Chapter 1The Third Level

Why: Charley tells us that the psychiatrist "said it was a waking-dream wish fulfillment": in the psychiatrist’s view, Charley was unhappy and just wanted to escape. The tunnel to Times Square is only Charley’s own guess, and the hobby his grandfather started is stamp collecting.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 1, 2

Why: A refuge is a place of safety or escape: Charley’s friends mean that his stamps give him a short escape from real life. They give the hobby as one more sign that Charley wants to escape.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 1

Why: Charley says his grandfather "didn’t need any refuge from reality" because things were peaceful in his day. The other lines are about the clerk, Charley’s ordinary looks and his getting lost in Grand Central.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 1, 2, 4

Why: Charley had worked late and was in a hurry to get uptown to his apartment, so he decided to take the subway "because it’s faster than the bus". He says, "I wasn’t trying to escape from anything; I just wanted to get home to Louisa, my wife."

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 2

Why: Charley says he "was wearing a tan gabardine suit and a straw hat with a fancy band". The derby hat and four-button suit, the green eyeshade and the gold watch belong to men he sees on the third level.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 2, 3

Why: Charley says, "Sometimes I think Grand Central is growing like a tree, pushing out new corridors and staircases like roots." The image makes it easy to believe in a long tunnel "that nobody knows about".

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 2

Why: Charley says, "The lights were dim and sort of flickering. Then I saw why; they were open-flame gaslights." They are one of the first signs of an older time, along with the wooden, old-looking information booth.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 3

Why: "To make sure, I walked over to a newsboy and glanced at the stack of papers at his feet," says Charley. The paper was The World, and its lead story "said something about President Cleveland".

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 4

Why: Charley found that front page later in the Public Library files, "and it was printed June 11, 1894." July 18, 1894 is the date of the postmark on the first-day cover and of Sam’s letter.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 4, 5, 6

Why: Charley says, "The stamp was a six-cent, dull brown, with a picture of President Garfield." President Cleveland is in the lead story of The World, and President Roosevelt is the one who "collected stamps too".

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 2, 4, 5

Why: The clerk at the third-level ticket window figured the fare, then stared at Charley’s bills and said, "That ain’t money, mister." The money of 1894 was old-style bills, bigger than Charley’s and different-looking.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 4

Why: The clerk thinks Charley is trying to cheat him with money that is not real, so he glances at the cash drawer beside him. ‘Skin’ here is spoken English for cheating someone of money.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 4

Why: Charley says, "My three hundred dollars bought less than two hundred in old-style bills, but I didn’t care". Eight hundred dollars’ worth of old-style currency is what Sam Weiner bought.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 5, 6

Why: A premium is an extra amount paid over the usual price. That is why Charley’s three hundred dollars bought less than two hundred in old-style bills.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 5

Why: Sam Weiner disappeared, and Charley found Sam’s letter, dated July 18, 1894, in a first-day cover among his oldest covers. Charley never got the tickets, never found the corridor again, and the railroads’ presidents swear there are only two levels.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 1, 4, 5, 6

Why: When Sam disappeared, "Nobody knew where", but Charley "used to tell him about Galesburg" and Sam "always said he liked the sound of the place". Sam, Charley adds, is "a city boy", and Charley is the one who went to school in Galesburg.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 5

Why: Collectors mail envelopes to themselves "on the very first day of sale; and the postmark proves the date". Charley adds, "They’re never opened; you just put blank paper in the envelope."

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 5

Why: Charley says "someone had mailed it to my grandfather at his home in Galesburg; that’s what the address on the envelope said." 941 Willard Street, Galesburg, is the address Sam wrote at the top of his letter.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 5, 6

Why: The story ends, "His old business? Why, Sam was my psychiatrist." So the friend who called the third level a wish fulfillment has gone to 1894 himself.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 6

Why: The narrator says, "I’m just an ordinary guy named Charley, thirty-one years old", and tells the whole story as "I". Sam Weiner’s voice comes in only through his letter.

Reference: NCERT, Vistas: Supplementary Reader in English (कक्षा 12), अध्याय 1, पृष्ठ 2, 6