Quiz Tweek provides the questions and answers for the Oral Comprehension Checks and Thinking about the Text exercises derived from the sources, focusing on "A Letter to God,". The answers are crafted to meet a Class 10th standard, offering detailed explanations.

A Letter to God

I. Oral Comprehension Check (After Section 1)

Q1. What did Lencho hope for?
A1. Lencho hoped for a downpour or at least a shower because the field of ripe corn, which promised a good harvest, urgently needed water. He spent the entire morning looking towards the north-east, anticipating the rain.

Q2. Why did Lencho say the raindrops were like ‘new coins’? A2. Lencho compared the raindrops to ‘new coins’ because the rain was essential for his crop's success, which would yield a good harvest and, consequently, money. He specified that the big drops were like ten cent pieces and the smaller drops were like fives, emphasizing their economic value.

Q3. How did the rain change? What happened to Lencho’s fields? A3. The rain changed suddenly when a strong wind began to blow, and very large hailstones started falling. The hail rained for an hour on the house, garden, hillside, and cornfield. The corn was totally destroyed, the flowers were gone, and not a single leaf remained on the trees. The field was left completely white, "as if covered with salt".

Q4. What were Lencho’s feelings when the hail stopped? A4. When the storm passed, Lencho’s soul was filled with sadness. He realized all their hard work was for nothing and felt despair, predicting that they would all go hungry that year. He noted that even a plague of locusts would have caused less damage than the hail.

II. Oral Comprehension Check (After Section 2)

Q1. Who or what did Lencho have faith in? What did he do? A1. Lencho had complete faith in God. He wrote a letter to God, asking for a hundred pesos immediately to sow his field again and to sustain his family until the next harvest, since the hailstorm had ruined everything.

Q2. Who read the letter? A2. The letter was first found by one of the post office employees, a postman, who showed it to his boss. The postmaster—described as a "fat, amiable fellow"—then read the letter addressed ‘To God’.

Q3. What did the postmaster do then?
A3. The postmaster was deeply impressed by Lencho's faith and, in order not to shake the writer’s faith in God, he resolved to answer the letter with money. He contributed part of his own salary, asked employees and friends to donate "for an act of charity," and although he couldn't gather the full amount, he managed to send Lencho a little more than half of the requested hundred pesos. He signed the letter simply as "God".

III. Oral Comprehension Check (After Section 3)

Q1. Was Lencho surprised to find a letter for him with money in it? A1. No, Lencho showed not the slightest surprise on seeing the money. This reaction reflected his absolute confidence and belief that God would inevitably answer his request.

Q2. What made him angry? A2. Lencho became angry when he counted the money because he found only seventy pesos, rather than the hundred he had requested. He was enraged because he believed that God could not possibly make a mistake or deny him the full amount.

IV. Thinking about the Text (A Letter to God)

Q1. Who does Lencho have complete faith in? Which sentences in the story tell you this? A1. Lencho has complete faith in God. This is shown in sentences such as: "But in the hearts of all who lived in that solitary house... there was a single hope: help from God". Further evidence is seen when he wrote the letter directly to ‘To God’ and when he "showed not the slightest surprise on seeing the money; such was his confidence".

Q2. Why does the postmaster send money to Lencho? Why does he sign the letter ‘God’? A2. The postmaster sends the money in order not to shake the writer’s faith in God, as he was deeply moved and wished he possessed such profound faith himself. He signs the letter ‘God’ to ensure Lencho believes the money came from the divine, thereby maintaining Lencho’s illusion and allowing the postmaster to experience the satisfaction ("contentment") of having performed a genuinely good deed.

Q3. Did Lencho try to find out who had sent the money to him? Why/Why not? A3. No, Lencho did not try to find out who sent the money. Due to his immense faith, the identity of the human sender was irrelevant to him; he believed the money must have come from God, to whom he had prayed.

Q4. Who does Lencho think has taken the rest of the money? What is the irony in the situation? A4. Lencho thinks that the post office employees are a "bunch of crooks" who stole the thirty pesos that were missing from the envelope. The irony is that these employees were the very people who collected the seventy pesos as an "act of charity," sacrificing their own resources to help him. Lencho, therefore, accuses his genuine benefactors of theft and corruption.

Q5. What kind of person would you say Lencho is? A5. Lencho is a person of simple, unquestioning faith. He is also depicted as being immensely hardworking, described as "an ox of a man, working like an animal in the fields". However, his final judgment reveals him to be naive regarding human honesty and ungrateful towards the people who selflessly helped him, as he believes the post office staff are corrupt.

Q6. There are two kinds of conflict in the story: between humans and nature, and between humans themselves. How are these conflicts illustrated? A6. The conflict between humans and nature is illustrated by the destructive hailstorm. Lencho depended entirely on the rain, but nature turned against him, resulting in the total loss of his harvest, emphasizing humanity’s vulnerability to natural disasters. The conflict between humans themselves is illustrated by the gross misunderstanding between Lencho and the post office employees. The employees perform a charitable act, but Lencho, whose narrow view of faith requires divine intervention, immediately condemns his human helpers as dishonest thieves ("a bunch of crooks") when he finds the money short.

Thinking about the Text (Dust of Snow)

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

A “dust of snow” refers to the fine particles or flakes of snow. The poet says that the action of a crow shaking the dust of snow down on him from a hemlock tree changed his mood. The poet's mood changed from one of sadness or regret (as he "had rued" a part of the day) to one where the remaining part of the day was salvaged or "saved".

2. How does Frost present nature in this poem?

Frost presents nature using elements that are not traditionally viewed as positive or beautiful in poetry. He specifically uses a crow, which is often associated with dark images, and a hemlock tree, which is a poisonous plant. By choosing these unconventional elements that usually represent sorrow, Frost emphasizes that even the small, simple interactions involving the least celebrated parts of nature can carry a "larger significance" and be the catalyst for a positive change in a person's mood.

Thinking about the Text (Fire and Ice)

1. There are many ideas about how the world will ‘end’. Do you think the world will end some day?

The poem begins by noting that people hold differing views on how the world might 'end'—some favoring destruction by fire, and others by ice. The sources present this question as an introduction to the poem's theme, which explores the destructive power of human emotions through these two natural elements.

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

For Frost, 'Fire' and 'Ice' stand for destructive human passions. Fire symbolizes intense and consuming emotions like desire, greed, avarice, lust, conflict, and fury. Ice symbolizes cold, quiet, and slow destructive emotions, standing for hate, intolerance, rigidity, insensitivity, coldness, and indifference. The poet concludes that either extreme—fire (desire) or ice (hate)—would be sufficient ("suffice") for the destruction of the world.

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

The rhyme scheme of the poem is A B A A B C B C B. This scheme helps to bring out the contrasting ideas (fire and ice) by linking them within a tight, short structure. The shared rhyme sound of 'ice' and 'suffice' emphasizes the poet's conclusion that both the passionate element (fire/desire) and the cold element (ice/hate) are equally destructive and sufficient to cause the world's end.

NCERT Solutions For Class 10 English (First Flight): A Letter to God