Unit 1 Notes ENGLISH

Letter To God
Thinking about the Text

1.Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this?
Answer:
Lencho has complete faith in God as he is instructed that God knows everything and helps us
in our problems. There are few sentences which show this
2.Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter God?
Answer:
The postmaster sends money to Lencho in order to keep Lencho’s faith in God alive and firm
as he was completely moved by it.
When postmaster reads the letter of Lencho to God, he becomes serious and does not want
to shake his faith and decides to answer the letter. He gathers money with the help of his
post office employees and friends on behalf of God and signs the letter ‘God’ so that
Lencho’s faith does not get shaken.
3.Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why or why not?
Answer:
Lencho did not try to find out who had sent the money to him because he never suspected
the presence of God and had complete faith in God. He could not believe that it could be –
anybody else other than him who would send him the money.
His faith in God was so strong that he believed that he had sent money to him for his help in
his problem.
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).
Answer:
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 cannot make such a mistake. So, he assumes 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.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
Answer:
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 and Lencho is totally lovable and different.
6.There are two kinds of conflict in the story between humans and nature and
between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated?
Answer:
Conflict between Humans and Nature: The conflict between humans and nature is illustrated
by the destruction of Lencho’s crop by the hailstorm as Lencho was expecting a good rain to
have good harvest as that was the only hope he had for his earning. He worked so hard to
feed his family, but nature turned violent and destroyed everything.
Conflict between Humans and Humans: The story also illustrated another conflict, between
humans themselves as the postmaster along with his friends and staff sent Lencho money
that Lencho demanded from God although they didn’t know Lencho. Lencho blamed them
for taking away some amount of money. He called them “a bunch of crooks”. This shows
that man does not have faith in other man, thereby giving rise to this conflict.
Dust Of Snow ( poem)
Thinking about the Poem

(Page 14)
1.What is a “dust of snow”? What does the poet say has changed his mood? How has
the poet’s mood changed?
Answer:
The ‘dust of snow’ means the fine particles or flakes of snow. The sudden shower in the form
of the dust of snow changed the poet’s mood. The poet’s mood changed from sad to happy.
He felt refreshed and wanted to enjoy the rest of the day
2.How does Frost present nature in this poem? The following questions may help you
to think of an answer.
1. What are the birds that are usually named in poems? Do you think crow is often
mentioned in poems? What images come to your mind when you think of a crow?
2. Again, what is ‘a hemlock tree’? Why doesn’t the poet write about more ‘beautiful’
tree such as a maple, or an oak, or a pine?
3. 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?
Answer:
Frost presents nature in a very different manner in the poem,
1. Generally, poets take the birds and trees which are known for their beauty and good
qualities like peacock, parrot, cuckoo, mynah and trees full of beautiful flowers and fruits,
etc. But here Frost has taken a totally different approach. He chose a crow, which is not
often used in poems. Crow is black in colour with very harsh voice and is believed to be a
symbol of bad omen. Thinking of a crow brings very depressing and sorrowful pictures to
our mind.
2. A hemlock tree is poisonous plant with small white flowers. The poet, Robert Frost, didn’t
choose to use an oak, maple, or pine tree. Instead, he chose the hemlock tree and left all
the beautiful trees present in the world. Actually he did so to present his mood and
feelings.
3. The crow and hemlock tree represent sorrow and depression felt by the poet in this
materialistic world. The dust of snow is the symbol of natural joy and energy. The dust of
snow that the crow shakes off a hemlock tree means passing through the sad and
depressing moments the poet is entering into the time full of joy and optimism.
3.Have there been times when you felt depressed or hopeless? Have you experienced a
similar moment that changed your mood that day?
Answer:
There have been innumerable times when I too have felt depressed and hopeless.
Sometimes, such moments were aroused by other people’s behaviour and attitude and
sometimes due to my own conduct. On one occasion when I was very upset. I went out for a
walk. While walking in the park, I saw a girl playing with a puppy, embracing and feeding him.
This little joy that they shared changed my mood and I felt very happy for the rest of the day.
I also joined the two and played with them*
Fire and Ice (poem)
Thinking about the Poem

(Page 15)
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 gets so hot that it ‘bursts’
or grows colder and colder?
Answer:
There are definitely many ideas about how the world will ‘end’. I do believe that the world will
end someday as anything that has a beginning will have an end. This stands true for the
world also, if the Sun got so hot that it burst, the whole of the Earth would perish
immediately as no part of the Earth can bear the heat of that intensity. But if the Sun grew
colder and colder, everything will come to an end as without sunlight, life will end.
2.For Frost, what do ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ stand for?

Answer:
‘Fire’ stands for greed, avarice, lust, conflict, and fury. ‘Ice’ stands for cruelty, intolerance,
rigidity, insensitivity, coldness, indifference, and hatred.
3.What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? How does it help in bringing out the
contrasting ideas in the poem?
Answer:
The rhyme scheme of the poem is- a b a a b c b c b
This rhyme scheme helps in bringing out the contrasting ideas of ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ presented
in the poem. The poet mentions that both fire and ice are probable ends of this world. He
talks about how fire represents desire and can therefore be a cause of the end of the
world. Frost also mentions ice in between to symbolise that the coldness and indifference
towards one another will be enough to end the world. In the second stanza, he says that
he knows of enough hate in the world to be sure that even destruction through ice . would
be sufficient to bring about the end of the world.
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Letter To God

Thinking about the Text

Dust Of Snow ( poem)

Thinking about the Poem

Fire and Ice (poem)

Thinking about the Poem

2.For Frost, what do ‘fire’ and ‘ice’ stand for?

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