Chapter 1 - A Letter to God
Writer of the story: G.L. FuentesThinking about the text:
Question 1: Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
Answer: Lencho has complete faith in God as he is instructed that God knows everything and helps us with our problems. There are few sentences which show this. They are:
• 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.
• All through the night, Lencho thought only of his one hope : the help from God, whose eyes, as he had been instructed, see everything, even what is deep in one’s conscience.
• “God”, he wrote, “if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this year”.
• He wrote ‘To God’ on the envelope, put the letter inside and still troubled, went to town.
• God could not have made a mistake, nor could he have denied Lencho what he had requested.
Question 2: Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’?
Answer: The postmaster read the letter that Lencho had written to God. He was amused at first, but immediately his amusement turned to awe at the amount of faith Lencho had in God. He did not want that faith to be shaken and so decided to help him by arranging the money required. He gathers money with the help of his post office employees and friends on behalf of God and signs the letter ‘God’ so that his faith remains strong.
Question 3: Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why / Why not?
Answer: Lencho believed in God completely and wrote a letter asking for financial help. He received a reply to his letter signed ‘God’. He did not try to find out who had sent him the money because he never suspected the presence of God and had complete faith in Him. He could not believe that it could be anybody else other that Him who would send him the money. His faith in God was so strong that he trusted God had sent him the money in times of his trouble.
Question 4: Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money? What is the irony in the situation?
Answer: Lencho received an envelope signed ‘Godʼ with 70 pesos in it. Lencho had actually requested God for 100 pesos and so he was extremely angry that he received only 70. He thought that the post office employees were responsible for the remaining 30 pesos and was sure that they were the ones who had swindled the missing amount. The irony in the situation is that Lencho suspected those people who had helped him in his troubled time and tried to keep his faith in God alive.
Question 5: Are there people like Lencho in the real world? What kind of a person would you say he is?
Answer: It is almost impossible to find a person like Lencho as he is an unquestioning and naive kind of individual. He is not stupid if he doesn’t know who had sent him the money or a letter will reach God without an address or not. It is Lencho’s faith in God. In the real world, people are selfish and greedy while Lencho is a totally lovable and different person.
Question 6: There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature, and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
Answer: There are two types of conflicts in the story that are described in a very practical manner.
→ Conflict between Human and Nature:
The conflict between humans and nature is illustrated by the destruction of Lencho’s crop by the hail storm. This is conflicting because, Lencho was expecting a good shower to have a good harvest as that was the only hope he had for his earning. He worked very hard to feed his family, but nature turned violent and destroyed everything.
→ Conflict between Humans and Humans:
The story also illustrates another conflict which is between humans themselves. It is so because the postmaster along with his friends and staff sent Lencho money that Lencho had demanded from God although they did not know him personally. When Lencho opened the envelope and counted the money, he was infuriated and blamed the post office employees for stealing away some part of the money. He called them ‘a bunch of crooksʼ. This shows that Man doesn't have faith in another man, thereby giving rise to conflicts.
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