The Third LeveL

Short Answer Type (2 marks each)

Question 1.
Why did Charley meet a psychiatrist?
Answer:
Charley met a psychiatrist, since he was in a dilemma. He felt sure that he
had been on the third level of the Grand Central Station, which everyone
knows has only two levels. Even the Presidents of the railroads would
swear on a stack of timetables that there were only two levels.

Question 2.
What was the psychiatrist’s diagnosis?
Answer:
The psychiatrist said that Charlie was unhappy. The modern world, full of
insecurity, fear, war and worry oppressed him, and he just wanted to
escape.

Question 3.
What proof did the psychiatrist provide?
Answer:
Charley’s psychiatrist and his friends said that his stamp-collecting was an
indication of his desire to seek “a temporary refuge from reality”, as was his
collection of first-day covers.

Question 4.
What was Charley’s argument when the psychiatrist told him that the stamp
collection was a temporary refuge from reality?
Answer:
Charley argued that his grandfather lived in nice and peaceful times, yet he
was the one . who had started the stamp collection. He did not need any
“temporary refuge from reality”. He added that President Roosevelt
collected stamps too.

Question 5.
How does Charley describe Galesburg, Illinois, 1894?
Answer:
Charley describes it as a wonderful town with a leisurely way of life with big
old frame houses, huge lawns, tremendous trees and a peaceful and
tranquil world. During summer evenings, people sat in their lawns, with
men smoking cigars and women waving palm-leaf fans. The first World
War was twenty years away and the second World War was forty years into
the future.

Question 6.
What is a first-day cover?
Answer:
When a new stamp is issued, stamp collectors buy some and use them to
mail envelopes to themselves on the very first day of sale and the postmark
proves the date. The envelope is called a first-day cover. They are never
opened. You just put a blank paper inside the envelope.

Question 7.
What role does the first-day cover play in the story?
Answer:
One night,while fussing with his stamp collection, Charley comes across a
first-day cover that should not have been there. It had been mailed to his
grandfather at his home in Galesburg in July 18, 1894. However, instead of
a blank paper, it contained a letter for Charley from Sam. It urged him to
come back to the third level with Louisa, and keep looking for it till he found
it.

Question 8.
What was the content of the note that Sam wrote to Charley?
Answer:
Sam said that he had found the third level, that he had already been there
for two weeks, that life was peaceful, calm and tranquil. He urged Charley
and Louisa to go back to the third level and keep looking for it till they found
it.

Question 9.
How was Charley often lost on the Grand Central Station?
Answer:
Cllarley had went to the Grand Central Station hundreds of times. However,
at times, he was always lost in new doorways and corridors. Once, he
entered a tunnel and came out in the lobby of a hotel. Another time, he
reached in an office building.

Question 10.
How did Charley compare the Grand Central to a huge tree? Why?
Answer:
Charley always found new tunnels and staircase at the Grand Central. He
began to suspect that Grand Central was like a huge tree. It used to push
out new corridors and tunnels like the roots of a tree.
Question 11.
How did Charley reach the third level?
Answer:
Charley had been late to his office. He desired to reach home early. So he
went to Grand Central to catch a suburban train. He was lost in a corridor.
He thought it was the second level. But he had reached the third level.

Question 12.
How did Charley realise that he was on the third level?
Answer:
Charley realised this as there were fewer ticket windows; the information
booth was of wood and old-looking. The lights were flickering as they were
open-flame gaslights. There were brass spittoons on the floor. The
locomotive had a funnel-shaped stack.

Question 13.
How did Charley make sure that he had actually travelled in the past?
Answer:
Charley went to a news stand. He saw the stack of newspapers. It was The
World which was not published any longer. The lead story was about
President Cleveland. Later, he discovered in the public library files that it
was printed on June 11, 1894.

Question 14.
Why did Charley rush back from the third level?
Answer:
Charley wanted two tickets for Galesburg. But when he offered the fare, his
money was different-looking from the money of those days. The clerk
thought the money was fake. He threatened to get Charley arrested.
Charley rushed back to escape.

Question 15.
How did Charley learn that his psychiatrist friend had reached Galesburg of
1894?
Answer:
One day, Charley discovered a first-day cover in his stamp collection. It
was addressed to his grandfather at his Galesburg address. In it, he found
a letter of July 18, 1894, addressed to him by Sam. This proved that Sam
had reached Galesburg of 1894.

Question 16.
What did Sam write to Charley from Galesburg?
Answer:
Sam had written to Charley that he had discovered the third level and
reached Galesburg. He found Galesburg to be peaceful and friendly as
Sam had described to him. He exhorted Charley to keep looking for the
third level and reach Galesburg.

The Third Level Questions and Answers Long Answer Type

(5 Marks each)
Question 1.
Discuss the importance of Sam’s letter to Charley.
Answer:
Charley, the protagonist of the story, gives up hope of ever finding the third
level again and resumes his hobby of collecting stamps. It is then that he
comes across the first- day cover which he had not seen before and should
not have been there. It carried the stamp of July 18, 1894, and had been
posted from Galesburg, Illinois. As he reads the content of the letter, a
shocked Charley realises that it was from Sam, his psychiatrist friend.
Though he had earlier hoped that the third level existed, now he had
actually found it and been there for two weeks.

Very different from the modern world full of stress, worry and insecurities,
Sam describes it as a peaceful place, full of warm and friendly people and
an old-world charm. He urges Charley and Louisa not to stop their search
and not give up, till they find the third level. Thus, Sam reaffirms Charley’s
conviction about the existence of the third level.

Question 2.
‘The Third Level’ explores an intersection of time and space. Discuss.
Answer:
In ‘The Third Level’ Jack Finney gives ‘time travel’ a new dimension
through his protagonist, Charley. The third level is the point where the past
and the present meet. One evening, on his way back from work, Charley
finds himself in the third level of the Grand Central Station in New York. He
discovers that things were different and realises that he is back in 1894.

It was the period that Charley would love to be in. An excited Charley wants
to buy two tickets to Galesburg, a peaceful town in the pre-war period,
which Sam, Charley’s psychiatrist friend, interprets as his desire to escape
the stress of modern living. Later, Sam himself withdraws all his savings
and exchanges it for 1894 currency. He thus, is able to cross time and
reach a quiet and peaceful past where his services as a psychiatrist would
not be required. Louisa believes that one can cross the time dimension only
after Sam’s letter of affirmation. Thus, the happiness of all the three
characters of the story revolve around the third level.

Question 3.
Charley wanted to go home quickly but he reached the third level. How did
he get there?
Answer:
One summer night, Charley was late at the office. As he wanted to get
home quickly, he decided to take the subway from Grand Central. He went
into the Grand Central and went to the steps of the first level. Then he went
down another flight of stairs to reach the second level. He found an arched
doorway and was lost in the corridor where he was slanted downwards. He
thought it to be wrong. But he continued walking. He found nobody on the
way. From there, the tunnel took a sharp turn to the left.

He went down a short flight of stairs. For a moment he perceived, he had

once again come back to the second level. However, everything there was
different and old-fashioned. There were fewer ticket windows. The
information booth in the centre was made of wood and looked very old. It
was then he realised suddenly that he had reached the third level.

Question 4.
What was the third level like? How did Charley know he had bumped into
the past?
Answer:
There was no third level at the Grand Central. It was only Charley’s journey
into the past. The third level appeared to be railway station of about a
century ago. The rooms were smaller and ticket windows were few. The
information booth in the centre was of wood and old-fashioned. The man in
the booth wore sleeve protectors and a green eyeshade.

Lights were flickering as they were open-flame gaslights. Brass spittoons

were found on the floor. Most people bore beards and side burns and fancy
moustache. He saw a man had a gold watch. A woman wore a dress with
leg-of-mutton sleeves and high buttoned shoes. The locomotive was small
with a funnel-shaped stack. A newsboy had stack of The World. It was
published on June 11, 1894. It made Charley sure that he had bumped into
the past