Q. What does the third level refer to?
Ans. The third level refers to the subway of the Grand Central Station.
Q. Would Charley ever go back to the ticket-counter on the third level to buy tickets to Galesburg for himself and his wife?
Ans. No, Charlie would never go back to the ticket-counter on the third level to bu tickets to Galesburg for himself and his wife because that was his imagination.
Q. Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?
Ans. The third level was a medium of escape for Charley. Charley was unhappy. In the the modern world, he found insecurity, fear, war, worry and all those things which cause much mental tension. His hobby was stamp collecting. Looking at the old stamps, he dreamt of the past. He thought that life was pretty nice and peaceful in those days.
This made him always desire a journey into the past. He knew that Grand Central had two levels. On the first level there are ultra modern trains like the Twentieth L. century which take you to far away places. On the second level, one can get the trains for suburban stations. Perhaps, it entered his mind, that there could be a third level where passengers could get trains for the cities that existed in the past. So third level became a medium of escape for Charley.
Q. What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?
Ans. Sam’s letter to Charley’s, shows that the psychiatrist Sam also suffered l:: from the same illness which afflicted Charley. He was treating Charley. ,:: While doing so he understood Charley’s malady. However, he wished to find what Charley had accidentally found. One doesn’t know whether he found the third level or not, he was certainly able to find, an escape from the present day world.
Q. ‘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 overcome these difficulties in their own way. To my mind these difficulties of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress have been there in every age. Some people may find them insurmountable but most people take these things in their stride. Not only this, these very things help them to develop into better human beings. Our education can help us a great deal in overcoming these difficulties of proper education has helped us in every field and there is no reason why it should not help us inetting over these negative feelings.
Q. Do you see an intersection of time and space in the story?
Ans. There is the clear intersection of time and space in the story. The year 1894 is seen at the Grand Central of the modern era. Sam lives in a locality of 1894 while his friend Charley is still in a modern locality of the modern times.
Q. Apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic projection? Discuss.
Ans. There is no doubt that apparently, there seems no logic in Charley’s having seen the third level at the Grand Central and meeting there people belonging to a bygone era. Again, it seems even more illogical for Sam to have shifted in a locality of 1894.
However, science has created many wonders. So, if somehow, people are able to travel into the past one day, I should not be surprised. There is a distinct possibility of something like that happening in future. The great scientist Instine wrote many decades back:
“There was a typist names Miss Bright
Who could travel faster than light
Once she travelled the Instinean way
And reached her home the previous night.”
Q. 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?
Ans. Philately i.e. the habit of collecting stamps keeps the past alive because while looking at the old stamps, one is likely to lose oneself in the past. This is done so in many other ways also. The old pictures of people are available and they keep the old memories alive. The history books do so even more. For the common man the same thing is done by old movies. It is human tendency to love the past. It is so because most of us recollect the pleasant memories of our past lives.
In the present we face all kinds of situations. In most cases, people are so burdened with action that they find nothing very beautiful in the present. The same present looks attractive when it becomes the past.
The thought of future makes the life worth living and so we keep on dreaming of our bright future. The truth in that future is nothing but the continuity of the past modified in the form of present.
Q. You have read ‘Adventure’ by Jayant Narlikar in Hornbill Class XI. Compare the interweaving of fantasy and reality in the two stories.
Ans. Fantasy and reality is no doubt woven in both the stories. There is however, a clear difference Jayant Narlikar tries to convince his readers that his fantasy is possible, Jack Finney makes no such attempt. Narlikar’s chief character does not move either into the past or future; he moves into another world of the present. Narlikar tells us that it is possible giving scientific theories. The only similarity is that like the professor in Narlikar’s story, Charley maw also returns back to his modern world.