CBSE Class 12 English HOTs The Third Level Set 02

Read and Find out 

Question. What does ‘The Third Level’ refer to?
Answer: The Third Level is the third floor of the Grand Central Station as visited by Charley one day. In reality, this third level does not exist. ‘The Third Level’, then, can be said to be a symbol of a modern man’s innermost desire to escape from the world full of tensions, war, insecurity and fear. It stands for man’s pursuit for a life full of peace and tranquility in contrast to the materialistic and self-centered world of today.

Question. What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?
Answer: Sam’s letter was found in the oldest first day covers of Charley’s grandfather. It was dated 18th July, 1894 and written from Galesburg, Illinois. This means that Sam had found the third level and escaped. From this, we can infer that the third level did exist which encourages Charley and Louisa to continue searching for it.

Question. “The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress.” What are the ways in which we attempt to overcome them?
Answer: The modern world, undoubtedly makes us frustrated, helpless and overworked. Our subconscious mind, thus, finds ways and means to escape tensions. Depending on our upbringing, mindset and interests, people find novel ways to overcome such a sorry state of affairs. Most people find refuge in hobbies. The narrator, Charley, indulges in stamp collection to break the monotony of his life and use time productively. Many turn to yoga, religion, spirituality, exercise, books, music and creative fields like painting and writing to overcome stress and find time for themselves. These interests help reduce stress, anxiety and hopelessness associated with life. A positive energy exudes from the body making one calm, relieved and tranquil. Many health problems can be cured if we indulge in pleasurable activities.

Read and Find out 

Question. Would 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 couldn’t go back to the ticket-counter on the third level to buy tickets to Galesburg for his wife and himself. This is because after the first visit, Charley never finds the corridor that leads to the third level at the Grand Central Station.

Read with Insight 

Question. Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?
Answer: The modern world is full of fear, insecurity, war, worry and stress. Man feels bogged down and helpless. He does not understand what to do and how to come out of adverse circumstances. So, he looks for a ‘temporary refuge from reality’. Charley, belonging to the twentieth century, faced the same dilemma of a modern man. Busy in the rut of life, he indulged in his hobby of stamp collection for some mental peace and tranquility. Undoubtedly, it was always in his subconscious mind to find a means of escape from the ironies and materialistic bent of the world. Moreover, he had an earnest desire for things ‘pretty, nice and peaceful’, as they were in his grandfather’s time. Then when he meets his psychiatrist, he admits that ‘everybody I know wants to escape’. All these things combined together resulted in his flight of fancy to the third level. Sam, the psychiatrist also told him that his claim was ‘a waking dream wish fulfillment’. Hence, we can say that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley.

Question. Do you see an intersection of time and space in the story ‘The Third Level’?
Answer: Yes, there is an intersection of time and space in the story. Time and space have been reduced to nothingness as all barriers related to them are broken. Charley bumps into the third level of 1894 and returns to the twentieth century. Similarly, Sam reaches Galesburg in 1894 and still can contact Charley in the twentieth century, which convincingly brings about an intersection.

Question. Apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic projection. Discuss.
Answer: Some things in life do not have a valid explanation or scientific reason. The sudden discovery of the third level by the narrator and his earnest desire to live a peaceful and contented life at Galesburg is not open to justification. The disappearance of his psychiatrist friend Sam is equally perplexing. Both these individual wish to escape from the insecurities and intricacies of life can turn out to be futuristic projections. They want to lead an easy going life, wayback in 1894 when no one had heard about world wars. This indicates that people’s unhappiness in their present life can lead to frustration and eventually a virtual breakdown of emotions, relationships, organisations and systems in the future. The other way of explaining this statement is that all inventions, sometimes or the other, have been termed illogical. The cell phones we use today were an improbability some years before, but today they have become a necessity. Who knows the idea of going back in time, travelling back and forth in time (as depicted in the story) would become possible one day!

Question. 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: The time dimension is divided into the past, the present and the future. Our past shapes our present. Similarly, in the present, lie seeds of the future. Philately helps keep the past alive. In the same way, hobbies like coin collection, books on varied topics, archaeological excavations, monuments, relics from the bygone era, movies, paintings and even music prevent our glorious past from being lost. The human tendency to constantly move between the past, the present and the future shows man’s dissatisfaction with life and a need to rationalize. We hanker after something which we do not get. The present does not leave man satisfied. He longs for the past to come back and waits incessantly for something positive to turn up in the future.

Extract Based Questions

Read the extracts given below and answer the questions that follow.

He said I was unhappy. That made my wife kind of mad, but he explained that he meant the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it, and that I just want to escape. Well, who doesn’t? Everybody I know wants to escape, but they don’t wander down into any third level at Grand Central Station. But that’s the reason, he said, and my friends all agreed. Everything points to it, they claimed. My stamp collecting, for example; that’s a ‘temporary refuge from reality.’ Well, maybe, but my grandfather didn’t need any refuge from reality,

Question. Complete the following suitably. When Sam gives the complete reason for Charley’s unhappiness, he ...
Answer: clarifies that Louisa is not the reason behind it

Question. Why did Sam’s verdict make Charley’s wife ‘mad’?
Answer: When Sam suggests that Charley was unhappy, Louisa gets mad as she thinks that Charley is unhappy because of her.

Question. Select the option that signifies the condition of people of the ‘modern world’ mentioned in the extract.
(i) unsure
(ii) lazy
(iii) offensive
(iv) anxious
(v) afraid
(a) (i) and (iii)
(b) (ii) and (v)
(c) (ii), (iii) and (iv)
(d) (i), (iv) and (v)
Answer: (d) (i), (iv) and (v)

Question. Why didn’t Charley’s grandfather need refuge from reality?
Answer: Charley’s grandfather did not require any refuge from reality because he lived in the pre-war peaceful and simpler times. In those time, people had no insecurities and were not anxious.

Now, I don’t know why this should have happened to me. I’m just an ordinary guy named Charley, thirty-one years old, and I was wearing a tan gabardine suit and a straw hat with a fancy band; I passed a dozen men who looked just like me. And I wasn’t trying to escape from anything; I just wanted to get home to Louisa, my wife.

Question. Complete the sentence appropriately, with reference to the extract. ‘This’ refers to ...
Answer: seeing the non-existent third level

Question. When did ‘this’ incident take place?
Answer: ‘This’ incident took place while the narrator was returning late from work.

Question. The given lines show that the narrator, Charley
(a) fancied going to his old town
(b) was a very amiable man with a lot of friends
(c) wanted to lead a normal life with his wife
(d) had a great imagination
Answer: (c) wanted to lead a normal life with his wife

Question. Why does the narrator say that he was not trying to escape from anything?
Answer: The narrator says that he was not trying to escape from anything because his psychiatrist friend told him he was trying to escape the stress.

Sometimes I think Grand Central is growing like a tree, pushing out new corridors and staircases like roots. There’s probably a long tunnel that nobody knows about feeling its way under the city right now, on its way to Times Square, and maybe another to Central Park. And maybe — because for so many people through the years Grand Central has been an exit, a way of escape- maybe that’s how the tunnel I got into... But I never told my psychiatrist friend about that idea.

Question. Complete the following suitably. The given lines uses a literary device ......... .
Answer: named metaphor to make a comparison between the Grand Central Station and a tree.

Question. Why does the narrator never tell his psychiatrist friend about his idea?
Answer: The narrator would never tell his psychiatrist friend about his idea because he knew that his friend would call him unhappy.

Question. Charley decided not to tell his psychiatrist friend about his idea. Choose the option that reflects the reaction Charley anticipated from his friend.
(a) “That’s such a lovely comparison. Why don’t you become a writer, Charley?”
(b) “Oh Charley. It is so sad to see your desperation to run away! So very sad.”
(c) “Maybe that’s how you entered the third level. Who would have thought?”
(d) “You need help, my raving friend. You are way too invested in this crazy thought!”
Answer: (d) “You need help, my raving friend. You are way too invested in this crazy thought!”

Question. “Grand Central has been an exit, a way of escape”. Explain.
Answer: The given line points out that the third level of the Grand Central Station is a figment of imagination that acts as a medium of escape for people like Charley who are stressed and anxious in their modern life.

To make sure. I walked over to the newsboy and glanced at the stack of papers at his feet. It was The World and The World hasn’t been published for years. The lead story said something about President Cleveland. I’ve found that front page since, in the Public library files, and it was printed on 11th June, 1894. I turned toward the ticket windows knowing that here - on the third level at Grand Central - I could buy tickets that would take Louisa and me anywhere in the United States we wanted to go. In the year 1894. And I wanted two tickets to Galesburg.

Question. The newspaper that covered the lead story about President Cleveland was
(a) The Pioneer
(b) The New York Times
(c) The World
(d) The Times
Answer: (c) The World

Question. The narrator wanted to buy tickets to ......... .
Answer: Galesburg, Illinois of 1894

Question. Which of the following in the extract most nearly means the opposite of ‘stare’?
(a) Glance
(b) Peek
(c) Ignore
(d) Examine
Answer: (a) Glance

Question. Charley wanted two tickets because he wanted to go with
(a) Sam
(b) Cleveland
(c) Louisa
(d) the Psychiatrist
Answer: (c) Louisa

Have you ever been there? It’s a wonderful town still, with big old frame houses, huge lawns, and tremendous trees whose branches meet overhead and roof the streets. And in 1894, summer evenings were twice as long, and people sat out on their lawns, the men smoking cigars and talking quietly, the women waving palm-leaf fans, with the fire-flies all around, in a peaceful world. To be back there with the First World War still twenty years off, and World War II over forty years in the future... I wanted two tickets for that.

Question. Complete the following suitably. ‘tremendous trees whose branches meet overhead and roof the streets’ contains two literary devices. They are ......... .
Answer: imagery and alliteration

Question. Who does ‘you’ refer to?
Answer: The reader

Question. Imagine that the city of Galesburg is hosting a series of conferences and workshops. In which of the following conferences or workshops are you least likely to find the description of Galesburg given in the above extract?
(a) Gorgeous Galesburg: Archiving a Tourist Paradise
(b) Welcome to the Home you Deserve: Galesburg Realtors
(c) Re-imagining a Warless Future: Technology for Peace
(d) The Woman Question: The World of Women at Home
Answer: (c) Re-imagining a Warless Future: Technology for Peace

Question. Describe the society represented in the above extract.
Answer: The society represented in the given lines is an upper class orthodox one.

The clerk figured the fare he glanced at my family hat band, but he figured the fare and I had enough for two coach tickets, one way. But when I counted out the money and looked up the clerk was staring at me. He nodded at the bills. “That ain’t money mister” he said “and if your trying to skin me you won’t get very far” and he glanced at the cash drawer beside him. Of course the money was old-style bill half again as big as the money was use nowadays and different looking.

Question. Why did Charley ask for two tickets?
Answer: Charley asked for two tickets because he wanted to go to Galesburg, 1894 with his wife, Louisa.

Question. Complete the sentence by choosing the correct options. When Charley offered money to the booking clerk, the latter stared at Charley because the booking clerk .........
(a) thought it wasn’t money
(b) did not trust Charley
(c) thought Charley was trying to tease him
(d) thought that Charley had given him less money
Answer: (a) thought it wasn’t money

Question. Select the option that best describes Charley in this extract. He is
(a) a cheat
(b) gullible
(c) an opportunist
(d) an escapist
Answer: (d) an escapist

Question. ‘If you’re trying to skin me’ suggests ......... .
Answer: that the clerk thought that Charley was trying cheat him