TEACHGYAN • CLASS 10 ENGLISH • FIRST FLIGHT

A Letter to God

Complete NCERT-focused chapter resource • Explanation • Analysis • Vocabulary • Competency Practice

📖 1. Chapter at a Glance

Author: G. L. Fuentes

The story centres on Lencho, a poor farmer whose entire crop depends on rain. A hailstorm destroys his field. His strong faith leads him to write a letter to God asking for money to recover. The postmaster, moved by Lencho’s faith, collects money from his employees and sends it to him. Lencho receives less than he requested and assumes that the post-office employees must have stolen the balance.

🌾 2. Setting and Opening

Lencho lives in a house on the crest of a low hill. His field is ready for harvest and he watches the sky carefully because rain is essential for his crop. The story immediately establishes the farmer’s dependence on nature and the uncertainty of agricultural life.

🌧️ 3. Rain Turns into Disaster

At first Lencho welcomes the rain. He compares the large drops to new coins because rain promises a good harvest and therefore income. The weather suddenly changes: hailstones begin falling and continue for about an hour. The crop is completely destroyed. The contrast between rain as a blessing and hail as a disaster drives the plot.

✉️ 4. Lencho Writes to God

After the destruction, Lencho does not lose faith. He believes that God sees everything and will help him. He writes a letter asking God to send him one hundred pesos so that he can sow his field again and survive until the next harvest.

🏤 5. The Postmaster’s Response

The postmaster first finds the letter amusing, but he is deeply impressed by Lencho’s faith. He does not want Lencho’s faith to be shaken. He collects money from his employees and contributes part of his own salary. They manage to send Lencho seventy pesos.

💭 6. The Ending and Irony

Lencho is not surprised to receive money because he completely trusts God. However, he becomes angry when he counts only seventy pesos. He believes God must have sent the full amount and concludes that the people at the post office stole the remaining thirty pesos.

This ending creates irony: the post-office employees are actually the people who tried to help Lencho, but Lencho suspects them because he cannot imagine that his divine help could have been incomplete.

👨‍🌾 7. Character Analysis – Lencho

• Hardworking: His crop is central to his livelihood.
• Faithful: He has complete confidence in God.
• Simple and trusting: He interprets events according to his faith.
• Determined: He immediately thinks about sowing again after the disaster.
• Ironically suspicious: He trusts God completely but suspects the people who actually helped him.

📮 8. Character Analysis – The Postmaster

The postmaster is compassionate and imaginative. Instead of dismissing Lencho’s letter, he decides to protect the farmer’s faith. His actions demonstrate generosity and human kindness.

🎯 9. Central Ideas and Themes

Faith

Lencho’s absolute faith is the central force of the story.

Human Kindness

The postmaster and his employees respond to another person’s suffering with practical help.

Irony

The person who receives help misinterprets the source of that help.

Nature and Rural Life

The farmer’s livelihood is vulnerable to weather and agricultural uncertainty.

📚 10. Important Vocabulary

Word	Meaning	Context
crest	top or highest part	Lencho’s house
downpour	heavy rainfall	the rain
amiable	friendly and pleasant	postmaster
solace	comfort in distress	faith after loss

🔍 11. Literary Devices

• Irony: Lencho suspects the very people who helped him.
• Metaphor: Rain is associated with coins because it represents economic security to Lencho.
• Imagery: Descriptions of rain and hail help readers visualise the changing weather.
• Contrast: Rain first brings hope and then hail brings destruction.

🧠 12. NCERT-Style Understanding Questions

1. Why did Lencho need rain?
2. Why did he compare raindrops to new coins?
3. What happened to Lencho’s crop?
4. Why did Lencho write a letter to God?
5. Why did the postmaster decide to answer the letter?
6. Why did Lencho become angry after receiving the money?
7. Why is the ending ironic?

📊 13. Competency-Based Case Study

🔥 14. HOTS

1. Is Lencho’s faith presented only positively? Give evidence from the ending.
2. Why is the postmaster’s kindness important to the story even though Lencho does not recognise it?
3. What would change if Lencho had known the true source of the money?
4. How does the story balance realism with the idea of faith?

✍️ 15. Board-Style Questions

1. 2 marks: Why did Lencho call the rain “new coins”?
2. 3 marks: Describe the postmaster’s response to Lencho’s letter.
3. 3 marks: Explain Lencho’s faith in God with two incidents.
4. 5 marks: “The story presents faith, kindness and irony together.” Discuss with reference to the ending.
5. 5 marks: Compare Lencho’s attitude towards God with his attitude towards the post-office employees.

🧩 16. MCQs

1. Lencho’s livelihood mainly depends on: farming.
2. The crop was destroyed by: hail.
3. Lencho asked God for: 100 pesos.
4. The postmaster arranged: 70 pesos.
5. The major literary effect at the end is: irony.

📝 17. Practice Worksheet

1. Arrange six major events of the story in chronological order.
2. Match five vocabulary words with their meanings.
3. Write a 60-word explanation of the irony in the ending.
4. Write a character sketch of Lencho in 100–120 words.
5. Write a 120–150 word analytical answer on faith and human kindness.
6. Answer one unseen case-based question using evidence from the story.

🎯 18. One-Minute Revision

Lencho’s crop → hail destroys it → Lencho writes to God → postmaster collects money → 70 pesos are sent → Lencho suspects the post-office employees → irony.

🏆 Mastery Checklist

• ☐ I can retell the plot in sequence.
• ☐ I can explain Lencho and the postmaster.
• ☐ I can identify irony and other literary techniques.
• ☐ I can answer competency questions with evidence.
• ☐ I can write a structured 5-mark answer.

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