Chapter 1The Third Level

• Lesson plan
• Slide text
• Teaching notes
• Interactive chapter
• Revision notes
• Glossary
• Question bank
• Flashcards

Our reading: “The Third Level” is a story of six pages with no section headings. Even so, it moves in a clear order: first a claim, then other people’s explanation of it, then Charley’s own account with its proofs, and finally a turn that leaves the question open. The whole story is told by Charley, so everything in it is Charley says.

• The claim (p. 1): According to the railroads’ presidents, Grand Central Station has two levels; Charley says three, “because I’ve been on the third level”.
• Other people’s explanation (p. 1): His psychiatrist friend calls it “a waking-dream wish fulfillment” and says Charley is unhappy; his friends call his stamp collecting a “temporary refuge from reality”.
• That night (pp. 2–4): Working late at the office, the way to the subway, getting lost, the third level, the signs of 1894, and the front page of The World, which according to the library files was printed on June 11, 1894.
• The attempt and the failure (pp. 4–5): Two tickets to Galesburg, Illinois; the clerk does not take the bills; the next day $300 turns into less than $200 of old-style bills; but the corridor is never found again.
• The proof (pp. 5–6): Sam Weiner has disappeared; a first-day cover with a postmark of July 18, 1894; Sam’s letter inside; Sam’s $800 in old-style currency.
• The turn (p. 6): “His old business? Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.”

The open question: is the third level real? The book does not decide. Put both sides before the class, each with its lines:

• Lines that read it as a wish of the mind: The psychiatrist friend’s explanation (p. 1); Charley himself thinks that Grand Central “has been an exit, a way of escape” (p. 3); he is not sure how he came back, “I left the same way I came, I suppose.” (p. 5); and “But I’ve never again found the corridor” (p. 5).
• Lines that read it as true: The front page found in the library files, “it was printed June 11, 1894” (p. 4); the first-day cover, about which Charley says “the postmark proves the date” (p. 5); Sam’s disappearance and his letter, “I found the third level!” (p. 6).
• Our reading, a third point: All this proof also reaches us only in Charley’s own words. If students begin their answers with Charley says… or According to Charley…, they stay with the book.

Two lines of the story are the hinge of this open question:

1. “he said it was a waking-dream wish fulfillment” (p. 1)
2. “now we have proof that the third level is still there” (p. 5)

The first line is the explanation from the real world; the second is the claim of fantasy. The last line puts the two face to face: Sam, who sends the proof of the third level, turns out to be Charley’s psychiatrist.

Our own suggestion — for the class chart: Draw this table on chart paper, keep it on the wall through all five periods, and after each period have students fill in that period’s row.

The meanings of the other words are in the glossary.

These two questions are in boxes in the margin of the book. Under each question comes first what to check, then a sample answer. The same answers are in the students’ revision notes, so that students and you read the same thing.

Q 1 — What the third level is (p. 1)

“What does the third level refer to?”

What to look for: two points. For Charley it is the third level of Grand Central Station, where the year is 1894; and the psychiatrist friend calls it wish fulfillment. Writing only a level of a station is incomplete.

Sample answer — The third level refers to a level of Grand Central Station below the two known levels, where Charley says he has been.

• What it is: Charley reaches it by chance through a corridor, and there it is still 1894.
• What the psychiatrist says: It is “a waking-dream wish fulfillment”, a way of escaping the worries of the modern world.

So it can be read as Charley’s wish to escape into a peaceful past.

Q 2 — Will Charley go back (p. 5)

“Would Charley ever go back to the ticket-counter on the third level to buy tickets to Galesburg for himself and his wife?”

What to look for: three points: the preparation (old-style currency), the failure (the corridor is not found again) and the hope (the search every weekend after Sam’s letter). A bare Yes or No is not right, because the story leaves this open.

Sample answer — Charley wants to go back, but he has never found the corridor again.

• He prepares: The next day he draws three hundred dollars and buys old-style currency.
• He fails: He never finds the corridor again, though he has “tried often enough”.
• He keeps hoping: After Sam’s letter, he and Louisa look for it every weekend.

So he would go back if he found the third level again; the story leaves this open.

Q 1 — A way of escape (p. 6)

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

What to look for: Yes, with at least two reasons and one line from the story. A good answer also admits that Charley himself says he was not running away that night.

Sample answer — Yes, the third level was Charley’s medium of escape from the worries of modern life.

• The psychiatrist’s view: His psychiatrist friend calls it “a waking-dream wish fulfillment” and says Charley wants to escape a world “full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it”.
• What he finds there: On the third level it is 1894, and Galesburg in 1894 is “a peaceful world”, with the First World War still twenty years off.
• What he does: He tries to buy two tickets to Galesburg for himself and Louisa, and later draws three hundred dollars, nearly all they have, to buy old-style currency.
• His hobby: Even his stamp collecting is called a “temporary refuge from reality”.

Charley says he was not trying to escape that night, but his longing to go back shows that the third level is his way out of the present.

Q 2 — What Sam’s letter tells us (p. 6)

“What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?”

What to look for: three points: Sam has found the third level and is happy in Galesburg in 1894; he calls Charley and Louisa to join him; and the irony that this Sam was the psychiatrist.

Sample answer — Sam’s letter says that he has found the third level and is living happily in Galesburg in 1894.

• Sam has escaped: The letter is dated July 18, 1894, and Sam writes that he has been there two weeks.
• He is happy: Someone is playing a piano at the Daly’s, people are singing on the front porch, and he is invited over for lemonade.
• He invites them: He asks Charley and Louisa to keep looking: “It’s worth it, believe me!”
• It is proof: The letter came in a first-day cover mailed to Charley’s grandfather in Galesburg, and the postmark proves the date.
• Irony: Sam turns out to be Charley’s psychiatrist, and on page 1 a psychiatrist friend called the third level a wish fulfillment. Now Sam writes, “I got to wishing that you were right. Then I got to believing you were right.”

So the letter suggests that even the psychiatrist wanted to escape the modern world.

Q 3 — Ways of overcoming worry (p. 6)

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

What to look for: the student’s own examples, at least one link with the story (Charley’s stamp collecting), and an opinion at the end. If a line from the story is quoted, it should be in the story’s words: “the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it” (p. 1). The sentence in the question is not a line of the story.

Sample answer — People try many ways to overcome the insecurity, fear and worry of modern life.

• Hobbies: Collecting stamps, gardening, painting or reading take the mind away from worry for a while. In the story, Charley’s stamp collecting is called a “temporary refuge from reality”.
• Music, games and exercise: Singing, sports, walking, yoga and meditation relax the body and calm the mind.
• Family and friends: Talking to people we trust makes our worries lighter. Charley shares his strange experience with his wife Louisa and his friends.
• Dreams and fantasy: Some people, like Charley, escape into dreams of a peaceful past.

Escape gives only short relief. The lasting way is to face our problems and keep a balance between work and rest.

Q 4 — Time and space meeting (p. 6)

“Do you see an intersection of time and space in the story?”

What to look for: the idea of one place, two times should be clear, with at least two examples: 1894 on the third level, and the letter of 1894 that reaches Charley in his own time.

Sample answer — Yes, in “The Third Level” time and space meet and cross each other.

• One place, two times: Grand Central Station is an ordinary station in Charley’s own time, but on its third level it is 1894, with gaslights, old-fashioned clothes and a newspaper printed June 11, 1894.
• Travel in both: From the ticket window there, Charley could buy tickets to any place in the United States, but in the year 1894.
• A letter across time: Sam’s letter, dated July 18, 1894, was mailed to Charley’s grandfather in Galesburg, yet Charley finds it in his own time in the collection his grandfather started.
• A person across time: Sam disappears from Charley’s world and lives in Galesburg in 1894.

Thus the story joins the present and the past in one place.

Q 5 — Illogicality and the future (p. 6)

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

What to look for: the question says “Discuss.”, so a lone Yes is not enough. The answer needs the meaning, one example from everyday life, and a link with the story.

Sample answer — Yes, an idea that looks illogical today may later prove to be a picture of the future.

• Meaning: Many things that people once called impossible, like flying in the air or talking to someone in another country, are part of daily life today. They were first dreamt of and then made real.
• In the story: A third level that takes people back to 1894 seems illogical. The psychiatrist explains it away as a wish fulfillment, and Charley never finds the corridor again.
• The turn: Sam’s letter, in a first-day cover postmarked July 18, 1894, gives the impossible third level a proof that is hard to explain away.
• Time travel: Travelling through time is still a fantasy, but stories like this keep the idea alive.

So we should not reject an idea only because it looks illogical today.

Q 6 — Philately and the past (p. 7)

“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?”

What to look for: the question has two parts: other ways of keeping the past alive, and the student’s own opinion on moving between past, present and future. The second part is often missed.

Sample answer — Philately keeps the past alive, and so do many other habits and places.

• Philately in the story: Charley’s grandfather started his collection, and a first-day cover from 1894 brings back a date, a stamp with a picture of President Garfield and a letter from the past.
• Other ways: Old letters, diaries and family photographs; old coins; museums, monuments and old buildings; folk songs, festivals and family stories told by grandparents.
• The human tendency: We go back to the past for comfort and lessons, live in the present, and plan for the future with hope. This is natural.
• A caution: Charley longs for 1894 and spends nearly all that he and Louisa have on old money. Living only in the past, or only in dreams of the future, can make us neglect the present.

A balance between the three is the healthy way.

Q 7 — Comparison with ‘Adventure’ (p. 7)

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

What to look for: how fantasy enters each story, the biggest difference (Charley reaches the past, Gaitonde stays in the present, in a different world), and the proof in each. Students read ‘Adventure’ in Hornbill in Class XI; the revision notes also give this same answer to this question.

Sample answer — Both stories mix fantasy with reality, but they do it in different ways.

• The Third Level: The story begins in the real world. An ordinary office worker, a railway station and a stamp collection lead into the fantasy: a corridor takes Charley to a third level where it is 1894.
• The Adventure: The story opens with Professor Gaitonde, a historian, already in a different India, where the Marathas won the Battle of Panipat and the British hold only Bombay. He moves through familiar places like Pune, Bombay and the Azad Maidan, and after the adventure he is back in the world he knows.
• Past or present: Charley reaches the past. Gaitonde stays in the present, but in a different world.
• The explanation: Charley’s psychiatrist calls the third level “a waking-dream wish fulfillment”. Rajendra Deshpande explains Gaitonde’s experience with two scientific theories, the catastrophe theory and quantum theory.
• The proof: Sam’s letter, in a first-day cover postmarked July 18, 1894, supports Charley. A page torn from the Bakhar that Gaitonde took from the library supports him.

In both stories the proof makes the fantasy feel real.

1. Mistake: the sentence in question 3 is a line of the story. Correct: ‘The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress.’ is the question’s wording; in the story the psychiatrist friend says “the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it” (p. 1); the question is on p. 6.

2. Mistake: Charley went to the third level that night on purpose, to escape. Correct: He lost his way while looking for the subway: “I wasn’t trying to escape from anything; I just wanted to get home to Louisa, my wife.” (p. 2)

3. Mistake: Charley bought the tickets to Galesburg. Correct: The clerk did not take the bills, “That ain’t money, mister”, and Charley got away quickly (p. 4).

4. Mistake: Charley’s bills were old, so the clerk refused them. Correct: Charley had the bills of his own time; in 1894 “old-style bills, half again as big as the money we use nowadays, and different-looking” were in use. half again as big means one and a half times as big, not half as big (p. 4).

5. Mistake: July 18, 1894 is the date of the newspaper, and Sam’s letter came to Charley’s house by post. Correct: The World was printed on June 11, 1894 (p. 4); July 18, 1894 is the postmark of the first-day cover and the date of Sam’s letter, and the envelope was addressed to Charley’s grandfather’s home in Galesburg (pp. 5–6).

6. Mistake: Charley bought $800 of old-style currency. Correct: Charley drew $300 and got less than $200 in old bills (p. 5); the $800 in old-style currency was bought by Sam (p. 6).

7. Mistake: Sam Weiner and the psychiatrist friend are two different people. Correct: The last line says so: “Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.” (p. 6)

8. Mistake: the story proves that the third level is real, or that it was all Charley’s dream. Correct: The story gives lines for both sides and leaves the decision to the reader; see How the story argues above. Answers should carry words such as Charley says or the story suggests (pp. 1–6).

Students should learn to write these in quotation marks, in the book’s spelling. One correct line ties the whole answer to the story.

E1, E2 and E4 are long-answer questions in the question bank.

These questions can come up as you teach. Each answer rests on a line of the book.

Is the third level really there?

Sample answer — The story does not say. Both readings have lines to support them:

• A dream: The psychiatrist friend calls it “a waking-dream wish fulfillment”, and Charley has “never again found the corridor”.
• Real: The first-day cover is postmarked July 18, 1894, and “the postmark proves the date”; Sam has disappeared, and his letter says “I found the third level!”

The writer leaves the choice to the reader.

Sam was a psychiatrist, so why did he go away himself?

Sample answer — His letter gives the answer: “I got to wishing that you were right. Then I got to believing you were right.” Charley adds that a hay, feed and grain business was “what he really wished he could do”. So the psychiatrist had a wish of his own.

How did a letter of 1894 come into Charley’s collection?

Sample answer — It was mailed to Charley’s grandfather at his home in Galesburg, and “Naturally, when the envelope came to Granddad in the mail, it went right into his collection and stayed there — till I took it out and opened it.” The grandfather had started Charley’s collection.

Charley had got the old bills, so why did he not go back for the tickets?

Sample answer — He could not find the way: “But I’ve never again found the corridor that leads to the third level at Grand Central Station, although I’ve tried often enough.”

Why does Charley keep asking us questions?

Sample answer — He tells the story in the first person and speaks to the reader like a friend: “Have you ever been there?” and “Well, do you know what a first-day cover is?” This keeps us involved and makes the strange story easier to believe.

Louisa used to object; why is she looking for the third level now too?

Sample answer — At first she “was pretty worried” and “didn’t want me to look for the third level any more”. After Sam’s letter, Charley says, “now we’re both looking, every weekend, because now we have proof that the third level is still there.”

• Keep the open question open: Do not declare the third level real, and do not declare it a dream. Put both sides before the class, with their lines, and when students choose a side, have them prove it from a line.
• In Charley’s words: Everything in the story is something Charley says. His “I suppose”, “maybe” and “sort of suspected” should stay in the answers too.
• Names as printed: The book gives no first names for President Roosevelt, President Cleveland and President Garfield, and calls the station Grand Central Station. Have students write the same in their answers.
• The book’s spelling: Inside a quote, the words stay as printed: fulfillment, mustache, centre, the Daly’s, fire-flies, Granddad.
• Our own suggestion — board and chart: The board is shared with other classes, so anything needed through the whole chapter (the two dates, the table of the present and 1894) should be made on chart paper. No projector is needed; the book and the board are enough.

1. The claim: Charley says that Grand Central Station has three levels; his psychiatrist friend calls this a waking-dream wish fulfillment (p. 1).
2. 1894 on the third level: open-flame gaslights, old-fashioned clothes, and the front page of The World, June 11, 1894 (pp. 3–4).
3. Tickets to Galesburg: Charley asks for two tickets; the clerk does not take his bills (p. 4).
4. Old bills, a closed way: $300 buys less than $200 in old-style bills; the corridor is never found again (p. 5).
5. The proof: the first-day cover, the postmark July 18, 1894, and Sam’s letter inside (pp. 5–6).
6. The last line: Sam was Charley’s psychiatrist; whether the third level is real, the story leaves open (p. 6).

For practice: the question bank, the flashcards and the quiz.