📖 🌦️ ✉️
A Letter to God
Class 10 English | First Flight
Author: G. L. Fuentes
Chapter Notes Summary Literary Devices🌿 1. About the Author
G. L. Fuentes was a Mexican writer. The story is set in a Latin American countryside, where a farmer’s house stands on the crest of a hill overlooking a valley of ripe corn.
👥 2. Characters and Their Traits
🌾 Lencho
A hardworking farmer who works like an animal in the fields. He has complete faith in God and is sincere but rather innocent in his understanding of people.
📮 The Postmaster
A kind, friendly and generous man. He is deeply moved by Lencho’s faith and collects money to help him.
🤝 Post Office Employees
They contribute their own money to help Lencho. Ironically, Lencho later accuses them of stealing the missing money.
📝 3. Story Summary
🌧️ Hope and Joy
Lencho’s field of ripe corn needs rain. When raindrops begin to fall, he imagines that they are new coins. The large drops resemble ten-cent pieces, while the smaller ones resemble five-cent pieces.⛈️ The Disaster
A strong wind brings large hailstones. For about an hour, the hail destroys the house, garden, hillside and cornfield. The field turns white, as if covered with salt, and the crop is completely ruined.😔 Despair
Lencho realises that the hail has destroyed his livelihood. He fears that his family will have no corn that year and feels that all their hard work has been wasted.✉️ The Letter to God
Lencho has unwavering faith in God, whom he believes can see everything. He writes a letter asking God for 100 pesos so that he can sow his field again and support his family until the next harvest.❤️ The Postmaster’s Kindness
The postmaster reads Lencho’s letter and is impressed by his faith. He collects money from his employees and friends and contributes part of his own salary. Together, they raise a little more than half the requested amount, approximately 70 pesos, and send it to Lencho signed “God”.😮 The Ironic Ending
Lencho is not surprised to receive the money because he trusts God completely. However, he becomes angry when he finds only 70 pesos. He writes another letter asking God to send the remaining money, but not through the post office because he believes its employees are a bunch of crooks.💡 4. Themes and Messages
- Faith in God: Lencho’s complete faith gives him hope even after the destruction of his crop.
- Irony: The people who help Lencho are the very people he suspects of stealing his money.
- Selfless Kindness: The postmaster and his colleagues help a stranger without expecting anything in return.
- Human Nature: The story shows how kindness may go unrecognised when people judge others without evidence.
- Conflict: The story presents both man versus nature, through the hailstorm, and man versus man, through Lencho’s accusation.
✨ 5. Literary Devices
| Literary Device | Example | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Metaphor | “These aren’t raindrops falling from the sky, they are new coins.” | Raindrops are directly compared to coins. |
| Metaphor | “Huge mountains of clouds” | Clouds are described as mountains to suggest their enormous size. |
| Simile | “The field was white, as if covered with salt.” | The field’s whiteness is compared to salt using “as if”. |
| Personification | “The hail rained on the house.” | The expression presents hail as an active force striking the house. |
| Situational Irony | Lencho calls the helpers “a bunch of crooks”. | The people who help him are wrongly accused of stealing. |
🔑 6. Key Points for Revision
- Lencho asks God for 100 pesos after the hailstorm destroys his crop.
- The postmaster and others collect approximately 70 pesos for him.
- The money is sent in an envelope signed “God”.
- Lencho suspects the post office employees of taking the missing money.
- The central irony is that Lencho’s benefactors become villains in his eyes.
- The story highlights faith, kindness, innocence and the danger of judging others unfairly.
🎯 Exam Tip: While answering questions, explain both sides of the story: Lencho’s unquestioning faith in God and the postmaster’s selfless kindness. The irony in the ending is especially important.
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