You cannot answer these questions by learning lines by heart. You have to read the lines of the story, draw a conclusion from the evidence, compare, and prove your point with a line from the story. In Part A, every case comes with a passage from the story, but some questions also need you to remember the story beyond the passage; for Parts B, C and D, keep the book beside you. First write your own answer in English, then open the answer given with the question and compare. The marks only give a rough idea of how long an answer should be.
What the stars mean: A ★line is the main point of the answer, so read those lines first when you revise. A ! line points to a slip that students often make.
Part A — Case-based questions
Case 1 — The claim of three levels and what the psychiatrist says (p. 1)
“THE presidents of the New York Central and the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroads will swear on a stack of timetables that there are only two. But I say there are three, because I’ve been on the third level of the Grand Central Station. Yes, I’ve taken the obvious step: I talked to a psychiatrist friend of mine, among others. I told him about the third level at Grand Central Station, and he said it was a waking-dream wish fulfillment. 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.”
1What do the presidents of the railroads say, and what does Charley say, about the levels of Grand Central Station? 2 marks
Show answer
The railroads’ presidents say there are only two levels, but Charley says there are three. (p. 1)
- ★The presidents “will swear on a stack of timetables that there are only two”.
- ★Charley’s reason is that he has “been on the third level of the Grand Central Station”.
2What does Charley’s psychiatrist friend say the third level is, and what does he mean when he says Charley is unhappy? 3 marks
Show answer
The psychiatrist friend calls the third level “a waking-dream wish fulfillment” and says Charley is unhappy. (p. 1)
- ★By unhappy he meant that “the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it, and that I just want to escape”.
- ★Charley’s own reply is: “Everybody I know wants to escape, but they don’t wander down into any third level at Grand Central Station.”
- ! Write the psychiatrist friend says, because this is his view, as Charley reports it.
So, in the psychiatrist’s view, the third level is a wish to escape, while Charley says it is a place he has been to.
3Suppose a student writes: In the story, Charley says that the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress. (This statement is made up.) Check it. 3 marks
Show answer
The statement is wrong in two ways. (pp. 1, 6)
- ★The line is not the story’s own. The story has “the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it”; the word “stress” comes from Q3 of Reading with Insight on page 6.
- ★The speaker is wrong. The psychiatrist friend says it, and Charley only reports it.
So quote the story’s own words, and say whose they are.
Case 2 — From the corridor to the third level (p. 3)
“The corridor I was in began angling left and slanting downward and I thought that was wrong, but I kept on walking. All I could hear was the empty sound of my own footsteps and I didn’t pass a soul. Then I heard that sort of hollow roar ahead that means open space and people talking. The tunnel turned sharp left; I went down a short flight of stairs and came out on the third level at Grand Central Station. For just a moment I thought I was back on the second level, but I saw the room was smaller, there were fewer ticket windows and train gates, and the information booth in the centre was wood and old-looking. And the man in the booth wore a green eyeshade and long black sleeve protectors. The lights were dim and sort of flickering. Then I saw why; they were open-flame gaslights.”
1Describe the corridor Charley is in, and what he hears before he reaches the third level. 2 marks
Show answer
The corridor is empty and slopes downward, and then Charley hears a crowd ahead. (p. 3)
- ★It “began angling left and slanting downward”, and Charley “thought that was wrong, but I kept on walking”.
- ★He hears only “the empty sound of my own footsteps” and does not pass a soul.
- ★Then comes “that sort of hollow roar ahead that means open space and people talking”.
After that the tunnel turns sharp left, and a short flight of stairs brings him to the third level.
2How does Charley see that this room is different from the second level? Give three details. 3 marks
Show answer
Charley sees that the room is smaller, older and lit by flames. (p. 3)
- ★The room is “smaller”, with “fewer ticket windows and train gates”.
- ★The information booth in the centre is “wood and old-looking”, and the man in it wears “a green eyeshade and long black sleeve protectors”.
- ★The lights are “dim and sort of flickering” because “they were open-flame gaslights”.
At first Charley is fooled: “For just a moment I thought I was back on the second level”.
Case 3 — The newspaperThe World (p. 4)
“To make sure, I walked over to a 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 June 11, 1894.”
1How does Charley make sure of the year, and what does he find? 2 marks
Show answer
To make sure of the year, Charley glances at the newspapers at the newsboy’s feet. (p. 4)
- ★The paper is The World, and “The World hasn’t been published for years”.
- ★Its lead story “said something about President Cleveland”.
- ★Later Charley finds the same front page “in the Public Library files”, and “it was printed June 11, 1894”.
Charley goes to the newsboy “To make sure”; a moment before, at the sight of “a very small Currier & Ives locomotive with a funnel-shaped stack”, he says, “And then I knew.”
2Suppose a student writes: On the third level, Charley saw a newspaper dated July 18, 1894. (This statement is made up.) Check it. 2 marks
Show answer
The statement is wrong. The front page of The World was “printed June 11, 1894”. (p. 4)
- ★July 18, 1894 is the date of the postmark on the first-day cover (p. 5) and of Sam’s letter (p. 6).
- ! Keep the two dates apart: June 11, 1894 is the newspaper; July 18, 1894 is the cover and the letter.
Case 4 — At the ticket window (p. 4)
“The clerk figured the fare — he glanced at my fancy hatband, 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 you’re 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 bills, half again as big as the money we use nowadays, and different-looking. I turned away and got out fast. There’s nothing nice about jail, even in 1894.”
1Why does the clerk say, “That ain’t money, mister”? 2 marks
Show answer
The clerk does not accept Charley’s bills and thinks Charley is trying to cheat him. (p. 4)
- ★The money of 1894 was “old-style bills, half again as big as the money we use nowadays, and different-looking”.
- ★So Charley’s modern bills do not look like money to the clerk, who warns him: “if you’re trying to skin me, you won’t get very far”.
2How does the clerk behave before and after Charley counts out the money, and what does Charley do? 3 marks
Show answer
The clerk starts by helping Charley and ends by suspecting him. (p. 4)
- ★First he “figured the fare”, though he “glanced at my fancy hatband”, and Charley “had enough for two coach tickets, one way”.
- ★Then, when Charley counted out the money, “the clerk was staring at me”, and he “glanced at the cash drawer beside him”.
- ★Charley leaves at once: “I turned away and got out fast.”
- ! Charley does not buy the tickets.
Charley adds, “There’s nothing nice about jail, even in 1894.”
Case 5 — The first-day cover (p. 5)
“Because one night, fussing with my stamp collection, I found — Well, do you know what a first-day cover is? When a new stamp is issued, stamp collectors buy some and use them to mail envelopes to themselves on the very first day of sale; and the postmark proves the date. The envelope is called a first-day cover. They’re never opened; you just put blank paper in the envelope.”
“That night, among my oldest first-day covers, I found one that shouldn’t have been there. But there it was. It was there because someone had mailed it to my grandfather at his home in Galesburg; that’s what the address on the envelope said. And it had been there since July 18, 1894 — the postmark showed that — yet I didn’t remember it at all. The stamp was a six-cent, dull brown, with a picture of President Garfield. 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.”
1What is a first-day cover? 2 marks
Show answer
A first-day cover is an envelope that stamp collectors mail to themselves on the first day a new stamp is sold. (p. 5)
- ★“the postmark proves the date”.
- Such covers are “never opened”; “you just put blank paper in the envelope”.
2Why does Charley say that this first-day cover “shouldn’t have been there”? What is strange about it? 3 marks
Show answer
The cover is strange because it was mailed in 1894 to Charley’s grandfather, yet Charley finds it in his own collection. (pp. 5, 6)
- ★“someone had mailed it to my grandfather at his home in Galesburg”, and the postmark showed July 18, 1894.
- ★The stamp was “a six-cent, dull brown, with a picture of President Garfield”.
- ★It went into the grandfather’s collection and stayed there “till I took it out and opened it”.
- ★A first-day cover should hold blank paper, but on page 6 “The paper inside wasn’t blank.”
This cover is the “proof” Charley means when he says, “now we have proof that the third level is still there”.
Case 6 — Sam’s letter and the end of the story (p. 6)
Sam’s letter (after the address and date):
“I got to wishing that you were right. Then I got to believing you were right. And, Charley, it’s true; I found the third level! I’ve been here two weeks, and right now, down the street at the Daly’s, someone is playing a piano, and they’re all out on the front porch singing ‘Seeing Nelly Home.’ And I’m invited over for lemonade. Come on back, Charley and Louisa. Keep looking till you find the third level! It’s worth it, believe me!”
The last part of the story:
“At the stamp and coin store I go to, I found out that Sam bought eight hundred dollars’ worth of old-style currency. That ought to set him up in a nice little hay, feed and grain business; he always said that’s what he really wished he could do, and he certainly can’t go back to his old business. Not in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1894. His old business? Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.”
1What does Sam tell Charley in his letter? 3 marks
Show answer
Sam tells Charley that he has found the third level and has been there two weeks. (p. 6)
- ★He writes, “it’s true; I found the third level!”, and says, “I’ve been here two weeks”.
- He describes the evening: “someone is playing a piano”, and he is “invited over for lemonade”.
- ★He asks Charley and Louisa to “Come on back” and “Keep looking till you find the third level!”
The letter is from 941 Willard Street, Galesburg, Illinois, and is dated July 18, 1894.
2What does the last paragraph tell us about Sam? 3 marks
Show answer
The last paragraph tells us what Sam bought, what he may do in Galesburg, and who he was. (p. 6)
- ★Charley “found out that Sam bought eight hundred dollars’ worth of old-style currency”.
- Charley thinks it “ought to set him up in a nice little hay, feed and grain business”, which “he always said … he really wished he could do”.
- ★The last line says, “Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.”
So the man who was Charley’s psychiatrist is the man who now writes, “I got to wishing that you were right.”
Part B — Reasoning and evaluation
1Is the third level real? Argue from the lines of the story. 4 marks
Show answer
The story does not settle this question; it gives lines for both readings. (pp. 1, 4–6)
- ★Reading 1, a wish and not a place: the psychiatrist friend calls it “a waking-dream wish fulfillment”; Charley says, “Everybody I know wants to escape”; and he has “never again found the corridor that leads to the third level at Grand Central Station”.
- ★Reading 2, a real place: the front page of The World that Charley later finds “in the Public Library files” was “printed June 11, 1894”; “My friend Sam Weiner disappeared!”; a first-day cover postmarked July 18, 1894 holds a letter that says, “I found the third level!”; and Charley says, “now we have proof that the third level is still there”.
- ! Do not write either reading as the story’s own answer. Write Charley says for what only his word supports.
The story ends with Charley’s telling and leaves the final decision to the reader.
2Suppose a student writes: Charley went to Grand Central that night to escape from his worries. (This statement is made up.) Check it. 3 marks
Show answer
The statement is wrong. Charley himself says, “I wasn’t trying to escape from anything; I just wanted to get home to Louisa, my wife.” (p. 2)
- ★He went there to take the subway home: “I decided to take the subway from Grand Central because it’s faster than the bus”.
- ★He reached the third level by getting lost: he “ducked into an arched doorway heading for the subway — and got lost”.
- ! Charley does long for 1894 later, once he sees it: “I wanted two tickets for that.” (p. 4) That longing comes on the same night, after he gets lost, not before.
3Suppose a student writes: Charley bought two tickets to Galesburg and went there. (This statement is made up.) Check it. 2 marks
Show answer
The statement is wrong. The clerk would not take Charley’s money, and “I turned away and got out fast.” (p. 4)
- ★Next day Charley “drew three hundred dollars out of the bank” and bought old-style currency (p. 5).
- ★But he has “never again found the corridor that leads to the third level at Grand Central Station”.
4Who tells the story, and how does his way of telling make the third level feel believable? 3 marks
Show answer
Charley tells the story himself, in the first person, and he talks to the reader. (pp. 2, 4, 5)
- ★He calls himself “just an ordinary guy named Charley, thirty-one years old”.
- ★He asks the reader questions: “Have you ever been there?” (p. 4) and “Well, do you know what a first-day cover is?” (p. 5).
- ★Talking like a friend makes even an odd event sound believable.
- ! Everything, even Sam’s letter, reaches us through Charley. Write Charley says for what only his word supports.
So the way of telling helps us believe him, but the final decision still rests with the reader.
5Does the story show 1894 as a perfect time? Give lines for and against. 3 marks
Show answer
Not completely. Charley’s picture of 1894 is warm, but the story also shows a worry there. (pp. 1, 4)
- ★For: Charley pictures Galesburg in 1894 as “a peaceful world”, where “summer evenings were twice as long” (p. 4), and his grandfather’s day was “pretty nice and peaceful in his day, from all I hear” (p. 1).
- ★Against: the clerk suspects Charley of cheating, and Charley says, “There’s nothing nice about jail, even in 1894.” (p. 4)
- ! For his grandfather’s day Charley says only “from all I hear”. Write that 1894 looks peaceful to Charley, not that it was perfect.
6How do Charley’s stamps link the beginning of the story with its end? 3 marks
Show answer
The hobby that his friends call a refuge is the place where Charley finds the proof. (pp. 1, 5)
- ★At the beginning his friends call his stamp collecting “a ‘temporary refuge from reality.’”, but Charley says his grandfather “started my collection”.
- ★Later “among my oldest first-day covers, I found one that shouldn’t have been there”, and it holds Sam’s letter.
So the stamps, which the friends see as a way of escape, give the evidence that the third level may be real.
7Suppose a student writes: Sam Weiner was never Charley’s psychiatrist. (This statement is made up.) Check it. 2 marks
Show answer
The statement is wrong. The last line of the story says, “Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.” (p. 6)
- ★Charley first calls him “My friend Sam Weiner” (p. 5), so Sam is both his friend and his psychiatrist.
Part C — Comparison and classification
1Compare Charley’s present with the 1894 that he sees on the third level and pictures in Galesburg. Use a table. 4 marks
Show answer
| Topic | Charley’s present | 1894 | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clothes | Charley wears “a tan gabardine suit and a straw hat with a fancy band” | a man wears “a derby hat, a black four-button suit with tiny lapels”; a woman wears “a dress with leg-of-mutton sleeves” | 2, 3, 4 |
| Trains | the first level is “where you take trains like the Twentieth Century” | “a very small Currier & Ives locomotive with a funnel-shaped stack” | 2, 4 |
| Money | “the money we use nowadays” | “old-style bills, half again as big as the money we use nowadays, and different-looking” | 4 |
| Evenings | Charley “worked late at the office” | “summer evenings were twice as long, and people sat out on their lawns” | 2, 4 |
| War | the psychiatrist friend’s words: “the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it” | “the First World War still twenty years off, and World War II over forty years in the future” | 1, 4 |
★What to look for: every row has a line from the book on both sides. Everything about 1894 is what Charley sees on the third level or pictures about Galesburg; write Charley sees or Charley pictures, and do not turn it into a separate historical fact.
2Compare Charley and Sam Weiner in a table. 4 marks
Show answer
| Topic | Charley | Sam Weiner | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Link with Galesburg | “I went to school there” | “he always said he liked the sound of the place” | 5 |
| Reaching the third level | gets lost on the way to the subway and comes out on the third level; never finds the corridor again | writes, “I found the third level!” | 2, 3, 5, 6 |
| Money | “My three hundred dollars bought less than two hundred in old-style bills” | “Sam bought eight hundred dollars’ worth of old-style currency” | 5, 6 |
| What next | Charley and Louisa are “both looking, every weekend” | Charley thinks the money “ought to set him up in a nice little hay, feed and grain business” | 5, 6 |
★What to look for: the big difference between the two is that Charley is still looking and Sam has arrived.
! It was Sam who bought the eight hundred dollars’ worth. Charley’s three hundred dollars bought less than two hundred in old-style bills.
3Sort these eight facts under Charley, Louisa, Sam, the grandfather or the ticket clerk. (a) drew three hundred dollars out of the bank; (b) bought eight hundred dollars’ worth of old-style currency; (c) started the stamp collection; (d) was pretty worried about the third level; (e) was sent the first-day cover at his home in Galesburg; (f) wrote “Come on back”; (g) said “That ain’t money, mister”; (h) went to school in Galesburg. 4 marks
| Fact | Who | Words from the book | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| (a) | |||
| (b) | |||
| (c) | |||
| (d) | |||
| (e) | |||
| (f) | |||
| (g) | |||
| (h) |
Show answer
| Fact | Who | Words from the book | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| (a) | Charley | “I drew three hundred dollars out of the bank, nearly all we had” | 5 |
| (b) | Sam | “Sam bought eight hundred dollars’ worth of old-style currency” | 6 |
| (c) | the grandfather | “he started my collection” | 1 |
| (d) | Louisa | “Louisa was pretty worried when I told her all this” | 5 |
| (e) | the grandfather | “someone had mailed it to my grandfather at his home in Galesburg” | 5 |
| (f) | Sam | “Come on back, Charley and Louisa.” | 6 |
| (g) | the ticket clerk | “That ain’t money, mister” | 4 |
| (h) | Charley | “I went to school there” | 5 |
★What to look for: first find the line for each fact on the page, then write the name. (b) and (e) cause the most mistakes: (b) is Sam’s, not Charley’s; in (e) the cover was sent to Charley’s grandfather, not to Charley.
Part D — Project and activity
1. The timeline of the story (pp. 4–6)
The story gives these dates and time marks: the front page of The World was printed on June 11, 1894 (p. 4); in Galesburg the First World War is “still twenty years off” and World War II is “over forty years in the future” (p. 4); the postmark on the first-day cover is July 18, 1894 (p. 5); Sam’s letter is also dated July 18, 1894, and says “I’ve been here two weeks” (p. 6).
1Draw a long line in your notebook and mark 1894 on it.
2At the 1894 mark write two dates: June 11, 1894 (The World) and July 18, 1894 (the postmark of the cover and Sam’s letter).
3At the right-hand end of the line write Charley’s present.
4Put two more marks beyond 1894, one twenty years on and one forty years on, and write Charley’s words under them: “still twenty years off” and “over forty years in the future”. Do not write the years; the book does not give them.
5Under each mark write the page of the book.
You have finished when June 11, 1894 comes before July 18, 1894, both later marks come after 1894, and every mark has a page written under it.
2. A chart of the characters (pp. 1–6)
Make a chart of these five characters, with one line for each: Charley, “I’m just an ordinary guy named Charley, thirty-one years old” (p. 2); Louisa, “Louisa was pretty worried when I told her all this” (p. 5); Sam Weiner, “Sam was my psychiatrist” (p. 6); the grandfather, “he started my collection” (p. 1); the ticket clerk, “if you’re trying to skin me, you won’t get very far” (p. 4).
1Draw four columns in your notebook: Name, Role in the story, Line from the book, One thing the person does.
2Fill in a row for each of the five characters; put the line given above in the third column.
3For the role and for the action, write one English sentence each. Begin each sentence with the character’s name, for example Louisa …; do not begin with he or she.
You have finished when each character’s row has the name, the line with its page, and a full English sentence.
3. Charley’s reply to Sam (p. 6)
Sam writes in his letter: “Come on back, Charley and Louisa. Keep looking till you find the third level! It’s worth it, believe me!” (p. 6). About Charley, the book tells us this: he and Louisa are now “both looking, every weekend” (p. 5); Charley has “never again found” the corridor (p. 5); and in his eyes, in 1894 “summer evenings were twice as long” (p. 4).
Suppose Charley writes a reply to Sam. (This is made up.)
1Write a short letter in English, of five or six lines, that begins with Dear Sam, and ends with Charley.
2Tell Sam what Charley and Louisa are doing, and that they have still not found the corridor.
3Answer Sam’s “It’s worth it”.
4Add one thing about the evenings of 1894.
You have finished when the letter has all three points above and does not clash with any fact of the story, such as a date or the money.
4. Where Charley speaks to the reader (pp. 1, 4, 5)
Charley speaks straight to the reader several times in the story. Two examples: “Have you ever been there?” (p. 4) and “Well, do you know what a first-day cover is?” (p. 5).
1In pairs, read pages 1, 4 and 5 aloud.
2Mark with a pencil every place where Charley asks the reader a question or talks to the reader directly.
3Besides the two examples above, write at least one more place in a list, with its page; “Well, who doesn’t?” on page 1 is one such place.
You have finished when your list has at least three places and each has a page written beside it.
Check your own answer
| In your answer you | Then |
|---|---|
| wrote that the third level is only real or only a dream | Solve Part B, Q.1 again; write both readings and a line for each. |
| called the line in Reading with Insight Q3 a line from the story, or called it Charley’s remark | Solve Case 1, Q.3 again; the story’s words are “all the rest of it” and the speaker is the psychiatrist friend. |
| wrote that Charley went there that night to escape | Solve Part B, Q.2 again; write the line from page 2 as well. |
| wrote that Charley bought the tickets to Galesburg | Solve Case 4 and Part B, Q.3 again. |
| gave the date of The World as July 18, 1894 | Solve Case 3, Q.2 again; June 11, 1894 is the date of the newspaper, and July 18, 1894 is the date of the cover and the letter. |
| wrote that Sam’s letter came by post to Charley’s house | Solve Case 5, Q.2 again; the cover was sent to the address of Charley’s grandfather in Galesburg. |
| gave the eight hundred dollars to Charley | Solve Part C, Q.2 and Q.3 again; Sam bought them. |
| wrote Sam only as Charley’s friend | Solve Case 6, Q.2 and Part B, Q.7 again; also write the line from page 6: “Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.” |
| turned Charley’s word into a plain fact, such as everyone was happy in 1894 | Solve Part B, Q.5 again; write Charley says or Charley pictures. |
| wrote the line from the story, its page, and the conclusion drawn from it, all three | The answer is complete. |
Find the row that fits your answer, solve the question it names again, and compare your answer with the answer given for that question.