THE THIRD LEVEL

THE THIRD LEVEL

TEXTUAL QUES ANS

Page No:7 Read and Find Out

1.      What does the third level refer to?

Answer The third level refers to the subway of the Grand Central Station that takes passengers to Galesburg, Illinois. The third level on the station was a medium of escape for Charley, the narrator from the harsh realities of modern life. It provided him a base where he could interweave fantasy and reality.

2.      Did Charley ever go back to the ticket-counter on the third level to buy tickets to Galesburg for himself and his wife?

 Answer No, Charley would never go back to the ticket-counter on the third level to buy tickets to Galesburg for himself and his wife because no matter how hard he tried he could not find the door which led to the third level again.

Reading with Insight

 1.Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?

Answer The chapter introduces Charley as an ordinary man who leads an ordinary life. But when Charley finds a way to travel back in time, he tries to escape from the insecurity, fear, war, worries and stress of the modern life that man has to confront all the times. The harsh realities of life make living quite unpleasant and even unbearable. So he wants to escape into a wishful world.

 2. What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?

Answer The way Charley came across Sam’s letter was surrounded in mystery. Among his oldest first-day covers, he found an envelope. The envelope containing the letter bore the address of his grandfather. It was written on July 18, 1894. The postmark showed the Picture of President Garfield. Generally the first day covers have blank papers in them, but this one contained a letter. The letter was addressed to Charley. In the letter Sam had informed Charley that he was living on the third level. He had also told Charley and his wife to keep looking for the third level.

3.‘The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress.’ What are the ways in which we attempt to overcome them?

 Answer We can overcome the anxieties and insecurities bred by our inevitable existence in the modern world by getting involved in some practical and beneficial activities. Cultivating hobbies, spending time with family and friends, going on trips and excursions, pursuing meditation and exercises help us live a balanced and healthy life. Reading good books is equivalent to having good friends with great insight. They not only enrich us with the vast store of knowledge but also help us to learn from other’s experience and stay rooted to some basic qualities of humanity. Joining hobby classes or gym, attending social events like birthdays and weddings, going for outdoor games, interacting meaningfully through social-networking sites and writing diaries etc can also help us relieve our worries and stay focussed and disciplined in life. Simple activities like listening to music, playing with pets, an occasional dinner out, watching cinema or plays or going to places like parks etc can go a long way in helping us get rid of stress, boredom and insecurities.

5. Apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic projection? Discuss.

Answer It is true that apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic projection. Before the Wright Brothers invented the first aeroplane, nobody could have dared to believe that man could fly. Before Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, it would have been impossible to believe in long-distance talks happening in the real-time interface. Moreover, there are examples of inventions, like that of inventing a modern-day sewing machine with a needle that has hole on its wrong end, which were conceived in dreams but now are part of our everyday reality. All this emphasises that fantasies of one point of time that seem illogical may turn out to be revolutionary things that change the future of the mankind. Similarly, it would not be far-fetched to think about railway stations fitted with time-machine devices that would make travel from one era to another just a matter of time.

6. 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?

 Answer Besides philately, there are numerous other ways to help keep the past alive. Collecting historical artefacts, paintings and inscriptions in a museum, collecting and reading books (including autobiographies, biosketches, letters and diary entries) written in different eras, collecting and viewing documentaries and other videos are all a few ways of revisiting history. Besides, we can keep our culture and traditions alive when we follow the rituals in ceremonies, treasure memories in the form of videos, photographs and audio collections. Also, reviving old monuments, buildings and other artefacts may prove a huge learning opportunity to those visiting such places, and promote tourism at the same time. The capacity to oscillate between the past, present and future is a great intellectual gift. This human tendency enables him to plan for the future in the present by reaping benefits from the past. Consider a very simple example of adopting a study technique for board exams. Considering the past result (of class test or half yearly exams) a student makes a strategy plan to address the weak areas more and score better in the future. Thus, such a tendency helps in ensuring acceptance of the impact of important decisions taken at any point of time and learning from them.

7. You have read ‘Adventure’ by Jayant Narlikar in Hornbill Class XI. Compare the interweaving of fantasy and reality in the two stories.

Answer In 'Adventure' Jayant Narlikar expressed that many world exist simultaneously though they appear to be separated by time. He expressed that the other world also existed and prospered with the world we are aware of. On the other hand, In the third level, Charley a young new york commuter wandering Grand Central Station by accident finds a gateway that leads to a real past of 1894Seizing the oppurtunity Charley attempts to escape the rat race by buying a one way ticket to his childhood town of Galesburg. Not having proper currency for that period, he forced to postpone his plan to escape to the past.

Extra Questions & Answers

Q1       How did Charley reach the third level of the Grand Central Station?
Grand Central Station, New York, has only two levels. One evening Charley reached this station and then walked down the second level to catch an early train to his home. While he was on the second level, he strangely happened to notice a doorway down. He followed the steps and reached the third level which was never heard or seen by anyone. Through the third level Charley travels back to the past and reaches the year 1894.

Q2       What was Charley’s strange experience at the Grand Central Station?
When Charley reached the third level of the Grand Central Station, it took him some time to realise that he had travelled back into the past. The room was smaller, there were fewer ticket windows and train gates, and the information booth looked old. There were open flame glasslights, brass spittoons on the floor and the engines were smaller and very old. People used pocket watches and were dressed in old fashioned clothes which were in style in the eighteen- nineties. The date on the newspaper ‘The World’ confirmed his belief that he had reached the date June 11, 1894. He wanted to buy tickets two tickets for Galesburg, but the clerk thought that  his new currency notes were fake and threatened him that police would be called. Charley left in a hurry but with a plan to come back later, well prepared.

Q3       How did ‘The World’ help Charley to confirm his doubts regarding the existence of a third level?
In the beginning, when he reached the third level, Charley was confused. Whatever he saw in the third level told him that he had travelled back to the past. This was confirmed when he saw ‘The World’, a newspaper of the past that was no more published. The lead story said something about President Cleveland and it was printed June 11, 1894. This confirmed to Charley that he had travelled back to 1894 through the third level.

Q4       Why did Charley run away from the third level?
Charley was greatly amazed when he reached the year 1894. He wanted to buy two rail tickets to Galesburg where he had spent his childhood. But when he took out his money to pay the fare, the clerk thought that his notes were fake and  that Charley was attempting to fool him. He warned him that he would call the police. Frightened by the clerk’s warning, Charley ran away.

Q5       What was Sam’s answer to Charley’s dilemma?
Charley met his psychiatrist friend Sam and told him about this experience. The psychiatrist interpreted it as a mental disorder. Indicating his hobby of stamp collection and this sort of experiences, Sam explained his abnormality to be ‘escaping from the struggles of life by fantasizing.’ Soon his friends and wife began to consider Charley as a mentally disturbed person

Q6       How did Charley’s friends relate his stamp collecting habit to his being abnormal?
Charley had a collection of stamps. When he told his friends of his peculiar experience at the Grand Central Station, all his friends believed that he was not mentally well. They said that he was worried as anyone in the modern world and by spending time with his stamps he was escaping from realities.

Q7       Does Charley agree that stamp collecting habit is a way of escapism? Why?
No, Charley doesn’t agree with this claim of his psychiatrist friend. Charley’s grandfather was a stamp collector yet he was a happy man and he never ran away from any reality. Another stamp collector was President Roosevelt, the American President who won the World War II. From these two people Charley believed that stamp collecting habit does not mean escapism

Q8       Why was Charley not able to get to Galesburg?
Charley bought old currency noted from a shop hoping to buy train tickets to go to his old place in Galesburg.  He reached the first level, went down to the second and searched for the door to the third level. The door had vanished. He searched and searched but could not find it again.

Q9       How did Charley’s behavior return to normal?
Charley stopped his search for the third level when after repeated attempts he could not find the gate that opened to the third level. He spent more time with his stamp collections now and started leading a normal life.

Q10     How did Sam reach Galesburg?
Sam was smarter than Charley. From Charley’s experience, he learnt about the peaceful and beautiful Galesburg of 1894.  Sam got old currency from the shop and went to the railway station. He found the door to the third level as claimed by Charley, purchased ticket and reached the 1894 Galesburg, Charley’s village.

Q11     How did Sam settle down in the old Galesburg?
Having reached there, Sam settled himself in hay and grain business because his old profession of a psychiatrist was of no use in the old world.

Q12     Why couldn’t Sam practice psychiatry in Galesburg?
The Galesburg where Sam reached from the Third Level was a peaceful town. The people there were much happier and had not experienced the terror of world wars and the destruction they had caused. They were not insecure and anxious and therefore didn’t require a psychiatrist.

Q13     What made Louisa, Charley’s wife, believe that the third level was a reality?
Louisa, like Charley’s friends, believed whatever explanations the psychiatrist friend had given. But later, when she received a mail from Sam himself from the old Galesburg, Louisa believed that Charley was true to his claims and even began to search for the third level.

Q14     What do you think had happened with Sam the psychiatrist friend after he went missing from New York?
It was Sam who had termed Charley’s claims of the existence of a third level at the Grand Central station a ‘waking dream fulfillment.’ Ironically this very Sam found out the third level and reached Galesburg and even settled down there, happily.

Q15     What is a first day cover?
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. They’re never opened; they just put blank paper in the envelope. The envelope is called a first-day cover.

Q16     How did Sam’s mail reach Charley?
When Sam reached the third level and landed in Galesburg, he became part of the old world of 1894, a world devoid of the modern media of communication. He had to depend only on postal system but there was no link between his old world and Charley’s present world. In order to send a mail to Charley, Sam sent it to Charley’s grandfather who still existed in the third level and the grandfather kept the mail in his stamp collection and consequently Charley received the mail.

Q17     What is role of the stamp-collection in the story?
The stamp collection is the link which joins the past and present in the story. This collection was passed on to Charley from his grandfather. This collection turned out to be useful for Sam the psychiatrist friend when he attempted to convey to Charley the truth regarding the existence of the third level; It was by keeping his first day cover in Charley’s grandfather’s collection that Sam could make the same available to Charley.

Q18     How does the psychiatrist turn out to be a firm supporter of Charley and his third level?
Sam was the person who disclaimed Charley’s belief that a third level existed. His firm opinion convinced Louisa and Charley’s friends that Charley’s story was just a ‘waking dream wish fulfillment’ to escape from the fear, insecurities, war and worry of his life. But tempted by Charley’s description of the peaceful and serene Galesburg of 1894, Sam explores the possibility of the existence of the third level and manages to find it. Ironically, Sam who did not believe Charley’s claim initially is the one who finds the third level and reaches Galesburg first.

Q19     Comment on the intersection of time and space in the story.

The existence of the third level as the gateway to the past in the first and most glaring example of the intersection of time and space. Officially the third level of the grand central Station did not exist but it proved to be a gateway through which Charley and then Sam travelled to the year 1984. Also the way Sam’s letter reached Charley was another example of time and space intersection. Sam had posted the letter to Charley’s grandfather and it suddenly appeared in Charley’s collection when it shouldn’t have been there.