Chapter 1 A Letter to God | class 10th english | First Flight Important Questions

Class 10 English Chapter 1 A Letter to God Important Questions

Short Type Answer Questions

Question 1. Who was Lencho? What were his main problems? 

Answer: Lencho was a hardworking farmer, who lived on the crest of a low hill. Due to the hailstorm his crops were destroyed, so he needed money to sow his field again and support his family. These were the main problems of Lencho.

Question 2. Give a brief description of the view from Lencho’s house?

Answer: Lencho’s house was situated on the crest of a low hill and it was the only one in the valley. One could easily see the river and the field of ripe corn from here.

Question 3. What did Lencho compare the raindrops to and why?

Answer: Lencho compared the raindrops to new coins because the crop needed the rain badly and it was the sign of good harvest. Good harvest meant prosperity for Lencho as he needed the money to fulfil his basic needs.

Question 4. Why did Lencho write a letter to God?

Answer: When.Lencho’s crops were completely destroyed by the hailstorm, he wrote a letter to God because he was the only hope in his despair. Lencho asked him to send hundred pesos to sow his field again and support his family.

Question 5. Why and how did the postmaster help Lencho?

Answer: The postmaster was determined to help Lencho. He did not want Lencho’s faith in God to be shaken so he asked his employees and friends to help Lencho. He also contributed a part of his salary for this act of charity.

Question 6. How much money did Lencho need? How much did he get?

Answer: Lencho got seventy pesos. He was angry at the difference as he needed hundred pesos to sow the crops again and to support his family till the next harvest.

Question 7. Why did Lencho not want the money to be sent through mail? 

Answer: Lencho wrote in his second letter that he received only seventy pesos but he needed a hundred pesos. He requested God not to send rest of the money by post since the post office employees were a bunch of crooks and would steal the money.

Question 8. Do you think that Lencho was right to call the post office employees a bunch of crooks? Why or why not?

Answer: Lencho called the post office employees a bunch of crooks as he did not get full money that he had demanded. He could not believe that God had sent him any less money so he doubted these people. But he was not right to call them a bunch of crooks.

Question 9. How was Lencho sure that it was going to rain?

Answer: Lencho knew his fields intimately and he could predict the weather by looking at the sky. His experienced eyes saw clouds and he predicted rain.

Question 10. What promised a good harvest?

Answer: Lencho felt that the field of ripe corn dotted with flowers always promised a good harvest. That is why he was anticipating a good harvest.

Question 11. How did Lencho regard his field? Why?

Answer: When it started raining Lencho regarded his field with satisfaction. He was happy to see his crop draped in a curtain of rain. He hoped to reap a good harvest.

Question 12. Why was Lencho’s soul filled with sorrow?

Answer: The hail and hailstones rained on the valley for an hour. It had left the field totally covered with snow. The crop was completely destroyed. It made Lencho’s soul filled with sorrow.

Question 13. Why was the family not really upset?

Answer: Though Lencho’s family was facing ruin, yet they were not really upset. It was because having immense faith in God, they were confident that God would help them.

Question 14. Why did the postmaster send a reply to Lencho’s first letter addressed to God?

Answer: The postmaster “was a generous and amiable man. He was impressed by Lencho’s firm faith in God. To sustain that faith, the postmaster sent a reply to Lencho.

Question 15. Why was Lencho angry when he received the letter?

Answer: The postmaster could raise only 70 pesos which he sent to Lencho, supposedly from God. Lencho was angry to find 30 pesos less than the amount he asked for. He was angry because he thought the post office employees had kept 30 pesos sent to him by God.

Question 16. Do you think the post-office employees were ‘a bunch of crooks’?

Answer: No, they were kind, generous and helpful persons. The postmaster contributed a part of his salary and motivated his friends and colleagues for a charitable cause. So they were not a bunch of crooks.

Question 17. How would you describe Lencho?

Answer: Lencho was a simple, naive and a hard-working farmer. He was not only energetic, he had full faith in God also. He became a victim of natural calamity, befit God helped him indirectly.

Question 18. Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’?

Answer: Lencho said that the raindrops were like new coins. It was because the raindrops could cause a good harvest that his field needed most. Thus he would get a rich crop. Further the raindrops had a brightness like new coins.

Question 19. How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields?

Answer: The rain changed into heavy hailstone. In no time the whole valley was covered with hailstones. His fields became white as if covered with salt. His com was totally destroyed.

Question 20. What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped?

Answer: When the hail stopped, Lencho’s soul was filled with sadness. He was very much troubled. His com was totally destroyed. He said, “the hail has left nothing. This year we will have no com. We will all go hungry”.

Question 21. What made Lencho angry?

Answer: Lencho was angry on counting the money since it was less than the amount he had asked for. He had deep faith that God could neither make a mistake nor could deny what was requested.

Question 22. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter “God”?

Answer: The postmaster was a very generous fellow. In order not to shake Lencho’s faith in God, he collected money and sent it to Lencho. The postmaster signed the letter “God”, lest Lencho should think that the money had not been sent by God.

Long Answer Type Questions

Question 1. Who was Lencho and what circumstances forced him to write a letter to God?

Answer: Lencho was a hardworking farmer who lived with his family on a crest of a low hill. He was very caring and God loving man. Though, he was a farmer he could read and write. Lencho eagerly waited for the rainfall in order to get good harvest and he became happy when it came. But the pleasing rain changed into hailstorm and destroyed his crop.
He became sad and was worried about his family as they might remain hungry that year. His last hope was the help from God as he had complete faith in him. Hence, he wrote a letter to God asking him to send hundred pesos to survive and to reharvest.

Question 2. Give a character-sketch of Lencho.

Answer: Lencho was a simple man and a hardworking farmer. He worked as an ox in his field. Lencho’s entire crops were badly destroyed by the hailstorm. So, he became very sad as he was worried about his family. He was 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. Lencho was an innocent atheist who didn’t know that there was no such living person as God who could send him money. He had blind faith in God and sought solution of his problem’Trom God only.

Question 3. Sketch the character of the postmaster in the story ‘A Letter to God”.
(or)
How do you like, the character of the postmaster in the story ‘A Letter to God?” Give reason for your answer.

Answer: The postmaster was a fat and friendly fellow. He was a sensible human being. He first laughed looking at the letter which had a strange address. But soon he became serious. He was surprised at the faith that Lencho had in God. He wanted his faith not 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.

Question 4. How did the postmaster and post office employees help Lencho? How did he react to their help?

Answer: The Postmaster and post office employees were very generous as they contributed for the act of charity. First they laughed when they saw Lencho’s letter to God, but soon they were impressed by his faith in God. They decided to send some money to Lencho so that his faith in God does not get shaken. They collected seventy pesos and sent it to Lencho.

When Lencho got the envelope and opened it to count money, he became angry. He again wrote a letter to God demanding the remaining thirty pesos. He thought that post office employees had taken away the remaining money and called them a bunch of crooks, which was not justified at all as they were the people who had helped him. But it shows his innocence and firm faith in God.

Question 5. How did the hailstones affect Lencho’s field? What was Lencho’s only hope?

Answer: Lencho, a hardworking farmer, worked like an ox for a good harvest, depended completely on his fields to  take care of his family. He expected a good harvest that year. He needed a downpour for the crops to ripe, but the rain followed by hailstorm completely destroyed the crops.

It made him sad. He was worried for his family as he loved them so much. But Lencho had firm faith in God and believed that nobody died of hunger. So, he decided to seek help from God. He wrote a letter to God and asked him for a hundred pesos to survive and to sow new crop.

Question 6. “Humanity still exists”, this is what we get to know after reading A letter to God’ in which firm faith in God of a poor farmer and helpfulness of the post office employees are aptly depicted thought. Write a paragraph on the values in it, in about 80-100 words. Give the paragraph a suitable title. 

Answer: Existence of Humanity
After reading ‘A letter to God’, our faith in humanity stirs for strong. We learn from the story that there still are people who help others without any self interest. The postmaster and the post office employees lay an example for everyone of us to be kind. Though they all laughed at his letter, they were really moved by the grip of faith Lencho had in God. The way they all decided to help the stranger in his hard times restores our faith in the existence of humanity and motivates us to be a noble and kind person.

Question 7. Describe Lencho’s qualities in light of his faith in God. Do you have faith in God like Lencho? Was Lencho’s reaction towards post office employees right? 

Answer: Lencho was a poor farmer who totally depended on the harvest to survive and fulfil basic needs of his family. Once his crops were destroyed due to heavy rainfall and hailstones and he was afraid to think how his family would survive. He believed that God would help him in this plight. He had firm faith in God, he believed that God would not let him be hungry.
Now-a-days faith in God like Lencho is almost impossible and unseen. People are very much aware that nobody is willing to help others without any self interest. Lencho’s reaction towards post office employees was not right or justified but it was just because of his innocence as he could not believe that God had done such a mistake. It were only the post office employees who had stolen money according to him.