class 10 General English Book Chapter 1 A Letter to God - G.L.Fuentes

BEFORE   YOU   READ

They say faith can move mountains. But what should we put our faith in? This is the question this story delicately poses.

    Lencho is a farmer who writes a letter to God when his crops are ruined, asking for a hundred pesos. Does Lencho’s letter reach God? Does God send him the money? Think what your answers to these questions would be, and guess how the story continues, before you begin to read it.

Activity

1.    One of the cheapest ways to send money to someone is through the post office. Have you ever sent or received money in this way? Here’s what you have to do. (As you read the instructions, discuss with your teacher in class the meanings of these words: counter, counter clerk, appropriate, acknowledgement, counterfoil, record.  Consult  a  dictionary  if  necessary.  Are  there  words corresponding to these English words in your languages?)

2.    Fill out the Money Order form given below using the clues that follow the form.

•   Think about who you will send the money to, and how much.

You might want to send money for a magazine subscription, or to a relative or a friend.

•   Or you may fill out the form with yourself as sender and your partner as receiver.  Use a part of your pocket money, and submit the form at the nearest post office to see how it’s done. See how your partner enjoys getting money by post!

•   Notice that the form has three parts — the Money Order form, the part for official use and the Acknowledgement. What would you write in the ‘Space for Communication’?

Now complete the following statements.

(i)  In addition to the sender, the form has to be signed by the _______________

(ii)  The ‘Acknowledgement’ section of the form is sent back by the  post  office  to  the _______________  after  the signs it.

(iii)  The  ‘Space  for  Communication’  section  is  used for _______________

(iv)  The  form  has  six  sections.  The  sender  needs  to  fill _______________ out sections  and  the receiver _______________

THE  house — the only one in the entire valley — sat on  the  crest  of  a  low  hill.  From  this  height  one could  see  the  river  and  the  field  of  ripe  corn  dotted with  the  flowers  that  always  promised  a  good harvest.  The  only  thing  the  earth  needed  was  a downpour  or  at  least  a  shower.  Throughout  the morning  Lencho  —  who  knew  his  fields  intimately —  had  done  nothing  else  but  see  the  sky  towards the  north-east.

    “Now we’re really going to get some water, woman.” The  woman  who  was  preparing  supper,  replied, “Yes,  God  willing”.  The  older  boys  were  working  in the  field,  while  the  smaller  ones  were  playing  near the house until the woman called to them all, “Come for  dinner”.  It  was  during  the  meal  that,  just  as Lencho  had  predicted,  big  drops  of  rain  began  to fall.  In  the  north-east  huge  mountains  of  clouds could  be  seen  approaching.  The  air  was  fresh  and sweet.  The  man  went  out  for  no  other  reason  than to  have  the  pleasure  of  feeling  the  rain  on  his  body, and  when  he  returned  he  exclaimed,  ‘‘These  aren’t raindrops  falling  from  the  sky,  they  are  new  coins. The big drops are ten cent pieces and the little ones are  fives.’’

    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.

    ‘‘It’s  really  getting  bad  now,’’  exclaimed  the  man. “I  hope  it  passes  quickly.”  It  did  not  pass  quickly. For  an  hour  the  hail  rained  on  the  house,  the garden,  the  hillside,  the  cornfield,  on  the  whole valley.  The  field  was  white,  as  if  covered  with  salt.

    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.  The  hail  has  left  nothing. This  year  we  will  have  no  corn.’’

That  night  was  a  sorrowful  one. 

“All  our  work,  for  nothing.”

‘‘There’s  no  one  who  can  help  us.” 

“We’ll  all  go  hungry  this  year.”

Oral  Comprehension  Check

1.    What did Lencho hope for?

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

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

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

 

    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.

    “Don’t  be  so  upset,  even  though  this  seems  like a  total  loss.  Remember,  no  one  dies  of  hunger.”

    “That’s  what  they  say:  no  one  dies  of  hunger.” 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.  Lencho  was  an  ox  of  a man,  working  like  an  animal  in  the  fields,  but  still he  knew  how  to  write.  The  following  Sunday,  at daybreak,  he  began  to  write  a  letter  which  he himself  would  carry  to  town  and  place  in  the  mail. It  was  nothing  less  than  a  letter  to  God.

    “God,” he wrote, “if you don’t help me, my family and  I  will  go  hungry  this  year.  I  need  a  hundred pesos  in  order  to  sow  my  field  again  and  to  live until  the  crop  comes,  because  the  hailstorm....”

    He wrote ‘To God’ on the envelope, put the letter inside  and,  still  troubled,  went  to  town.  At  the  post office,  he  placed  a  stamp  on  the  letter  and  dropped it  into  the  mailbox.

    One  of  the  employees,  who  was  a  postman  and also  helped  at  the  post  office,  went  to  his  boss laughing heartily and showed him the letter to God. Never  in  his  career  as  a  postman  had  he  known that  address.  The  postmaster  —  a  fat,  amiable fellow  —  also  broke  out  laughing,  but  almost immediately  he  turned  serious  and,  tapping  the letter on his desk, commented, “What faith! I wish I had  the  faith  of  the  man  who  wrote  this  letter. Starting  up  a  correspondence  with  God!”

    So, in order not to shake the writer’s faith in God, the  postmaster  came  up  with  an  idea:  answer  the letter.  But  when  he  opened  it,  it  was  evident  that  to answer  it  he  needed  something  more  than  goodwill, ink  and  paper.  But  he  stuck  to  his  resolution:  he asked for money from his employees, he himself gave part  of  his  salary,  and  several  friends  of  his  were obliged  to  give  something  ‘for  an  act  of  charity’.

    It  was  impossible  for  him  to  gather  together  the hundred  pesos,  so  he  was  able  to  send  the  farmer only a little more than half. He put the money in an envelope  addressed  to  Lencho  and  with  it  a  letter containing  only  a  single  word  as  a  signature:  God.

Oral  Comprehension  Check

1.    Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do?

2.    Who read the letter?

3.    What did the postmaster do then?

    The  following  Sunday  Lencho  came  a  bit  earlier than  usual  to  ask  if  there  was  a  letter  for  him. It  was  the  postman  himself  who  handed  the  letter to  him  while  the  postmaster,  experiencing  the 

contentment  of  a  man  who  has    performed  a  good deed,  looked  on  from  his  office.

    Lencho  showed  not  the  slightest  surprise  on seeing  the  money;  such  was  his  confidence  —  but he  became  angry  when  he  counted  the  money.  God could  not  have  made  a  mistake,  nor  could  he  have denied  Lencho  what  he  had  requested.

    Immediately,  Lencho  went  up  to  the  window  to ask  for  paper  and  ink.  On  the  public  writing-table, he started to write, with much wrinkling of his brow, caused  by  the  effort  he  had  to  make  to  express  his ideas.  When  he  finished,  he  went  to  the  window  to buy  a  stamp  which  he  licked  and  then  affixed  to the  envelope  with  a  blow  of  his  fist.  The  moment the  letter  fell  into  the  mailbox  the  postmaster  went to  open  it.  It  said:  “God:  Of  the  money  that  I  asked for,  only  seventy  pesos  reached  me.  Send  me  the rest,  since  I  need  it  very  much.  But  don’t  send  it  to me   through   the   mail   because   the   post   office employees  are  a  bunch  of  crooks.  Lencho.”

Oral  Comprehension  Check

1.    Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it?

2.    What made him angry?

Thinking about the Text

1. Who  does  Lencho  have  complete  faith  in?  Which  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.

greedy naive        stupid        ungrateful selfish comical        unquestioning

6. There  are  two  kinds  of  conflict  in  the  story:  between  humans  and  nature, and  between  humans  themselves.  How  are  these  conflicts  illustrated?

 Thinking about Language

I. Look  at  the  following  sentence  from  the  story.

    Suddenly a strong wind began to blow and along with the rain very large hailstones  began  to  fall.

‘Hailstones’  are  small  balls  of  ice  that  fall  like  rain.  A  storm  in  which hailstones  fall  is  a  ‘hailstorm’.  You  know  that  a  storm  is  bad  weather  with strong  winds,  rain,  thunder  and  lightning.

There  are  different  names  in  different  parts  of  the  world  for  storms, depending  on  their  nature.  Can  you  match  the  names  in  the  box  with their descriptions below, and fill in the blanks? You may use a dictionary to  help  you.

gale, whirlwind,        cyclone, hurricane, tornado,        typhoon

1.    A  violent  tropical  storm  in  which  strong  winds  move  in  a  circle:

2.    An  extremely  strong  wind  :        a         

3.    A  violent  tropical  storm  with  very  strong  winds  :              p                     

4.    A  violent  storm  whose  centre  is  a  cloud  in  the  shape  of  a  funnel:  n               

5.    A violent storm with very strong winds, especially in the western Atlantic Ocean:              r                           

6.    A  very  strong  wind  that  moves  very  fast  in  a  spinning  movement  and causes  a  lot  of  damage:                          l                     

II. Notice  how  the  word  ‘hope’  is  used  in  these  sentences  from  the  story: 

    (a)   I  hope  it  (the  hailstorm)  passes  quickly.

    (b)   There  was  a  single  hope:  help  from  God.

In the first example, ‘hope’ is a verb which means you wish for something to happen. In the second example it is a noun meaning a chance for something to  happen. 

Match  the  sentences  in  Column  A  with  the  meanings  of  ‘hope’  in  Column  B. 

A

1.    Will you get the subjects you want to  study  in  college?

I hope so.

2.    I  hope  you  don’t  mind  my  saying this,  but  I  don’t  like  the  way  you are  arguing.

3.    This  discovery  will  give  new  hope

to  HIV/AIDS  sufferers.

4.    We were hoping against hope that the  judges  would  not  notice  our mistakes.

5.    I   called   early   in   the   hope   of speaking  to  her  before  she  went to  school.

6.    Just when everybody had given up hope,  the  fishermen  came  back, seven  days  after  the  cyclone.

 

B

–   a  feeling  that  something  good  will probably  happen

–   thinking  that  this  would  happen

(It may or may not have happened.)

–   stopped  believing  that  this  good thing  would  happen

–   wanting   something   to   happen

(and  thinking  it  quite  possible)

–   showing  concern  that  what  you say  should  not  offend  or  disturb the  other  person:  a  way  of  being polite

–   wishing  for  something  to  happen, although  this  is  very  unlikely 

III. Relative  Clauses

Look  at  these  sentences

(a)   All  morning  Lencho  —  who  knew  his  fields  intimately  —  looked  at the  sky.

(b)   The  woman,  who  was  preparing  supper,  replied,  “Yes,  God  willing.’’ The  italicised  parts  of  the  sentences  give  us  more  information  about  Lencho

and  the  woman.  We  call  them  relative  clauses.  Notice  that  they  begin  with

a relative pronoun who. Other common relative pronouns are whom, whose, and  which.

The  relative  clauses  in  (a)  and  (b)  above  are  called  non-defining,  because we  already  know  the  identity  of  the  person  they  describe.  Lencho  is  a particular  person,  and  there  is  a  particular  woman  he  speaks  to.  We  don’t need  the  information  in  the  relative  clause  to  pick  these  people  out  from  a larger  set.

A  non-defining  relative  clause  usually  has  a  comma  in  front  of  it  and  a comma  after  it  (some  writers  use  a  dash  (—)  instead,  as  in  the  story).  If  the relative  clause  comes  at  the  end,  we  just  put  a  full  stop.

Join  the  sentences  given  below  using  who,  whom,  whose,  which,  as suggested.

1. I often go to Mumbai. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India. (which)

2. My  mother  is  going  to  host  a  TV  show  on  cooking.  She  cooks  very well.  (who) 

3. These  sportspersons  are  going  to  meet  the  President.  Their  performance has  been  excellent.  (whose)

4. Lencho  prayed  to  God.  His  eyes  see  into  our  minds.  (whose)

5. This  man  cheated  me.  I  trusted  him.  (whom)

Sometimes  the  relative  pronoun  in  a  relative  clause  remains  ‘hidden’.  For example,  look  at  the  first  sentence  of  the  story:

    (a)   The house — the only one in the entire valley — sat on the crest of a low  hill.

We  can  rewrite  this  sentence  as:

    (b)   The  house  —  which  was  the  only  one  in  the  entire  valley  —  sat  on the  crest  of  a  low  hill.

In  (a),  the  relative  pronoun  which  and  the  verb  was  are  not  present.

IV. Using  Negatives  for  Emphasis

We  know  that  sentences  with  words  such  as  no,  not  or  nothing  show  the absence  of  something,  or  contradict  something.  For  example:

    (a)   This  year  we  will  have  no  corn.  (Corn  will  be  absent) 

    (b)   The  hail  has  left  nothing.  (Absence  of  a  crop)

    (c)   These  aren’t  raindrops  falling  from  the  sky,  they  are  new  coins. (Contradicts the common idea of what the drops of water falling from the  sky  are)

But  sometims  negative  words  are  used  just  to  emphasise  an  idea.  Look  at these  sentences  from  the  story:

    (d)   Lencho…had  done  nothing  else  but  see  the  sky  towards  the  north- east.  (He  had  done  only  this)

    (e)   The  man  went  out  for  no  other  reason  than  to  have  the  pleasure  of feeling  the  rain  on  his  body.  (He  had  only  this  reason)

    (f)   Lencho  showed  not  the  slightest  surprise  on  seeing  the  money. (He  showed  no  surprise  at  all)

Now  look  back  at  example  (c).  Notice  that  the  contradiction  in  fact  serves  to emphasise  the  value  or  usefulness  of  the  rain  to  the  farmer.

Find  sentences  in  the  story  with  negative  words,  which  express  the following  ideas  emphatically.

1.    The  trees  lost  all  their  leaves.

2.    The  letter  was  addressed  to  God  himself.

3.    The  postman  saw  this  address  for  the  first  time  in  his  career. 

V. Metaphors

The word metaphor comes from a Greek word meaning ‘transfer’. Metaphors compare  two  things  or  ideas:  a  quality  or  feature  of  one  thing  is  transferred to  another  thing.  Some  common  metaphors  are

•   the leg of the table: The leg supports our body. So the object that supports a  table  is  described  as  a  leg.

•   the  heart  of  the  city:  The  heart  is  an  important  organ  in  the  centre  of  our body.  So  this  word  is  used  to  describe  the  central  area  of  a  city.

In pairs, find metaphors from the story to complete the table below. Try to  say  what  qualities  are  being  compared.  One  has  been  done  for  you.

Object                       Metaphor                       Quality  or  Feature  Compared

Cloud                        Huge  mountains              The  mass  or  ‘hugeness’

of  clouds                              of  mountains

Raindrops

Hailstones

Locusts

An  epidemic  (a  disease)

that  spreads  very  rapidly

and  leaves  many  people  dead

An ox of a man

Speaking

Have  you  ever  been  in  great  difficulty,  and  felt  that  only  a  miracle  could help  you?  How  was  your  problem  solved?  Speak  about  this  in  class  with your  teacher. 

 Listening

Listen  to  the  letter  (given  under  ‘In  This  Lesson’)  read  out  by  your  teacher/on the  audio  tape.  As  you  listen  fill  in  the  table  given  below.

The  writer  apologises  (says  sorry)

because

The  writer  has  sent  this  to the  reader

The  writer  sent  it  in  the month  of

The  reason  for  not  writing earlier

Sarah  goes  to

Who  is  writing  to  whom?

Where  and  when  were  they

 last  together?

Writing

Lencho suffered first due to drought and then by floods. Our country is also facing such  situations  in  the  recent  years.  There  is  flood  and  there  is  drought.  There  is a  need  to  save  water  through  water  harvesting.  Design  a  poster  for  your  area  on how  to  save  water  during  summer  and  when  it  is  available  in  excess.

In This Lesson

WHAT WE HAVE DONE

•   Introduced students to the story that they are going to read.

•   Related a thought-provoking story about the nature of belief.

•   Helped  students,  through  an  interesting  activity,  to  understand  something  that happens in the story — how to send money using a money order.

•   Guided them through the reading activity by providing periodic comprehension checks as they read, and checked for holistic understanding at the end of the reading activity.

•   Provided interesting exercises to strengthen students’ grasp of the specific vocabulary found in the story, and also introduced them to related vocabulary. 

•   Explained specific areas of grammar — non-defining relative clauses and the use of negatives for emphasis — providing illustrations from the text, and exercises for practice.

•   Explained what metaphors are, and helped students identify metaphors in the text by providing clues.

•   Provided a context for authentic speaking.

•   Provided an interesting listening activity.

Given below is the passage for listening activity

Bhatt  House

256, Circuit Road

Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

25 January 2006

Dear Arti,

    How  are  you?  I’m  sorry  I  haven’t  written  for  a  very  long  time.  I  think  I  last sent you a birthday card in the month of September 2005.

    We  have  just  moved  house  (see  our  new  address  above).  This  is  our  new home.  Sarah  has  just  about  started  going  to  school.  We  have  admitted  her  to

‘Little Feet’ as this is very close to our new home.

    I’m sitting here by the window sill, writing to you. There is a slight drizzle outside and I’m reminded of the good times we had together at Bangalore last year.

Do write back. Love,

Jaya

WHAT   YOU   CAN   DO                                                            Before You Read: Encourage students to share their ideas about what will happen in the story.

Activity:  Before  filling  out  the  form,  get  the  students  to  read  through  the  form  and decide which parts they should fill out, and which parts will be filled in by the postal department.  Ask  a  few  students  to  volunteer  to  actually  send  a  money  order  (the amount need not be large) and share the experience with the rest of the class.

Reading: Break the text up into manageable chunks for reading (three paragraphs, for example),  and  encourage  students  to  read  silently,  on  their  own.  Give  them  enough time to read, and then discuss what they have read before going on to the next portion. Use the ‘Oral Comprehension Checks’ in the appropriate places, and use the ‘Thinking about the Text’ questions at the end of the passage to help them go beyond the text.

Grammar: After they have done the exercise, ask students to make their own sentences with non-defining relative clauses — for example, ‘Meena, who’s a very clever girl, is always  first  in  class.’  Or,  ‘Our  gardener,  who  knows  a  lot  about  plants,  loves  to  talk about  them.’

Speaking: Take the first turn — talk to the students about an instance from your own life, or from that of someone you know. 

Dust  of  Snow

The  way  a  crow 

Shook down on me 

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.

ROBERT  FROST 

Glossary

hemlock:  A  poisonous  plant  (tree)  with  small  white  flowers

rued:  held  in  regret

 Thinking about the Poem

This  poem  presents  a  moment  that  seems  simple,  but  has  a  larger  significance. [Compare  this  other  quotation  from  Robert  Frost:  “Always,  always  a  larger significance...  A  little  thing  touches  a  larger  thing.”)

1.    What  is  a  “dust  of  snow”?  What  does  the  poet  say  has  changed  his  mood?

How  has  the  poet’s  mood  changed?

2.    How  does  Frost  present  nature  in  this  poem?  The  following  questions  may help  you  to  think  of  an  answer.

    (i)   What  are  the  birds  that  are  usually  named  in  poems?  Do  you  think  a crow  is  often  mentioned  in  poems?  What  images  come  to  your  mind when  you  think  of  a  crow?

    (ii)   Again,  what  is  “a  hemlock  tree”?    Why  doesn’t  the  poet  write  about  a more  ‘beautiful’  tree  such  as  a  maple,  or  an  oak,  or  a  pine?

    (iii)   What  do  the  ‘crow’  and  ‘hemlock’  represent  —  joy  or  sorrow?  What  does the  dust  of  snow  that  the  crow  shakes  off  a  hemlock  tree  stand  for?

3.    Have  there  been  times  when  you  felt  depressed  or  hopeless?  Have  you experienced  a  similar  moment  that  changed  your  mood  that  day?

Fire  and  Ice

Some  say  the  world  will  end  in  fire

Some  say  in  ice.

From  what  I’ve  tasted  of  desire

I  hold  with  those  who  favour  fire.

But  if  it  had  to  perish  twice,

I  think  I  know  enough  of  hate 

To  say  that  for  destruction  ice 

Is  also  great

And  would  suffice.

ROBERT  FROST 

Glossary

perish:  die

suffice:  be  sufficient

 Thinking about the Poem

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?

2.    For  Frost,  what  do  ‘fire’  and  ‘ice’  stand  for?  Here  are  some  ideas:

greed                            avarice                 cruelty                        lust conflict                        fury                       intolerance               rigidity insensitivity              coldness              indifference              hatred

3.    What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? How does it help in bringing out the contrasting  ideas  in  the  poem?