A Letter to God
Theme
‘A letter to God’ is based on the theme that faith in God cannot be shaken. Lencho, the farmer,
believes strongly in the generosity of God. The faith gives him the hope to get help from the God
when he loses his crop to the hailstorm. He actually writes to God for help and when he gets the
response, he does not doubt God’s grace. On the contrary, he suspects the honesty of the
employees of the post office.
Another sub-theme is that good and kind souls are God’s messengers. They help the believers to
keep their faith intact. The postmaster and his colleagues belong to this category. Their act of
kindness does not even get acknowledged but they part with their hard earned money to make
Lencho believe that God has answered his request.
Message
The story conveys the message that faith can move mountains. Lencho’s faith in God gets him
financial help even though indirectly and not entirely as desired by him. However, this reinforces
a poor and simple man’s faith in the power of God. The people, who take upon themselves the
responsibility to uphold Lencho’s faith, inspire to keep alive the spirit of humanity. It is
immaterial whether their kindness is acknowledged or not, the faith in the power of God remains
steadfast.
Word Web
Lencho
Hard working farmer
Naïve
Simpleton
Possess child like simplicity and innocence
Post Master
Kind Hearted
Compassionate
Generous
Amiable
Committed and Sincere towards act
Assignment:
Thinking About the Text : Q1-Q3
Extract Based Questions (Unsolved)
1. “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.”
(a) Why did Lencho go out in the rain?
(b) Why were the raindrops like `new coins’ for Lencho?
(c) How did these new coins ultimately bring disaster to his cornfield?
(d) Explain the description: ‘The air was fresh and sweet’.
2. “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 conies, because of
the hailstorm ….”
(a) What help has he asked for?
(b) Why did he need help?
(c) Why did Lencho write a letter to God?
(d) Why were Lencho and his family in distress?
Extra Questions (Short)
1. Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?
2. How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?
3. What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?
4. What impression do you form about the postmaster after reading the story?
5. Why was Lencho angry? What did he do?
Long Question Answer (100-120 words)
1. It is not necessary that God personally takes up our causes. Sometimes God works
through ordinary human beings. Elaborate.
2. Show Lencho’s faith and confidence in God with examples from the lesson.
