THE THIRD LEVEL

SHORT ANSWER TYPE QUESTIONS [2 Marks]

1. What does the third level refer to ?

Ans:- The third level refers to another level at the Grand Central Station. In reality, there were
only two. The narrator accidentally found himself at the third level.

2. How did Charley reach the third level of the Grand Central Station?

Ans One evening Charley reached the Grand Central and walked down the second level to
catch an early train to his home. He strangely happened to notice a doorway down and followed
the steps that led him to the third level of the Grand Central Station.

3. Why did the narrator talk to a psychiatrist friend of his and what did he say about the third
level?
Ans:- The narrator talked to his psychiatrist friend because no one believed him and thought he
might consult a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist interpreted it as mental disorder and explained that
to escape from insecurity fear, war, worry everyone fantasizes things that never happened.

4. Does Charley agree that stamp collecting habit is a way of escapism? Why?

Ans:- No, Charley doesn't agree with the claim of his psychiatrist friend. Charley's grandfather
was a Sunday stamp collector yet he was a happy man and he never ran away from reality.
Another stamp collector was President Roosevelt. From these two people Charley believed that
stamp collecting habit does not mean escapism.

5. How did Charley ascertain that he had reached the 1894 world?

Ans:- By the dim gas lamps, brass spittoons, old clothing of men and women, moustaches and
string watches, Charley ascertained that he had reached the 1894 world.

6. Why did Charley run away from the third level?

Ans:- Charley wanted to buy two rail tickets to Galesburg but the clerk at the station found that
his notes were fake and thought Charlie was attempting to fool him. He warned him that he
would call the police. Seeing that there was nothing good about police and jail in 1894, he ran
away.

7. Why was Charley not able to get to Galesburg again?

Ans:- After buying old currency in exchange of the new currency, he went down to the second
and searched for the third level at the Grand Central Station. The door was dissipated and he
could not find it again.

8. How did Sam reach Galesburg?

Ans:- From Charley's experience, Sam learnt that one can get into the third level only once, so
he purchased old currency and went to the Grand Central. He found the way to the third level,
purchased a ticket and reached Galesburg of 1884, Charley's village.

9. What work did Sam set for in Galesburg? Why?

or What would Sam have done in Galesbury for his living? Why?

Ans:- Sam set himself up in a hay, feed and grain business because he could not continue his
old profession in Galesburg as at that time everyone was happy and contented so no one
needed a psychiatrist.

10. How does Jack Finney try to establish reality at the outset?

Ans:- The author says that the presidents of the New York Central and the New York, New
Haven and Hartford railmads will swear on a stack of timetables that there are only two levels at
the Grand Central Station. Fast trains like the Twentieth Century leave fr the first level, whereas
suburban trains leave from the second level.

11. What does Charley, the narrator, say about the third level at Grand Central Station? How
does his psychiatrist friend respond?

Ans:- Charley asserts that there are three levels at Grand Central Station. His assertion in
based on his personal experience. He has been on the third level. Among others, he talked
to a paychiatrist friend about it. The psychiatrist said that it was a waking-dream wish
fulfilment. He was unhappy and just wanted to escape.

12. How did Charley, his wife Louisa and his friends react to the psychiatrist's observation?

Ans:- When the psychiatrist said that Charley was unhappy and wanted to escape, Charley's
wife, Louisa was shocked. The remark made her 'kind of mad. The psychiatrist explained that
the modern world was full of insecurity, fear, war, worry etc. He regarded Charley's
stamp-collecting as a temporary refuge from reality. Charley's friends agreed to the psychiatrist's
observation but Charley didn't.

13. What arguments does Charley offer to show his disagreement with the psychiatrist's
diagnosis?
Ans:- Charley says that almost everyone wants to escape from the stress, tension, fear and
worry of the modern world. But these people do not wander down into any third level at Grand
Central Station. Secondly, his grandfather, who started stamp-collecting, didn't need any refuge
from reality. During his time things were pretty nice and peaceful. Even President Roosevelt
collected stamps.

14. What curious experience did Charley have one day when he went to Grand Central to take
the subway?

Ans:- Charley walked down a flight of stairs to the second level. He then ducked into an arched
doorway hending for the subway and got lost. The corridor turned left and sloped downward,
but he kept on walking. He heard only the empty sound of his own footsteps. He didn't pass a
soul. The tunnel turned sharp left. He went down a short flight of stairs and came out on the
third level at Grand Central Station."

15. "That's easy to do", says Charley. What does he mean by it? What examples does he give
to prove his contention?

Ans:- By that's easy to do, Charley means that it is easy to get lost. He has been in and out. of
Grand Central hundreds of times, but he is always bumping into new doorways and stairs and
corridors. Once he got into a tunnel. It was about a mile long. He came out in the lobby of the
Roosevelt Hotel. Another time he came up in an office building on Forty sixth street, three
blocks away.

16. How did 'The World' help Charley to confirm his doubts regarding the existence of a third
level?

Ans:- When Charley reached the third level, he was confused. Later he noticed that the World
apopular newspaper which had stopped its publication before 1994 was still available. Then, he
saw that day's edition of the 'World'. It was dated, June, 11, 1894. The lead story said something
about president. Cleveland.

17. What convinced Charley that he had come out on the third level at Grand Central Station
and not on the second level?

Ans:- The room was smaller here. There were fewer ticket windows and train gates. The
information booth in the centre was of wood and old-looking. There were brass spittoons
on the floor. Dim and flickering open flame gaalights illuminated the place. People wore
Derby hats and four-button black suit with tiny lapels. They used golden pocket watches.
Women put on dresses covering their whole body. A very small locomotive with a funnel
shaped stack was on the track. All these differences convinced Charley that he had come
out on the third level.
18. What, do you think, helped Charley to establish the exact date of his wandering down into
the third level at Grand Central Station?

Ans:- Charley judged from the style of dress the people at third level were wearing that they
belonged to the 1890's. Their beards, sideburns and fancy moustaches also pointed out to that
era. Charley saw a stack of the newspaper The World' at the feet of the newsboy. The lead story
was about President Cleveland. From the files of the Public Library he came to know that the
issue was printed on 11 June 1894.

19. What do you learn about Galesburg, Illinois during 1894?

Ans:- Galesburg is described as a wonderful town with big old frame houses and huge lawns.
The branches of the splendid old trees met overhead and covered the streets. In 1894, summer
evenings were twice as long. People sat out on their lawns. The men would be smoking cigars
and talking quietly. The women would be waving palm-leaf fans. There were fire-flies all around.
It was a peaceful world that had not been ravaged by the two World Wars of the twentieth
century.

20. How did the booking clerk try to size up the narrator while calculating the fare?

Ans:- The booking clerk glanced at the narrator's fancy hatband, but he figured the fare. The
narrator had enough money for two coach tickets, one way. But when the narrator counted out
the money and looked up, the clerk began to stare at him.

21. Why, do you think, did the booking clerk refuse to accept the money? Why did the narrator
get out so fast?

Ans:- The booking clerk looked at the money the narrator offered to buy tickets. He nodded his
disapproval, saying, "That ain't money, mister". He also issued a warning, "...if you're trying to
skin me, you won't get very far." The narrator did not think it nice to go to jail. So he turned away
and got out fast.

22. What sort of money did the booking clerk expect to be paid? How did the narrator manage
to get that currency?

Ans:- The booking clerk expected to be paid money in the old-style bills. The narrator
understood it when he glanced at the cash drawer near the booking clerk. These bills were half
again as big as the money being used then and different-looking. The narrator drew three
hundred dollars out of the bank and bought old-style currency from a coin dealer.

23. What happened when Charley went to the Grand Central Station with the old style currency
bills?
Ans:- Charley did not find the corridor that led to the third level. Since then, he has tried often
enough, but failed. His wife looked worried when he told her all that. She didn't want him to look
for the third level. After a while he stopped and went back to his stamps. But now both of them
were looking every weekend, because they had proof that the third level was still there.

24. Who was Sam Weiner? What had happened to him? What was the narrator's suspicion
about Sam?

Ans:- Sam Weiner was a friend and psychiatrist of the narrator. He had disappeared. Nobody
knew where he was. The narrator suspected he was at Galesburg. The narrator used to tell him
about Galesburg where he had gone to school. Sam said that he liked the sound of the place.
Charley thought that Sam was in Galesburg in 1894.

25. What do you know about a first-day cover?

Ans. All countries issue new stamps from time to time. 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.
They just put a blank paper in the envelope. Such envelopes are never opened. The postmark
proves the date of issue. The envelope is called a first-day cover.

26. What did the narrator come across? Why was he surprised?

Ans:- One night, the narrator was fussing with his stamp collection. He came across a first-day
cover that shouldn't have been there. But it was there because someone had mailed it to
Charley's grandfather at his home in Galesburg. That was the address. The postmark read July
18, 1894. Yet the narrator did not remember it all. Perhaps the envelope remained there after
coming in the mail. All this surprised him.

27. What did the note inside the first-day cover reveal?

Ans:- The paper inside the first-day cover was not blank. It contained a note by Sam, written
from Galesburg on 18 July 1894 and addressed to Charley. It revealed that Sam had found the
third level and had been in Galesburg for two weeks, enjoying the company of carefree, song
and music loving people there. He advised Charley to keep looking for the third level as it was
worth it.

28. How had Sam reached Galesburg? What did he advise Charley to do?

Ans:- In his note, Sam had explained how he had reached Galesburg. First, he got to wishing
that Charley was right. Then he started believing he was right. His belief became stronger.
Now since he had found the third level, he regarded Charley's belief in the third level as true. He
advised Charley to keep looking for third level till he found it.

29. What did Charley learn about Sam from the stamp and coin store?
Or
Where did Charley go after reading Sam's note and why? What information did he gather?

Ans:- Charley went to the stamp and coin store. He found out that Sam had bought eight
hundred dollars' worth of old-style currency. It was sufficient for him to set up a nice little hay,
feed and grain business. He was always interested in it. Moreover, he could not continue his old
business as psychiatrist there in 1894.