Updated on 18/07/2021
1. The Third
Level (Jack Finney)
Main Characters
Ø Charley
Ø Louisa (Charley’s wife)
Ø Sam Weiner (Charley’s psychiatrist
friend)
Main points
Ø The Story about man’s desire to
escape from the realities of life.
Ø Charley is the main character of this
story.
Ø One day he got late at his office and
was in hurry to reach home.
Ø He decided to take the subway from
the Grand Central Station to catch the train.
Ø But he got lost in a wrong corridor
and he found himself on the third level.
Ø There are two levels at Grand Central
Station, New York, but he finds third one also.
Ø When Charley comes to know, he
slipped into past, he wants to go to Galesburg in Illinois with his wife
Louisa.
Ø Galesburg is his dream town, where he
lived in his childhood days.
Ø It was wonderful town, with big
houses, huge lawns & tremendous trees.
Ø He goes to ticket-counter to buy two
tickets for Galesburg.
Ø When he gave modern currency to
booking clerk, he looked & thinks these are fakes & threatens to get
Charley arrested. Charley rushes from there & comes back to present.
Ø He talks to his psychiatrist friend,
Sam Weiner about third level, but he doesn’t believe on it.
Ø Charley to confirm it, tells, a boy
selling newspaper ‘The World’, which has not published for many years, it was
last printed on June 11, 1894.
Ø He thinks it is only imaginary. It is
only way to escape from the worries & tensions of life.
Very Short
Type Q-Ans.
1. Who is the writer of the story ‘The Third Level’?
Ans. Jack Finney
2. Who is the central character of the story ‘The Third Level’?
Ans. Charley
3. How doe Charley make sure that he has reached the past?
Ans. He sees the date on the current
newspaper (11 June 1894)
4. When Charley knows that he has slipped into the past, where does he
want to go?
Ans. To Galesburg, in Illinois
5. When did Charley live in Galesburg?
Ans. In his Childhood
6. What happens when one day Charley is in a hurry to catch the train?
Ans. He reaches the third level
7. For which place does charley wants to purchase tickets?
Ans. Galesburg
8. To whom does Charley talk about the third level?
Ans. To his psychiatrist friend, Sam
Weiner
9. In which year of the past does Charley want to go?
Ans. In 1894
10. One of Charley’s friends disappears. What is his name?
Ans. Sam Weiner
11. Who is Sam Weiner?
Ans. Charley’s psychiatrist friend
12. Who is Louisa?
Ans. Charley’s wife
Short Type Q-Ans.
Q. 1 What does the
third level refer?
Ans. Charley is the main character of this story. There are
two levels at Grand Central Station, New York. But he finds there are one
another also. In this story, the mystery of there being a third level has been
dealt with. One day, by mistake he took a wrong turn and reached the third
level.
Q. 2 Do you think that
the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?
Ans. Yes, the third level was a medium of escape for Charley.
Because he was in worries and tensions of life. So the third level is only way
to escape from the worries and tensions of life. Going to the third level gave
him satisfaction.
Q. 3 How does Charley
reach the third level?
Ans. One day, he decided to take the subway from the Grand
Central Station to catch his train from the second level. But when he reached
there, he got lost in a wrong corridor. He kept walking along the corridor and
he found himself on the third level.
Q. 4 How is the
atmosphere on the third level different?
Ans. There rooms were smaller. Ticket windows and train gates
were very less. The information booth was made of wood. The lights were dim.
There were brass spittoons also.
Q. 5 What does Charley
do to make sure he has reached the past?
Ans. When Charley reached the third level, he saw that there
were fewer ticket windows. The rooms were small. The lights were dim. There
everything was old fashioned. A boy was selling newspaper, ‘The World’ which
had not published for many years.
Q. 6 What does Charley
say about Galesburg?
Ans. He says Galesburg is a wonderful town. There were big
houses, huge lawns and long trees. In summer evenings the people sat on these
lawns and talked with one another. He thought this town was really a heaven of
peace.
Q. 7 Who is Sam Weiner?
What does Charley find out about him?
Ans. Sam Weiner is Charley’s friend. He is a psychiatrist.
Charley talked about the third level to him. He said that it is only imaginary.
Like his other friends, he does not believe on this.
Q. 8 What happens when
Charley goes to the ticket counter to buy two tickets for Galesburg?
Ans. When Charley goes to tickets counter to buy two tickets
for Galesburg. Then he gave modern currency to the booking clerk. The booking
clerk looks the currency and thinks, these are fakes & threatens to get
Charley arrested, Charley rushes from there.
Essay Type Q-Ans.
Q. 1 ‘The modern world
is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress.’ What are the ways in which
we attempt to overcome them?
Ans. People adopt different way to escape the painful
realities of the modern world. At present some people spend their time to play
games, to read books. Sometime they do some creative work as writing, painting,
dancing, cooking etc. There are some other ways as going for a picnic or movie.
They can divert their mind in some hobbies like gardening, painting etc. There
are some who resort themselves to drink and to take drugs to forget their
worries. But this is an undesirable way to escape. These are temporary ways to
escape from these realities.
Q. 2 How does Charley
reach the third level?
Ans. Charley is the main character of this story. One day,
Charley got late at his office. He was in hurry to reach home. He decided to
take the subway from the Grand Central Station. He was to catch his train from
the second level. But when he reached there, he got lost in a wrong corridor.
He kept walking along the corridor which went turning left and slanting
downwards. At its end, he went down a short flight of stairs. When he came out,
he found himself on the third level.
Q. 3 Describe Charley’s experience at the third level?
Ans. When Charley reached the third level, then he saw that
there were fewer ticket windows. The rooms were also smaller. The lights were
dim. There everything was old fashioned. There was a boy who was selling
newspaper, ‘The World’ which has not published for many years. Charley turned
towards the ticket windows. He wanted to go to Galesburg with his wife Louisa.
He lived there in his childhood days. But he found that only old currency was
accepted there. Charley had to come back from there because he had only new
style currency.
Important Spellings & word-meanings
·
Psychiatrist
·
Curious
·
Experience
·
Believe
·
Presidents
·
Obvious
·
Fulfillment
·
Insecurity
·
Collection
·
Practically
·
Gabardine
·
Corridor
·
Twentieth
·
Century
·
Locomotives
·
Tremendous
·
Flickering
·
Premium
·
Disappeared
·
lemonade
Word-meanings
§ Psychiatrist- mental disease expert
§ Uptown - residential area
§ Apartment- flat
§ Subway- underground way
§ Corridor- passage to a building
§ Gabardine – a kind of cloth
§ Slanting- sloping
§ Lemonade- lemon drink
§ Flickering- waving
§ Spittoon- vessel to spit into
§ Locomotives- railway engines
§ Stack – chimney
§ Worth- value
§ Flight – stairs between two landings
§ Tunnel - burrow