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The house - the only one in the entire valley → The house is isolated. Separated from the world. The valley is deserted, empty.
Sat on the crest of a low hill→ the location of the house is interesting. Placed at the top of a hill and exposed to natural elements.
harvest → noun
Intimately→ closely, deeply (adverb)
Intimate (adjective)
Knew his fields intimately→ this phrase/expression shows Lencho’s close link with his fields. He is deeply attached to his land.
Line: Now we’re really going to get…….the little one’s are fives.
“Now we’re going to get some water, woman.”→ the speaker is none other than Lencho. The woman mentioned here is most probably his wife. This statement by Lencho bears a sign of relief; - relief at the possibility of rain.
supper→ noun, main meal eaten in the evening, a small meal eaten in the late evening (courtesy: Cambridge Dictionary)
God willing→ by the grace of God.( these are God-fearing people)
predicted→ verb (past) foretold, told about something long before it actually happened.
prediction→(noun) the act of foretelling
approaching→ coming closer ( approach + ing, present participle)
fresh→ adjective, not old, produced not long before
sweet → adjective, pleasant, something giving a pleasant feeling
mountains of cloud →These words are adjectives describing the air.
The man went out for no other reason than to have the pleasure of feeling the rain on his body.→ This line shows the spontaneous outcome of feelings. Romantic feeling, sensuous feeling, sensuality, physicality.
When he returned, he exclaimed→ when Lencho returned, he appeared to be full of energy.
“These aren’t raindrops falling from the sky, they are new coins….” → Lencho makes the statement. Lencho sees the prospect of earning a good amount of money because rain is going to produce a good amount of corn. There is a metaphor in this line. Rain drops are compared to coins. Rain equates corn. More rain means more corn. More corn means more money. Lencho’s world view is essentially money-driven.
“The big drops are ten cent pieces and little ones are fives” → Lencho fixes the price for rain drops. He fixes ten cents for big drops. Meaning big drops are going to fetch more money than the little rain drops. They are priced at five cents per piece.
More rain means more corn and more money.
Line: With a satisfied expression he regarded…. frozen pearls
satisfied expression → satisfied expression of Lencho. Lencho was satisfied. Lencho was satisfied because Lencho got what he wanted( the rain).
draped→ covered with cloth
curtain of rain→ curtain is a kind of veil made of cloth. This is an instance of metaphor. The author of the story has visualised rain as acting like a veil covering the entire field of corn.
suddenly a strong wind began to blow→ this marks an abrupt change in the scene. The strong wind disturbed the stability, the assurance brought about by rain
along with the rain very large hailstones began to fall→ this line can be regarded as symbolic. Rain along with hailstorm may well symbolise assurance coming along with insecurity and crisis.
These truly did resemble new silver coins → hailstones unlike rain drops truly resembled silver coins. But ironically they did not bring prosperity.
The boys, exposing themselves to the rain → boys exposed themselves to the elements.
ran out to collect the frozen pearls → boys were energetic. They found wild pleasure in going out in the rain.
The expression ‘frozen pearls’ refers to the hailstones. This expression is also ironic. Pearls are precious stones. They bring prosperity. Hailstones only bring destruction. They should be called ‘frozen perils’ rather than frozen pearls.
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Line: ‘It is really getting bad now,......covered with salt.’
It’s really getting bad now → Lencho’s initial exuberance and happiness gradually started to evaporate. He comes face to face with reality slowly but certainly.
I hope it passes quickly → In this line, the word ‘it’ refers to the particular period of time when hailstones struck hard on Lencho’s field.People hope and pray that bad time passes quickly . But in reality, what happens is just quite opposite what the man wishes. Happier times do not last longer. But bad times appear to be like a stone that gets fixed on head and seems impossible to turn.(It did not pass quickly.)
The field was white→ the field was covered with snow.
white → colour white symbolises death, desolation, emptiness, lifelessness
Salt→ white snow is compared to white salt. The word ‘salt’ is associated with bitterness or bitter feeling.
Ex. ‘His happiness was salted in no time’. - meaning ‘His happy mood turned bitter in no time.’
The word ‘salt’ indicates the bitterness in Lencho’s life.
Line: Not a leaf remained on the trees. ……. “We’ll all go hungry this year.”
Not a leaf remained → this is total destruction. The flowers were gone - life and future destroyed. The word ‘leaf’ symbolises life. ‘flowers’ symbolise life and prosperous future.
The corn was totally destroyed → ‘corn’ symbolises life and a good secured future.
Lencho’s soul was filled with sadness →Lencho was deply saddened by the destruction brought about by the natural calamity.
Plague of locusts → “A plague of Locusts would have left more than this.
The hail has left nothing.” → This is the discovery by Lencho. Lencho comes face to face with reality.
This year we will have no corn → This is the ultimate realisation of Lencho.This is the final conclusion that Lencho reaches. Lencho reaches this conclusion after assessing the situation.
Line: But in the hearts …….letter to God
Solitary→ lonely / isolated
Solitary house in the middle of the valley→ the location of Lencho’s house is queersome. It is peculiar that the entire valley has only one house. This is something which is absolutely unique about Lencho’s house. So is Lencho because of his blind faith. The uniqueness of the position/location of the house ultimately points towards the uniqueness of the inhabitants.
“Don’t be so upset, …..” → Lencho seems to instill courage in his family members.
“Remember, no one dies of hunger.” → This line is an assurance from Lencho.
“That’s what they say; no one dies of hunger.” → This line shows Lencho’s blind faith in religious sermons. Lencho has little God- realisation but has supreme faith in sermons. His faith in God is based only on those religious sermons.
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 consciousness → This line once again highlights the role of a medium in Lencho’s faith in God. Lencho had been told about the omniscient nature of God by a third party.
Lencho was an ox of a man → the hardship of Lencho’s life has made Lencho ox-like. This is an instance of metaphor where Lencho (a human being) has been compared to an ox (an animal).
But still he knew how to write → the word ‘but’ is coordinating conjunction.When two opposite ideas are required to be connected and placed side by side Conjunction ‘but’ is used. Here two opposite phenomena such as ‘working like an animal in the fields’ and ‘he knew how to write’ are connected and placed side by side with the help of the word ‘but’.
The word ‘still’ is also used for more or less the same purpose.
Lencho’s knowledge in the art of writing has set him apart from the rest of the farmers like him.
he began to write a letter which he himself would carry to town → this shows the importance of the letter.
Line: “God,” he wrote,......correspondence with God!”
“God,” he wrote, “if you don’t help me, my family and I will go hungry this year.” → The address to God is direct; straightforward. No pretension is there in Lencho’s prayer. Lencho surrenders before God without wasting much time and word.
Peso→ Latin american currency
Sow→ put seed to soil
Still troubled→ Lencho’s trouble does not come to an end even after he finishes writing a letter to God explaining his difficulties. He is still going through a disturbed state of mind. His problem has not yet been solved. He has not yet received any assuring word from God.
Laughing heartily → the word ‘laughing’ is an infinite verb. It is a present participle. (laugh + ing) verb + ing
The word ‘heartily’ is an adverb meaning ‘cheerfully’.
amiable→ adjective, friendly and pleasant
Adverb, amiably
Noun, amiability
fellow → person (noun)
broke out→ phrasal verb (past) meaning something that come into public
The postmaster - a fat, amiable fellow - also broke out laughing, but almost immediately he turned serious → swift change in body language. The postmaster quickly identifies his impudence and balances his reaction by turning serious.
“What faith!.....” → exclamation (great faith)
I wish I had the faith of the man → the postmaster admits that he lacks the kind of faith that Lencho has.
correspondence → noun, communication
Line: So, in order not to shake…. an act of charity
shake → stir ( a kind of destabilising action), disturbing the stability or statusque
Here the postman’s intention of not to shake the writer’s faith points out that the postman wants not to break the writer’s faith. Here the word ‘shake’ is equivalent to ‘break’. Disturb the stability.
came up with an idea → produced an idea. ‘Came up’ is a phrasal verb
But when he opened it…….ink and paper → The word ‘it’ is used thrice in the sentence. This very word refers to the letter written by Lencho to God. The letter, when opened by the postmaster, poses a surprise for him.
stuck → past tense of ‘stick’. meaning ‘remain fixed at a particular position’.
resolution → promises made with a determination to keep them at any cost, firm decision taken on some issues
he stuck to his resolution → this line shows the determination of the postmaster.
asked for → demanded
money → noun, derives from the Latin word ‘moneta’ meaning ‘coin’ / ‘place for coining money’
old French ‘monoie’ meaning ‘money’, ‘coin’, ‘currency’.
employee(s) → people who work in an office or organisation and get paid for their service are employee(s) of that office or organisation.
himself → reflective pronoun pointing towards one’s own self.
part → a portion of something
salary → money one gets on a monthly basis for his/her service in an office or organisation.
several →many
were obliged →were compelled, an element of force involved, a sense of mandatoriness (past, passive)
charity → noun,
adjective, charitable
A philanthropic act of selfless giving for the well being of the poor, the distressed and the downtrodden.
Line: It was impossible……..signature: God
a little → small amount (a little money - small amount of money)
little money- none/nil/no money
envelope→ a cover made of paper or plastic to carry letters, documents / any small item.
contain → verb, hold, to have something inside or include something as a part (Cambridge Dictionary)
contain → control, to keep something harmful within limits and not allow it to spread ( Cambridge Dictionary)
Line: the following Sunday Lencho came………from his office
following Sunday → next Sunday
a bit → a little
usual → normal
experiencing → going through an experience, going through a feeling
contentment → satisfaction (noun)
the postmaster,experiencing the contentment of a man who has performed a good deed → the postmaster was satisfied. He was going through a sense of satisfaction as a man who has performed a good deed.
deed → noun, work, action
good deed→ it refers to some benevolent action . ( here the good deed refers to giving/donating money to Lencho)
perform → verb, execute
performance → execution (noun)
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Line: Lencho showed……he had requested
slight(est)→ means little, superlative degree. slight>slighter>slightest
slightest surprise → surprise is caused by unexpected incidents. Lencho did not show the slightest surprise because there existed not the slightest cause for any unexpected events to take place. Money sent to Lencho in the name of God was completely in harmony with Lencho’s expectation.
seeing→ present participle, non-finite verb ( verb+ing)
confidence→ belief on one’s own self, self-belief (noun)
confident→ adjective, confidently→ adverb
became→grew
angry→ adjective, a mental state in which people are in a bad temper.
anger → noun, angrily→adverb
He became angry when he counted the money→Lencho was not surprised but was angry when he finished counting the money.
mistake→ unintentional wrong doing
denied→ verb past, refused something to someone,
deny→ present
denial→noun(mode of denial) mode of denial is a state of mind or mindset in which one denies facts or happenings even if they are true.
requested →asked for
Line: Immediately, Lencho went up……..bunch of crooks. Lencho.
Immediately→ in no time/ soon after something happens
Writing table →compound word, table for writing
wrinkling→shrinking (not straight, flat, or relaxed)
wrinkling of his brow → the phrase shows that Lencho is extremely serious.
effort →hard work put forward by one to documents.
mailbox →compound word, a box containing mail
since → conjunction, as, because
bunch of crooks → bunch of wicked people
Lencho’s second letter → It said, “God ……….Lencho”
Lencho’s second letter is direct, straightforward just like his first letter. The letter is written in direct mode. It can be divided into two parts. In the first part there is an appeal for the rest of the money. In the second part, there is a suggestion for God. The greatest surprise lies in this part where Lencho, requesting God not to send the money through the post office, refers to the post office employees as ‘a bunch of crooks’.
‘send me the rest, since I need it very much. But don’t send it to me through the mail…..’ → the tone here is direct, authoritative, devoid of any humility that we may expect from a devotee in his or her address to God. That, in turn, shows the rusticity of Lencho.
After you finish reading this one, make sure that you also go through the 2 mark short questions along with their answers on Long Way to Freedom. It will be really helpful for your exam preparation. You can also read a detailed line by line analysis of Long Way to Freedom part I for a clear understanding of the text.
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