The Third Level

Short answer type questions

What does the third level refer to? What is the significance of the third level? (2001; 2004, Delhi)
Answer:
The third level is a medium of escape through which man yearns to be away from life’s harsh
realities. Modem life is devoid of peace and tranquility so man in his quest to seek solace
escapes to a place where his aim is to seek the realization of his dreams and unfulfilled wishes
of his subconscious mind.

Question 2.
What convinced Charley that he had reached the third level at Grand Central Station and not the
second level? (2010 Delhi)
Answer:
The general layout of the third level was different from that of the second level. It had
comparatively smaller rooms, fewer ticket windows and lesser train gates. The infor¬mation
booth in the centre was made of wood and looked old. The place with its brass spittoons did
not look very bright. So Charley was convinced it was not the second level.

Question 3.
How does Charley, the narrator describe the third level at Grand Central Station? (2013 Delhi)
Answer:
Charley says that the rooms on the third level were smaller than that of the second level. There
were fewer ticket windows and train gates and the information booth in the centre was wood
and old looking. There were open- flame gaslights and brass spittoons on the floor. Everyone at
the station was dressed in nineteenth century dresses.

Question 4.
How did Charley make sure that he was not in the present time? (2002 Delhi)
Answer:
To make sure that he was not in the present time, Charley did a reality check. He looked at the
newspapers which were on sale at a kiosk and found a copy of the newspaper ‘The World’,
which carried the main story on President Cleveland. Then he confirmed from the Public Library
files that the newspaper he had seen was dated 11th June, 1894.

Question 5.
How did Charley often get lost on the Grand Central Station? (2010 Delhi)
Answer:
The Grand Central Station was growing like a tree pushing out endless corridors, doorways and
stairs like roots. It had intricate and tangled pathways. The network of passages was so
complicated that instead of reaching his destination, one did tend to move up and down to look
for entries and exits. So, Charley often got lost on this station.
Question 6.
Why did Charley suspect that Sam had gone to Galesburg? (2011 Outside Delhi)
Answer:
When Sam disappeared all of a sudden and no one knew about his whereabouts, Charley
suspected he had gone to Galesburg as Sam was a city boy and liked Galesburg very much.
Then Charley found an envelope mailed to Sam by his grandfather from his home in Galesburg
and so it confirmed that Sam was indeed in Galesburg.

Question 7.
How does Charley describe Galesburg as it used to be in 1894? (2013 Comptt. Outside Delhi)
Answer:
Charley describes Galesburg as a quiet, simple and peaceful place with big old frame houses,
huge lawns and tremendous trees. The summer evenings were rather long and people sat out
on their lawns in a peaceful world, men smoking cigars and women waving palm-leaf fans.

Question 8.
What did Charley learn about Sam from the stamp and coin store? (2012 Outside Delhi)
Answer:
From the stamp and coin store Charley gets to know that Sam had bought old style currency
worth eight hundred dollars. This money was sufficient to set him up in a little hay, feed and
grain business in Galesburg.

Question 9.
How did Sam reach Galesburg? What did he advise Charley to do? (2012 Outside Delhi)
Answer:
Sam was fascinated by Charley’s description of Galesburg. He was so burdened by the tensions
and stress of modem life that he thought of escaping to the peaceful world of Galesburg. His
advice to Charley is that, he (Charley) and his wife, Louisa should come over to Galesburg
through the medium of the ‘third level’.

Question 10.
Why did the booking clerk refuse to accept the money? (2010 Delhi)
Answer:
The booking clerk refuses to accept the money because the notes Charley had given him were
of old style. He did not pay in the currency notes that were in circulation in 1894. So the clerk
stared at him and told him, “That ain’t money, Mister”. He thought Charley was trying to cheat
him and even threatened to get him arrested.

Question 11.
Why did Charley rush back from the third level? (2012 Outside Delhi)
Answer:
When Charley took out the modem currency to pay for the two tickets to Galesburg, the ticket
clerk accused him of trying to cheat him. He threatened to hand Charley over to the police.
Charley was frightened and he decided to rush back from the third level, lest he was arrested
and put into prison

12.Who was psychiatrist? What did he tell about the third level?

Ans. Sam was a psychiatrist. He was a friend of Charley. He told about the third level
that it was just an imagination of Charley. He explained that modern world is full of
insecurity, fear, war, worry etc. Due to all these, Charley was upset. So the imagination
of ‘The Third Level’ rose in his mind. This imagination of him was an escape from
reality.

13.

How did Charley enter in the third level?

Ans. One night, Charley worked late at his office. He was in a hurry to get home. So he
went to Grand Central Station to catch a suburban train. But he was lost in corridor. He
thought it was a second level. But according to Charley, he had entered in the third
level.

14.What happened with Charley at the ticket window?

Ans. When Charley went to the ticket window for two tickets to Galesburg. He paid the
currency of the present world which was totally different from 1890’s world. On
seeing the big notes, the clerk got stunned and he thought that Charley was trying to
cheat him.

15.What is the first – day cover?

Ans. When a new stamp is issued, stamp collector buy some. They use them to mail
envelopes to themselves on the very first day of sale. The stamp of the post office
proves the date. The envelope is called the first – day cover.

Qu. 16. What did Sam write in his letter to Charley?

Ans. Sam wrote in his letter to Charley that he had found the third level and he had
reached there. Sam was saying in his letter that he was staying there in Galesburg
since last two weeks and watching various activities. He invites both Charley and his
wife Louisa there. So, we can say that Sam was also a victim of worldly worried like
Charley.
Qu. 17.Why did Sam bought old currency of eight hundred dollars? What did he do with
it?

Ans. According to Charley, Sam bought old currency of eight hundred dollars because
of going to 1894’s Galesburg and Charley hoped that Sam would set up a hey, feed and
grain business in 1894’s Galesburg with these money

1What does the third level refer to?

2. Would Charley ever go back to the ticket-counter on the third level to buy tickets to Galesburg
for himself and his wife?
3. Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?
4. What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?
5. ‘The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress.’ What are the ways in
which we attempt to overcome them?
6. Do you see an intersection of time and space in the story?
7. Apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be futuristic projection. Discuss.
8. Philately helps keep the past alive. Discuss other ways in which this is done. What do you
think of the human tendency to constantly move between the past, the present and the future?
9. You have read, ‘Adventure’ by Jayant Narlikar in Hornbill Class XI. Compare the interweaving
of fantasy and reality in the two stories.
10. What will the President of the New York Central and the New York, New Haven and Hartford
railroads swear? What did the narrator claim?
11. Why did the narrator talk to a psychiatrist friend of his and what did he say about the third
level?
12. How did the narrator’s psychiatrist friend analyze his claim of being at the third level of
Grand Central Station?
13. What did the narrator’s friends say about him? What did his stamp collecting point to?
14. What did the narrator say about his escapism from the real world?
15. The narrator thinks that the Grand Central is growing like a tree. What makes him think so?
Why has it been ‘an exit’?
16. How did the narrator get lost when he was heading for the sub-way?
17. How did the narrator come out on the third level at grand Central Station after he had lost
the way?
18. What did the narrator see unusual at the third level?
19. Describe Galesburg Illinois in 1894. Why did the narrator want two tickets to Galesburg,
Illinois?
20. “That ain’t money, mister” said the clerk to the narrator. Why did he warn the Narrator?
21. How did the narrator get the old-style currency? Why couldn’t he buy two tickets for
Galesburg in spite of having the currency used in 1894?
22. Why was the narrator’s wife Louisa worried?
23. What is a first day cover? Explain.
24. What strange thing was found among the oldest first day covers? How did it come there?
25. What was written in Sam’s letter to Charley?
26. Why couldn’t Sam go back to his old business?
27. What does Charley’s psychiatrist friends say about his visit to the third level?
28. What do Charley’s friends think about his stamp collection?
29. Why does Charley compare the Grand Central Station to a tree?
30. How does Charley find himself on the third level at the Grand Central Station?
31. What peculiar things does Charley notice on the third level?
32. Do you think that the third level at the Grand Central was a medium of escape? If yes, how?
33. Why is the clerk surprised when Charley starts counting the money?
34. What does Charley do after he leaves the third floor?
35. Could he go to the third floor again to buy tickets for him and his wife?
36. What is a ‘first-day cover’? How is it collected?
37. What strange thing does Charley find in his stamp collection?
38. Who wrote that letter and to whom?
39. What was written in the letter that Sam wrote to Charley in 1894?
40. What happens to his friend Sam? Where does Charley suspect him to be?
41. What is the most revealing fact about Sam?
42. The Grand Central Station has only two levels. Charley said there were three. What did his
psychiatrist friend think?
43. What did the psychiatrist think about Charley’s stamp-collection? Why did Charley not agree
with him?
44. How was Charley often lost on the Grand Central Station?
45. How did Charley reach the third level?
46. How did Charley realize that he was on the third level?
47. How did Charley make sure that he had actually travelled in the past?
48. Why did Charley rush back from the third level?
49. Why did Charley want to go to Galesburg?
50. How did Charley prepare to go to Galesburg? Why couldn’t he reach there?
51. How did Charley learn that his psychiatrist friend had reached Galesburg of 1894?
52. What did Sam write to Charley from Galesburg?
53. Why does Charley think Sam escaped to Galesburg?
54. How do you find the ending of the story surprising?