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Thinking about the Text

Quesction : 1

1. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Wich sentences in the story tell you this? 2. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter 'God'?

3.    Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not?

4.    Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money? What is the irony in the situation? (Remember that the irony of a situation is an unexpected aspect of it. An ironic situation is strange or amusing because it is the opposite of what is expected.)

5.    Are there people like Lencho in the real world? What kind of a person would you say he is? You

May select appropriate words from the box to answer the 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:

1.    Lencho has complete faith in God as he is believed that God knows everything and helps us in our problems. There are few sentences which show this.

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 of 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 d 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.

2.    At first the postmaster found it funny to read a letter that was addressed to God. But eventually he was completely moved by it. He wanted to keep Lencho' s faith in God alive and firm. He decided to send money to Lencho in name of God. He gathered money with the help of his post office employees and friends, and gave his part of salary on behalf of God and signed the letter 'God' so that Lencho' s faith does not get shaken.

3.    Lencho did not try to find out who had sent the money to him because he had complete faith in God and never suspected his presence. He could not believe that it could be anybody else other than God who would send him the money.

His faith in God was so strong that he believed that God had sent money to him for his help in his problem.

4.    Lencho thinks that the post office employees have taken the rest of the money as he had demanded a hundred pesos from God and in the letter there was only seventy pesos and God could never make such a mistake. So, he assumed that they have stolen the money.

The irony in this situation is that Lencho suspects those people who helped him in his problem and tried to keep his faith alive in God.

5. It is almost impossible to find a person like Lencho as he is an unquestioning and naive kind of person. He is not stupid if he doesn't know who has sent him money or a letter will reach God without any address. It is Lencho's faith in God. In real world, people are selfish and greedy an d Lencho is totally lovable and different.

6. Conflict between Humans and Nature: The conflict between humans and nature is illustrated by the demolition of Lencho' s crop field by the hailstorm as Lencho expected a good rain to have good harvest as that was the only hope he had for earning. He was an ox of animal. He worked so hard to feed his family, but nature turned violent and destroyed everything.

Conflict between Humans and Humans: The story illustrated another conflict, between humans themselves as Lencho blamed the employees of post office for taking away some amount of money. The postmaster, his friends and staff decided to give Lencho money as an act of charity that he demanded from God although they didn't know Lencho. He called them "a bunch of crook". This shows that man does not have faith in other man, thereby giving rise to this conflict.