Ch- 1- Letter to God

Short Answers
Q1.What were Lencho's feelings when rain turned to hailstorm?
Ans. Lencho had prayed for rains for a long time. When came it came with a furious
hailstorm which lasted long and devastated his crop of corn. His earlier delight changed to
misery and mortification as all his effort and time had proved to be in vain.
Q2. Lencho was crestfallen when the rain turned to hailstorm . Comment?
Ans. Lencho and his family was totally dependent on the crop of corns. But, unfortunately, it
was destroyed by the rain which later turned into hailstorm. After this, Lencho and his
family has nothing left to eat and had no money to buy anything for their survival. So Lencho
was crestfallen when the hailstorm destroyed the whole crops.

Long Answers
1. There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature, and between
humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
Ans. In the initial part of the story, the episode of a much awaited downpour turning into a
hailstorm shows the conflict between man and nature. When rain comes Lencho is ecstatic,
dreaming about happy days ahead. But after sometime, Lencho feels sad and gloomy when
rain turns into hail. He curses the hailstorm. It seems that nature and Lencho want different
things. In the latter part of the story, when Lencho blames the post office employees for
stealing the part of the money, it becomes the cause of conflict between humans. One can
imagine what the postmaster must have gone through when he read the second letter in
which Lencho expressed his suspicion and anger towards the post office employees. It is
ironical and tragic that the best intentions of these good people came to nothing because of
Lencho’s native nature.
2. The story questions the popular belief that goodness is always rewarded. Discuss with
reference to the story.
Ans. The story questions the belief that goodness always rewarded. The truth of this
observation in
amply substantiated by G.L. Fuentes through the character of the postmaster. The
postmaster proves
to be a truly sensitive and generous person. His first reaction to Lencho's letter to God is of
amusement
but later he can't help appreciating the simple and deep, albeit, naïve faith of the poor
farmer. He even goes out of his way to help Lencho by collecting from his subordinates 70
pesos that Lencho had
requested from God. However the postmaster's Read good deed never came to the
knowledge of Lencho Quite ironically Lencho, in his second letter to God, expressed his
suspicion about the honesty of the post office employees, the postmaster included, and
begged God not to route the money through them. Unfortunately, the kindness and
generosity of the postmaster's efforts remained unknown and unappreciated by Lencho.
Thus it seems that life is quite unpredictable and good deeds, contrary to man's expectation,
may even go unrewarded.
Read the following passages and answer the following questions:
1.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.

(a) What happened to the rain suddenly?

(b) ‘The frozen pearls’ refers to which thing in the paragraph.
(c) Find the similar meaning-of ‘contented’ in the paragraph.
(d) Find from the passage a word which means ‘to take after’.

Answer:
(a) The rain suddenly changed into hailstones.
(b) ‘The frozen pearls’ refers to hailstones.
(c) The word is ‘Satisfied’.
(d) The word is ‘Resemble’.

2. 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.’
(a) Why did no leaf remain on the trees?
(b) How did Lencho feel after the storm?
(c) What was the major effect of the hailstorm on the field?
(d) What made Lencho sad?
Ans. (a) A hailstorm had struck, leaving the field bare.
(b) Lencho was utterly unhappy and distressed.
(c) The corn was totally destroyed.
(d) He was left with no corn to sow and feed his family.

Give a character sketch of Lencho.

Ans – A Hardworking Farmer – Lencho was a simple man and a hardworking farmer. He
worked like an ox in his field.

Love For Family – Lencho’s entire crop was badly destroyed by the hailstorm. So, he became
very sad as he was worried about his family.

An Optimistic Person – Although his only source of living was taken away, he didn’t lose
hope. He had his last hope in God. He was confident that God would help him in his distress.

An Innocent Man – Lencho didn’t know that there was no such living person as God who
could send him money, which shows his innocence.

Strong Believe in God – Lencho had firm faith in God as he sought help from God when his
crop was destroyed. He wrote Him to send a hundred pesos. But when he received seventy
pesos, he called the post-office employees a bunch of cooks. He rewrote a letter to God
from the remaining thirty pesos, which shows his firm faith in God.
Character sketch of Postmaster
The postmaster was a fat and amiable fellow. He was a sensible and a compassionate
human being who was amazed by the depth of faith in God that is shown by Lencho.
Although at first he was amused by Lencho’s letter to God, he became serious and wanted
to help Lencho because he didn’t want his faith to be shaken.
The postmaster himself gave a part of his salary and also requested his employees and a few
friends to contribute for charity. He felt happy and satisfied when Lencho received the
money. This shows that he was a kind and empathetic person as well. He loved to help
others.

Poem- Dust of Snow- Poet- Robert Frost

About the poem
The poem “Dust of Snow” by Robert Frost is a simple and short poem, yet with a deeper and
larger meaning. The poet explains how an act as petty as experiencing snow on one’s body can
brighten one’s day up. The poem conveys the message that nothing in life is small. Even trivial
things can bring positive changes in our life.

Read the extract given below carefully and answer the questions that follow:
The way a crow

Shook down on
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.
(a) What do the ‘crow’ and ‘hemlock’ symbolise?
(b) The mood of the poet changed because___________ .
(c) What does the poet mean when he says and saved some part of the day?
(d) Who shook the dust of snow?
Ans. (a) The ‘crow’ symbolises ‘joy’ and the ‘hemlock’ tree symbolises ‘sorrow’.
(b) He saw a crow sitting on a hemlock tree shook off the dust of snow on him. Thus, the
falling of dust of snow changed his mood.
(c) The poet has saved some part of the day as he did not waste the time in repenting and
regretting.
(d) A crow shook the dust of snow.
Question Answers
1.How has the poet observed nature in the poem ‘Dust of Snow’
Answer: The poet has observed nature as a positive medium of change for him. The poet
had been the sorrowful and depressive mood in the poem. But then the way a crow shook
snow dust off, it changed his mood. Nature gave him the inspiration to behave in a positive
manner.
2.What is the underlying message for us in our hectic life with reference to the poem,
‘Dust of Snow’?
Or
What is the central idea of the poem ‘Dust of Snow’?
Or
What does the poet want to convey through the poem ‘Dust of Snow’?
Answer: In the poem ‘Dust of Snow’, the poet wants to convey that sometimes certain
moments or actions which are simple have larger significance. They can change the mood or
life of a person. The way a crow shakes down dust of snow on the poet inspires and gives
him the idea to shake off his depressive thoughts, become cheerful and do something
useful.
3.The Crow’ and the ‘hemlock tree’ are generally considered to be inauspicious and
ominous symbols. Does the poet use them so?
Answer: ‘The Crow’ and ‘the hemlock tree’, no doubt, don’t represent cheerfulness or
brightness. Both of them are generally considered to be inauspicious. But ‘the crow’ in the
poem causes the dust of snowfall on the poet. This leads to the sudden change of mood in
the poet. The feeling of cheerfulness replaces the feeling of regret. Similarly, the hemlock
tree is the tree under which the poet is standing and experiencing the change of his mood.
4.What is the message that Robert Frost wants to convey to the readers in the poem ‘Dust
of snow’?
Answer: Robert Frost gives quite a positive message to the readers. Depression and
hopelessness do cloud our hearts, spirits and moods. However, there is a silver-lining
beyond every cloud. The poet had given up all hopes and declared that the whole day would
go waste. Suddenly, the falling of fine dust of snow on him brings a sudden change in his
mood. Cheerfulness replaces the feeling of regret.

Poem- Fire and Ice

Robert Frost’s poem “Fire and Ice” expresses the profound idea that the world would end in
either of two ways, either by ice or fire. Both the components are compared with self-destructing
human emotions: hatred and desire. The poem, very artistically, underpins the philosophy that
we let our emotions rule us and if don’t control them they will surely destroy everything around
us.

Vocabulary words

Desire– a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen
Favour- approval, support
Perish- die
Suffice- be sufficient

Summary

Robert Frost’s poem “Fire and Ice” is a strong symbolic poem where the fire is used as the
emotion of desire and ice, that of hatred. He has used the idea of two groups who have their own
possible explanation for the end of the world. One is of the opinion that fire alone can destroy
each and every possibility of life on Earth while the other thinks that if ice as a result of extremely
low temperatures could cover the earth’s surface, it would lead to the end of the world. Both the
components are compared with self-destructing human emotions: desire and hatred. The poet is
original of the opinion that he has been very closely associated with the “fiery desires” and
considers it capable of bringing human beings on the verge of destruction. Thus, he considers
fire as more competent for destruction. But then he thinks that “icy hatred” is just as capable of
ruining humans, though slowly and steadily. Therefore, if Earth was to end twice, ice would be
just as good as fire. If a fire would lead to rapid destruction, ice would lead to silent damage.
Similarly, if the fire is pure passion, ice is pure reason.

1. There are many ideas about how the world will ‘end’. Do you think the world will end
some day? Have you ever thought what would happen if the sun got so hot that it ‘burst’,
or grew colder and colder?
A. Unfortunately, the world is going to end one day and there is nothing we can do about it.
There are many ideas as to how it will end but one can’t say surely. The reason that life exists
only on Earth is that the circumstances and temperature is apt to make it possible. If the sun gets
so hot one day that it is at the verge of bursting, it would lead to rapid destruction as there would
be fire everywhere. Conversely, if it grows colder and colder, there will be ice everywhere on
Earth and life in any form would not be able to sustain at such low temperatures.