenly a strong wind began to blow and along with the rain very large hailstones began to fall. These truly did resemble new silver coins. The boys, exposing themselves to the rain, ran out to collect the frozen pearls.

Word meanings

Regarded- Consider Or Think Of In A Specified Way
Draped- Adorn, Cover, Or Wrap (Someone Or Something)
Hailstones- A Pellet Of Hail
Resemble- Have A Similar Appearance To Or Qualities In Common With (Someone Or Something); Look Or Seem Like.
Exposing- make (something) visible by uncovering it.; reveal

Being satisfied, Lencho regarded  the field with its   flowers under the shower were looking as  if they were wrapped in a curtain of rain. However,  all of a sudden a strong wind started blowing, converting the rainfall into hailstorm.  Here, the author gives a satirical remark, saying that  these pellets of frozen rain are actually looking like “new silver coins. The  boys  went out in the rain to play and collect these hailstones which looked like “frozen pearls”.

“It’s really getting bad now,” exclaimed the man. “I hope it passes quickly. It did not pass quickly. For an hour the hail rained on the house, the garden, the hillside, the cornfield, on the whole valley. The field was white as if covered with salt.

The farmer  gets distressed  with a  wish that the storm gets over quickly, which, actually didn’t fulfil. The entire valley including the cornfield got covered with the hailstones soon.

It seemed that everything was covered in salt due to white hailstones.

Not a leaf remained on the trees. The corn was totally destroyed. The flowers were gone from the plants. Lencho’s soul was filled with sadness. When the storm had passed, he stood in the middle of the field and said to his sons, “A plague of locusts would have left more than this. The hail has left nothing. This year we will have no corn.” That night was a sorrowful one. “All our work, for nothing. There’s no one who can help us”.”We’ll all go hungry this year.”

Word meanings

plague- a destructively numerous inflow or multiplication of a harmful animal, infestation
locusts- Insects which fly in big groups and destroy crops

Lencho's soul was filled with grief as everything was destroyed. Nothing was left. The trees and plants left without leaves and flowers , corns were completely damaged. While standing in the withered fields, he expressed his sorrow and dismay, saying that the hailstorm had even worse affect than that of the plague of locusts would have caused . All their hard work had wasted.  He felt helpless and worried that they might have to starve for the whole year.

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 God. “Don’t be so upset, even though this seems like a total loss. Remember, no one dies of hunger. ”That’s what they say: no one dies of hunger. “

Word meanings

solitary:  Existing alone; lonely.

 Even though, they had lost everything, the family still had hope in their hearts. They had a firm belief in the almighty. They assured each other that they would not die saying ,  no one ever dies of starvation.

All through the night, Lencho thought only of his one hope: the help of God, whose eyes, as he had been instructed, see everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience. Lencho was an ox of a man, working like an animal in the fields, but still he knew how to write. The following Sunday, at daybreak, he began to write a letter which he himself would carry to town and place in the mail. It was nothing less than a letter to God.

Word meanings

conscience- an inner sense of right and wrong.
ox of a man- hardworking
daybreak- The time in the morning when daylight first appears

 Lencho, throughout the night kept thinking of his only hope, a help of God, who is omnipresent and remains conscious about everything, even what is deep inside the conscience of human beings. Besides being a hardworking farmer for last many years, Lencho knew how to write. So, he resolved to write a letter to God conveying his pitiful condition and seeking his help.

He started writing on the Sunday morning and thought of mailing it himself by going to the town.

 “God, he wrote, “if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this year. I need a hundred pesos in order to sow my field again and to live until the crop comes, because the hailstorm….” 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.

Word meanings

Pesos- the basic monetary unit of Mexico, several other Latin American countries, and the Philippines

In his letter, addressed to God, Lencho expresses his miserable condition with no hope except help from almighty and asked for 100 pesos to survive until the next harvest along with cost involved in cultivating the crops again. On the envelope, He writes, “To God, as an address. Then, at the post office, places stamp on the letter and drops it in the mailbox.

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!”

Word meanings

Amiable- Friendly And Pleasant
Correspondence- Communication by exchanging letters with someone.

A postman, who was also an employee of the post office, notices Lencho’s letter and shows it to the postmaster. They both felt amused, but the postmaster, fat ,  friendly and  kind-hearted becomes serious immediately  . He was surprised at the   faith of  Lencho has had  in God and wishes he would have such a faith.

So, in order not to shake the writer’s faith in God, the postmaster came up with an idea: answer the letter. But when he opened it, it was evident that to answer it he needed something more than goodwill, ink and paper. But he stuck to his resolution: he asked for money from his employees, he himself gave part of his salary, and several friends of his were obliged to give something ‘for an act of charity’.

goodwill- friendly, helpful, or cooperative feelings or attitude
resolution- a firm decision to do or not to do something.
obliged- grateful

To keep the writer’s faith intact,  the postmaster read the letter and decided  to reply  it . But the writer expectations could not be fulfilled with pen, paper and morals , as he had demanded for 100 pesos. The postmaster gave a part of his salary along with his colleagues and a few friends, who  donated for this act of noble cause of charity. Together they collect a pool of money to help Lencho.

It was impossible for him to gather together the hundred pesos, so he was able to send the farmer only a little more than half. He put the money in an envelope addressed to Lencho and with it a letter containing only a single word as a signature: God

Although they put all their  efforts, he could  not  collect an amount of 100 pesos  required. Postmaster, then addressed it to Lencho along with a letter which was undersigned by God.

The following Sunday Lencho came a bit earlier than usual to ask if there was a letter for him. It was the postman himself who handed the letter to him while the postmaster, experiencing the contentment of a man who has performed a good deed, looked on from his office. 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.

Word meanings

contentment- Satisfaction

Next Sunday, Lencho comes earlier than expected looking for the reply . The postman himself handed him the letter At the same time postmaster was  feeling satisfied, looking on   from his office. However, to his astonishment, the farmer having great confidence in almighty, doesn’t show a bit of surprise and even gets angry  on seeing that the money was less than whatever he asked for. His faith is still unshaken  as he thought that God couldn’t deny him for what he requested.

Immediately, Lencho went up to the window to ask for paper and ink. On the public writing table, he started writing, with much wrinkling of his brow, caused by the effort he had to make to express his ideas. When he finished, he went to the window to buy a stamp which he licked and then affixed to the envelope with a blow of his fist. The moment the letter fell into the mailbox the postmaster went to open it. It said: “God: Of the money that I asked for, only seventy pesos reached me. Send me the rest, since I need it very much. But don’t send it to me through the mail because the post office employees are a bunch of crooks. Lencho.”

 Being disappointed for less amount of money, Lencho asked for ink and paper to write to God again. While writing, his eyebrows got frowned out of the irritation and anger with which he was drafting a new request. On completing, he affixed it with a stamp. As soon as he dropped it into the mailbox, the postmaster took it out to read it.  In the letter, Lencho has  demanded for remaining amount and showed his distrust on the post office employees, saying  that the money should not be sent via post as  the staff at the post office are a bunch of crooks and must have stolen the missing amount.

Text book  Question Answers

Q1. What did Lencho hope for?

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

Q2.  Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?

Ans.  Since the awaited downpour took place, everything was going on according to Lencho’s aspirations and planning. He had a complete assurance that his harvest would yield considerable revenues. Thus, he referred to the droplets as “new coins, the larger ones being equivalent to ten pesos and smaller ones, five pesos.

Q3. 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 , Lencho’s crop fields got withered, the trees had shed their leaves and the flowers had fallen.

Q4. What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?

A. Lencho was extremely sad and disappointed with his soul in immense grief.

Q5. Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?

A. Lencho had unshakeable faith in God. Thus, he resolved to write a letter to God conveying his miserable condition and asking for 100 pesos for survival and to recover his loss by regeneration of crops.

Q6. Who reads the letter?

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

Q7. What did the postmaster do then?

A. The postmaster was astounded at Lencho’s firm faith in the God and thus, to  keep it unshaken, he decided to contribute a part from his income   and collect money   from his friends and colleagues.

Q8. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?

A. Lencho was not at a bit surprised on seeing the letter because he was fully confident that God would help him. Instead, he was angry when he found that the amount was less than what he had asked for.

Q9. What made him angry?

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

Q10. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?

A. Lencho has extreme 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 Lencho what he had requested. “

Q11. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’?

A. The postmaster did not want to shake the writer’s faith in the Almighty. Thus, He decided to collect money for “an act of charity” and even signed the letter in the name of God so that Lencho would think that he has been helped by God.

Q12. 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 who has sent the money because he was completely confident that, his letter has been actually replied by God. It was his unshakeable faith that made him remain unquestionable about the identity of the sender.

Q13. 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 thought that the postmaster or the employees of the post-office  must have  stolen his remaining amount, and in  his second letter to God where he requested   not to send money by mail next time. It is quite ironic that the postmaster and the employees who had  actually collected the money  to keep Lencho’s faith intact, got blamed  at the end for stealing the missing amount.

Q 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.

A. No, it is hard to believe that people like Lencho exist in reality. He is innocent because of his lack of wisdom and blind faith about the actual physical existence of God.

He remained unquestionable on receiving an actual reply from the almighty and instead of being grateful

 on receiving 70 pesos, he got angry and demanded the rest of the amount.

Q15. 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 wishes for a sound downpour to get good harvest  from his corn field. Initially becomes happy on receiving the rainfall and dreams of the profit that he would get. But soon, his joy gets converted  into sorrow hail stones started falling with strong wind . This represents the conflicts between man and nature where humans doesn’t receive whatever he aspect from the nature.

The second conflict arises when Lencho suspected the honesty of the post-office employees who actually helped him with the money just to keep his faith intact. This is the conflict among humans themselves, wherein, we become doubtful upon our fellow humans easily rather trusting them.

 

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

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

This man, whom I trusted, cheated me.

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

1. The trees lost all their leaves.

“Not a leaf remained on the trees.”

 2. The letter was addressed to God himself.

“It was nothing less than a letter to God.

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

“Never in his career as a postman had he known that address.”