A Letter to God- Textual Questions

 

Textual Questions and Answers

1. Oral Comprehension Check: (Page 5)

Q1. What did Lencho hope for?

Lencho hoped for a rain shower for his cornfield.

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

Lencho was sure of good profits after the rain shower. He felt confident that his crop would give good yield. So, he referred to the raindrops as new coins.

Q3. How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho's fields?

Sometime after the rainfall had begun, the wind became strong and the rainfall had turned into a hailstorm. Lencho’s crop was damaged because of the hailstorm.

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

A. Lencho was sad and disheartened after the hailstorm.

2. Oral Comprehension Check: (Page 6)

Q1. Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?

A. Lencho had unwavering faith in God. So, he decided to write a letter to God conveying his problems. He asked for 100 pesos for survival and for investing in the next crop.

Q2. Who read the letter?

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

Q3. What did the postmaster do then?

A. The postmaster was amazed at Lencho's unshakeable faith in God. He didn’t want to shake Lencho’s faith in God. So, he decided to collect money for Lencho from his friends and colleagues. 

3. Oral Comprehension Check: (Page 7)

Q1. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?

A. Lencho was not at all surprised on seeing the letter because this is what he was expecting. Instead, he was angry when he found that the amount was less than what he had asked for.

Q2. What made him angry?

A. Lencho was displeased and felt angry when he found that the money was less than what he had asked for.

Thinking About the Text: (Page 7)

Q1. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?

A. Lencho has immense 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."

 Q2. 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 God. So, with a good intention, decided to collect money for "an act of charity". He also signed the letter in the name of God to conceal his identity as he wanted Lencho to think that it was actually from God.

Q3. 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 the sender because he was very sure of the existence of God. His letter to God got a reply.  He believed that God had sent him the money. So, he didn’t try to find out who had sent the money.

Q4. 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 had stolen the remaining amount. That is why he wrote God not to send money through the post office next time. Actually the postmaster and the employees had collected the money out of their good intention to keep Lencho's faith in God intact. But they were blamed for stealing the money. The irony here is that, the real helpers were blamed.

Q5. 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

A. No, it is hard to find people like Lencho in reality. Lencho is naive and unquestioning because of his lack of understanding of the actual physical existence of God. He did not question receiving an actual reply from God. He is ungrateful because he is not happy with the 70 pesos he got. Instead, he complained about the missing 30 pesos and blamed the post office people.

Q6. 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 hopes for a rain shower for his cornfield. When it started raining, he becomes overjoyed and starts thinking about all the profit that would come in. Soon, his joy is turned into sorrow when the wind becomes strong leading to a hailstorm. This shows the disagreement between man and nature wherein humans want nature to act according to their aspirations. The second conflict arises when Lencho starts doubting the honesty of the post-office employees who actually helped him with the money anonymously. This is the conflict among men themselves, wherein, we are ready to trust in the idea of God's existence but we are not ready to trust each other.