This page helps you revise Jack Finney’s story “The Third Level” before the exam. It gives the book’s lines, the meanings of words and all the model answers in the English you will write in the exam. Page numbers are from the 2026-27 reprint of Vistas. The story is about an ordinary man named Charley, who loses his way in Grand Central Station and reaches a third level where the year is 1894, and whom other people do not believe.
What the stars mean: ★★asked directly in the book’s questions (Read and find out, pp. 1 and 5; Reading with Insight, pp. 6–7) · ★useful in those answers · no star: background.
1. The story at a glance
Charley tells his own story. He says that Grand Central Station has not two levels but three, and that on the third level the year is 1894. His psychiatrist friend calls this a “waking-dream wish fulfillment”, but at the end of the story an old first-day cover and the last line raise a big question about that explanation.
Events of the story, in order
2. The story, part by part★★
Book pp. 1–6
1. The claim of three levels: The presidents of the railroads say that Grand Central Station has only two levels, but Charley says there are three, because he has been to the third level. His psychiatrist friend calls it a “waking-dream wish fulfillment”: Charley is unhappy and wants to escape the worries of the modern world. Charley’s friends call even his stamp collecting a way of escaping reality, but Charley reminds them that the collection was started by his grandfather, whose days were peaceful.
2. Getting lost in Grand Central: One night last summer, Charley works late at the office and goes into Grand Central to take the subway so that he can get home early. He calls himself “just an ordinary guy”, who was not running away from anything and only wanted to go home to his wife Louisa. After going down from the first level to the second, he turns into an arched doorway and loses his way. Charley feels that Grand Central is growing like a tree, with new corridors coming out like roots.
3. Reaching the third level: The corridor turns to the left and slopes downward, and Charley comes out on the third level. The room is small, there are few ticket windows, the information booth is made of wood and looks old, and the light comes from open-flame gaslights. Charley sees brass spittoons, a gold watch, a derby hat, a handlebar mustache, leg-of-mutton sleeves and a small Currier & Ives locomotive; everyone is dressed like “eighteen-ninety-something”.
4. The newspaper confirms the year: To be sure, Charley looks at the papers kept by a newsboy: The World, a paper that has not been printed for years. Its lead story is about President Cleveland. Later Charley found the same front page in the Public Library files: “it was printed June 11, 1894”.
5. Two tickets to Galesburg: Charley realizes that from here he can go anywhere in the United States of 1894 with Louisa, and he asks for two tickets to Galesburg, Illinois. For Charley, Galesburg is a quiet town with big old frame houses, big lawns and tall trees, where the First World War is still twenty years away. The clerk adds up the fare, but when he looks at the bills he says “That ain’t money, mister” and suspects that he is being cheated, because the old-style bills of 1894 were half as big again as today’s notes and looked different. Afraid of jail, Charley hurries out.
6. Old bills, but the way is closed: The next day, in his lunch hour, Charley draws $300 from the bank, “nearly all we had”, and buys old-style currency. He gets old bills worth less than $200, but he does not care, because in 1894 eggs were thirteen cents a dozen. Even so, he never finds the corridor again. Louisa is worried, and after some time Charley gives up the search and goes back to his stamps.
7. Sam Weiner disappears, and the proof turns up: Charley’s friend Sam Weiner suddenly disappears. Charley went to school in Galesburg and used to keep telling Sam about the town. In Charley’s words “Sam’s a city boy”, and Sam liked what he heard about Galesburg. One night, among his oldest first-day covers, Charley finds one that was sent to his grandfather’s home address in Galesburg: the postmark is July 18, 1894, and the stamp is a six-cent, dull brown one with a picture of President Garfield. Charley opens it.
8. Sam’s letter and the final twist: Inside the envelope is a letter from Sam. Sam has found the third level and has been in Galesburg for two weeks, a piano is playing at the Daly’s, and he invites Charley and Louisa: “Come on back, Charley and Louisa”. At the stamp and coin store, Charley learns that Sam had bought $800 worth of old-style currency. By Charley’s reckoning, that is enough for Sam to start the hay, feed and grain business he always wanted. The last line reveals that Sam was Charley’s psychiatrist.
3. Characters★★
Book pp. 1–6
| Character | Who this is | What the character is like (with a line from the book) | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charley | The narrator; thirty-one years old, Louisa’s husband, a stamp collector | Calls himself an ordinary man; is drawn to an older, quieter time and keeps looking for the third level: “I’m just an ordinary guy named Charley, thirty-one years old” | 1–6 |
| Louisa | Charley’s wife | At first she is worried and does not want Charley to look for the third level; after Sam’s letter she, too, searches every weekend: “Louisa was pretty worried when I told her all this” | 5 |
| Sam Weiner | Charley’s friend; the last line reveals that he was Charley’s psychiatrist | Charley’s psychiatrist, most likely the friend who called the third level wish fulfillment, goes to the Galesburg of 1894 himself; he had always wanted a hay, feed and grain business: “Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.” | 1, 5–6 |
| the grandfather | Charley’s grandfather, whose home was in Galesburg; he started Charley’s stamp collection | A man of a peaceful time, who did not need to escape from reality: “my grandfather didn’t need any refuge from reality” | 1, 5 |
| the ticket clerk | The man at the ticket window on the third level | Careful and suspicious: he adds up the fare even after seeing Charley’s fancy hatband, then suspects a swindle when he sees the bills: “if you’re trying to skin me, you won’t get very far” | 4 |
4. Themes of the story★★
Book pp. 1–6 · Each theme comes with the line in which it shows.
Escape from the modern world: According to the psychiatrist friend, the modern world is full of fear and worry, and Charley only wants to escape. Charley himself admits that everyone wants to escape; the third level and the Galesburg of 1894 become that place of escape for him. Line from the book: “Everybody I know wants to escape, but they don’t wander down into any third level at Grand Central Station.”
The past and the present: For Charley, the past is quiet and beautiful: long evenings, people sitting on their lawns, fire-flies, and both World Wars still far away. The present means working late at the office and the worries of the modern world. Line from the book: “To be back there with the First World War still twenty years off, and World War II over forty years in the future… I wanted two tickets for that.”
Time and space: Grand Central is a single place, yet on its third level the year is 1894: two times meet in one space. The ticket window there can carry a person across both place and time. Line from the book: “I could buy tickets that would take Louisa and me anywhere in the United States we wanted to go. In the year 1894.”
Fantasy and reality: The story makes the fantasy seem true by using real-looking things: Public Library files, coin dealers, first-day covers and postmarks. Against the psychiatrist’s explanation based on reality, Sam’s letter becomes proof of the fantasy. Line from the book: “now we have proof that the third level is still there”
A hobby as a “temporary refuge from reality”: Stamp collecting is Charley’s hobby, and his friends call it a way of escaping reality. When Charley cannot find the third level, he goes back to his stamps, and among those very stamps he finds Sam’s proof. Line from the book: “My stamp collecting, for example; that’s a ‘temporary refuge from reality.’”
5. How the story is told★
Book pp. 1–6 · Each point comes with a line from the book.
- A first-person narrator who talks to the reader: Charley tells the story in the first person, saying I, and every now and then asks the reader direct questions, as if talking to a friend. That makes even a strange thing seem believable. Line from the book: “Well, do you know what a first-day cover is?”
- The question is left open: Is the third level real? The psychiatrist calls it wish fulfillment and Charley never finds the corridor again, but Sam’s letter says something else. The story leaves the final judgment to the reader. Line from the book: “But I’ve never again found the corridor that leads to the third level at Grand Central Station, although I’ve tried often enough.”
- The first-day cover as proof: Charley first explains what a first-day cover is and says that the postmark proves the date; then the same postmark, July 18, 1894, ties Sam’s letter to 1894. Line from the book: “the postmark proves the date”
- The twist at the end: At the start of the story, the psychiatrist friend calls Charley’s account wish fulfillment; the last line reveals that Sam, who has himself gone to 1894, was Charley’s psychiatrist, most likely that same friend. This is irony: the man who explained the third level away has taken the same road. Line from the book: “His old business? Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.”
6. Words to know★
| Word / phrase (as printed) | English meaning | Page |
|---|---|---|
| refuge | a place of safety or escape | 1 |
| waking-dream wish fulfillment | getting, in a daydream, what one wishes for in real life | 1 |
| psychiatrist | a doctor who treats problems of the mind | 1 |
| insecurity | a feeling of not being safe | 1 |
| corridor | a long, narrow passage in a building | 2 |
| open-flame gaslights | lamps that burn gas with an open flame | 3 |
| trying to skin me | trying to cheat me of money | 4 |
| old-style currency | old paper money that is no longer used | 5 |
| premium | an extra amount paid over the usual price | 5 |
| first-day cover | an envelope with a new stamp, mailed on the first day of the stamp’s sale; the postmark proves the date | 5 |
| postmark | the post office’s mark on a letter that shows the date | 5 |
| intersection | a point where two things meet and cross | 6 |
| Apparent illogicality | something that seems to make no sense | 6 |
| futuristic projection | a picture of what may happen in the future | 6 |
| Philately | the collecting and study of postage stamps | 7 |
7. Years, money and names of the story at a glance★
| Detail | What the book says | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Levels of Grand Central | the railroads’ presidents: only two; Charley: three | 1 |
| Charley’s age and clothes | thirty-one; a tan gabardine suit and a straw hat with a fancy band | 2 |
| The first and second levels | first level: trains like the Twentieth Century; second level: suburban trains | 2 |
| Earlier times Charley got lost | once through a tunnel about a mile long into the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel; once into an office building on Forty-sixth Street, three blocks away | 2 |
| The newspaper | The World; the lead story about President Cleveland; printed June 11, 1894 | 4 |
| Where Charley wanted to go | two tickets to Galesburg, Illinois; he had enough for two coach tickets, one way | 4 |
| How far off the two World Wars were | First World War “still twenty years off”; World War II “over forty years in the future” | 4 |
| The money of 1894 | old-style bills, “half again as big as the money we use nowadays” | 4 |
| Charley’s money | drew three hundred dollars, “nearly all we had”; got less than two hundred in old-style bills | 5 |
| Eggs in 1894 | “eggs were thirteen cents a dozen in 1894” | 5 |
| Charley’s link with Galesburg | Charley went to school there; his grandfather’s home was there | 5 |
| The first-day cover | postmark July 18, 1894; a six-cent, dull brown stamp with a picture of President Garfield | 5 |
| Sam’s letter | 941 Willard Street, Galesburg, Illinois, July 18, 1894; “I’ve been here two weeks” | 6 |
| Sam’s money and his dream | eight hundred dollars’ worth of old-style currency; a hay, feed and grain business | 6 |
| Three presidents | President Roosevelt (collected stamps), President Cleveland (the newspaper’s lead story), President Garfield (on the stamp) | 2, 4, 5 |
8. Lines worth remembering★
Book pp. 1–6
- “the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it, and that I just want to escape” (p. 1). Charley says that his psychiatrist friend explained the third level in this way. The story’s theme of escape begins here.
- “My stamp collecting, for example; that’s a ‘temporary refuge from reality.’” (p. 1). Charley’s friends call even his hobby a way of escaping. This same stamp collection later gives the proof in Sam’s letter.
- “Sometimes I think Grand Central is growing like a tree, pushing out new corridors and staircases like roots.” (p. 2). Charley thinks this about Grand Central Station. The image makes the reader ready to believe that the station could hold a passage nobody knows about.
- “I could buy tickets that would take Louisa and me anywhere in the United States we wanted to go. In the year 1894.” (p. 4). Charley understands this as he walks toward the ticket windows of the third level. The meeting of time and space is clearest in this line.
- “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!” (p. 6). Sam Weiner writes this to Charley in his letter. Sam’s journey from wish to belief and from belief to the third level is exactly what the psychiatrist had called wish fulfillment.
- “His old business? Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.” (p. 6). The last line of the story, in Charley’s words. The line shows that Sam Weiner was the psychiatrist friend, and it brings irony to the whole story.
9. Mistakes to avoidWatch out
| Wrong | Right | Page |
|---|---|---|
| The sentence ‘The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress.’ in Reading with Insight question 3 is a line from the story. | These are the words of question 3. In the story, the psychiatrist friend’s words are: “the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it” | 1, 6 |
| Charley went to the third level on purpose that night, to escape. | Charley lost his way while looking for the subway; he says: “I wasn’t trying to escape from anything; I just wanted to get home to Louisa, my wife.” | 2 |
| Charley bought the tickets to Galesburg. | The clerk did not accept his bills (“That ain’t money, mister”), and Charley hurried away. | 4 |
| Sam Weiner and the psychiatrist friend are two different people. | The last line says: “Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.” | 6 |
| On the third level, Charley saw a newspaper of July 18, 1894. | The newspaper The World was printed on June 11, 1894; July 18, 1894 is the date of the first-day cover’s postmark and of Sam’s letter. | 4–6 |
| Sam’s letter reached Charley’s house by post. | The envelope was addressed to the home of Charley’s grandfather in Galesburg; Charley found it among his oldest first-day covers. | 5 |
| Charley bought $800 worth of old-style currency. | Charley drew $300 and got less than $200 in old bills; it was Sam who bought $800 worth of old-style currency. | 5–6 |
10. Check yourself: the book’s questions and answers★★
Think of your own answer to each question first, then open the answer and compare.
Read and find out
Question 1. What does the third level refer to? (p. 1)
Show answer
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. (pp. 1, 3–4)
Question 2. Would Charley ever go back to the ticket-counter on the third level to buy tickets to Galesburg for himself and his wife? (p. 5)
Show answer
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. (p. 5)
Reading with Insight
Question 1. Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?
Show answer
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. Galesburg, Illinois, in 1894 is “a peaceful world”, with long summer evenings and the First World War still twenty years off.
- What he does: He tries to buy two tickets to Galesburg for himself and Louisa. Later he draws three hundred dollars, nearly all he and Louisa 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. (pp. 1–5)
Question 2. What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?
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Answer: Sam’s letter tells us that Sam 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 for the third level: “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 its postmark proves the date.
- Irony: The last line reveals that Sam was Charley’s psychiatrist, most likely the friend who called the third level a wish fulfillment. Now he 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. (pp. 5–6)
Question 3. ‘The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress.’ What are the ways in which we attempt to overcome them?
Show answer
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.
- Travel and nature: A trip to a quiet place gives fresh energy.
- 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. (p. 1)
Note: If you want to quote a line from the story in your answer, write the psychiatrist friend’s words (p. 1): “the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it”.
Question 4. Do you see an intersection of time and space in the story?
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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.
- The station as a tree: Charley imagines Grand Central “growing like a tree”, pushing out new corridors and staircases.
Thus the story joins the present and the past in one place. (pp. 2–6)
Question 5. Apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic projection? Discuss.
Show answer
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. (pp. 1, 5–6)
Question 6. 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?
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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 and currency; museums, monuments and old buildings; folk songs, festivals and family stories told by grandparents; history books and old newspapers kept in libraries.
- 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. (pp. 1–5)
Question 7. You have read ‘Adventure’ by Jayant Narlikar in Hornbill Class XI. Compare the interweaving of fantasy and reality in the two stories.
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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 only after the adventure is he “back in the world I am familiar with”.
- Past or present: Charley reaches the past. Gaitonde stays in the present of another world: “You neither travelled to the past nor to the future. You were in the present but experiencing 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; as Rajendra says, “facts can be stranger than fantasies”. (Vistas, pp. 1–6; Hornbill, pp. 43–52)
Note: Charley reaches the past, while Gaitonde stays in the present in a different world; this is the biggest difference between the two stories.
Quick revision
1. How old is Charley?
Show answer
Answer: Thirty-one years old. (p. 2)
2. What is the name of Charley’s wife?
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Answer: Louisa. (p. 2)
3. What does Charley’s psychiatrist friend call the third level?
Show answer
Answer: A waking-dream wish fulfillment. (p. 1)
4. Which newspaper did Charley see on the third level, and when was it printed?
Show answer
Answer: The World, printed June 11, 1894. (p. 4)
5. Where did Charley want to go from the third level?
Show answer
Answer: To Galesburg, Illinois, with Louisa, in 1894. (p. 4)
6. Why did the ticket clerk refuse Charley’s money?
Show answer
Answer: The money of 1894 was old-style bills, bigger and different-looking, so the clerk thought Charley was trying to cheat him. (p. 4)
7. How much old-style currency did Charley get for three hundred dollars?
Show answer
Answer: Less than two hundred dollars’ worth. (p. 5)
8. What is a first-day cover?
Show answer
Answer: An envelope that stamp collectors mail to themselves on the first day a new stamp is sold; the postmark proves the date. (p. 5)
9. What was the stamp on the first-day cover that held Sam’s letter?
Show answer
Answer: A six-cent, dull brown stamp with a picture of President Garfield. (p. 5)
10. Who was Sam Weiner?
Show answer
Answer: Charley’s friend, who was also his psychiatrist. (pp. 5–6)