This page is for those who sit with a Class XII child at home. You do not need to remember this story or to be good at English: next to every question we say what the answer should contain. Where a line of the book is quoted, we have kept it exactly as printed, so that you can recognise it in your child’s answer.
With a Class XII child, asking them to explain works better than quizzing them. Tell them: Explain this story to me; I have not read it. While explaining, the child finds out for themselves which points are firm and which are shaky.
The book’s own lines are given in quotation marks, with page numbers. Page numbers are from the 2026-27 reprint of Vistas.
1. What the story is about
This is Jack Finney’s story “The Third Level”. An ordinary man named Charley tells it himself. Charley says that Grand Central Station has not two but three levels, and that on the third level the year is 1894. Everything that follows reaches us through Charley’s telling, so get the child into the habit of writing words like Charley says.
| Part | What happens in the story | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The claim of three levels | The railroads’ presidents say there are only two levels, but Charley says there are three. His psychiatrist friend calls it “waking-dream wish fulfillment”. | 1 |
| 2. Getting lost in Grand Central | Charley sets out for home by subway, turns into an arched doorway and loses his way. | 2 |
| 3. Reaching the third level | The corridor turns left and slopes downward. Below is a small room with fewer ticket windows, a wooden information booth and light from gaslights. | 3 |
| 4. The newspaper | The newsboy has copies of The World. Its lead story says something about President Cleveland. | 4 |
| 5. Tickets to Galesburg | Charley asks for two tickets. The clerk looks at the bills and says “That ain’t money, mister”, and Charley gets out of there quickly. | 4 |
| 6. Old money, but the way is closed | Next day Charley draws three hundred dollars and buys old-style currency. He never finds the corridor again. | 5 |
| 7. The first-day cover | Among Charley’s oldest covers is one that was sent to his grandfather’s address in Galesburg. The postmark says July 18, 1894. | 5 |
| 8. Sam’s letter and the last line | Inside the cover is Sam’s letter. The last line is: “Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.” | 6 |
2. A question the story does not answer
Ask the child: is the third level real? The book does not decide. Whatever the child chooses, there must be a line of the book to back it, and for anything that rests only on Charley’s word, the child should write Charley says.
| Reading | Lines from the book | Page |
|---|---|---|
| The third level is a wish of the mind, not a place | The psychiatrist friend calls it “a waking-dream wish fulfillment”. Charley himself says “Well, who doesn’t? Everybody I know wants to escape”, even though he goes on to add that people do not get to a third level. And Charley has not found the corridor again: “I’ve never again found the corridor that leads to the third level at Grand Central Station, although I’ve tried often enough.” | 1, 5 |
| The third level is real | Charley says “now we have proof that the third level is still there”. Sam’s letter says “it’s true; I found the third level!” and Charley found the front page of The World in the Public Library files, “printed June 11, 1894”. | 4–6 |
Do not turn either reading into the story’s answer. Whatever the child writes, ask which line of the other reading goes against it.
3. Learn it from the child: ten questions
Two or three questions a day are enough. It is fine if the child answers in their own words; just make sure the points below come into the answer.
| Question | What the answer should include | Page |
|---|---|---|
| What do the presidents of the railroads and Charley say about how many levels Grand Central Station has? | The presidents say two: they “will swear on a stack of timetables that there are only two”. Charley says three, because he has “been on the third level of the Grand Central Station”. | 1 |
| What did the psychiatrist friend call the third level, and what did he mean? | “a waking-dream wish fulfillment”. He meant that Charley is unhappy: “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 reply: “Everybody I know wants to escape, but they don’t wander down into any third level at Grand Central Station.” | 1 |
| Why was Charley heading home that night, and how did he reach the third level? | Charley had not set out to escape: “I wasn’t trying to escape from anything; I just wanted to get home to Louisa, my wife.” He wanted to take the subway, turned into an arched doorway and lost his way. Then the corridor took him to the third level. | 2–3 |
| How did the room on the third level look different from the second level? | The room was smaller, there were “fewer ticket windows and train gates”, the information booth was “wood and old-looking”, and the light came from “open-flame gaslights”. | 3 |
| How did Charley make sure that the year was 1894? | Charley looked at the newspapers near the newsboy: The World, whose lead story was about President Cleveland. Later Charley found the same front page in the Public Library files, “printed June 11, 1894”. | 4 |
| Why did the clerk not take Charley’s money? | The bills of 1894 were “old-style bills, half again as big as the money we use nowadays”. So the clerk said “That ain’t money, mister”, and suspected cheating: “if you’re trying to skin me, you won’t get very far”. | 4 |
| What did Charley do the next day, and what did he get? | In his lunch hour Charley drew three hundred dollars from the bank, “nearly all we had”, and bought old-style currency. He got “less than two hundred in old-style bills”. | 5 |
| What is a first-day cover, and which cover did Charley find? | When a new stamp goes on sale, collectors mail envelopes to themselves with it on the first day, and “the postmark proves the date”. Among his oldest covers Charley found one that “shouldn’t have been there”: it was sent to his grandfather at an address in Galesburg, the postmark was July 18, 1894, and the stamp was “a six-cent, dull brown, with a picture of President Garfield”. | 5 |
| What did Sam write in his letter? | The letter is from 941 Willard Street, Galesburg, Illinois, dated July 18, 1894. Sam writes “it’s true; I found the third level!” and “I’ve been here two weeks”. He invites Charley and Louisa: “Come on back, Charley and Louisa.” | 6 |
| What does the last line of the story tell us? | At the stamp and coin store Charley finds out that Sam bought “eight hundred dollars’ worth of old-style currency”. The last line is: “His old business? Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.” | 6 |
4. Seven things children often mix up
If the child says or writes any of these, stop right there and ask: where does the book say this?
| The child writes | What is correct | Page |
|---|---|---|
| The sentence in Reading with Insight Q3 is a line from the story | This sentence is printed in Q3: ‘The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress.’ In the story, Charley reports the psychiatrist friend’s words like this: “the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it”. | 1, 6 |
| Charley went to the third level that night in order to escape | Charley lost his way while looking for the subway. Charley 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 take the bills, and Charley got out quickly: “I turned away and got out fast.” | 4 |
| On the third level Charley saw a newspaper of July 18, 1894 | The newspaper 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 sent to Charley’s grandfather at his Galesburg address. Charley found it among his oldest first-day covers. | 5 |
| Charley bought old-style currency worth eight hundred dollars | Charley drew three hundred dollars, and he got less than two hundred in old-style bills. It was Sam who bought eight hundred dollars’ worth of old-style currency. | 5–6 |
| Sam was only Charley’s friend | Charley calls him “My friend Sam Weiner”, and the last line says: “Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.” | 5–6 |
5. Words from the book, in simple English
Ask the child which of these words they can explain without looking. For any word they cannot explain, let them open the book at that page right there.
| Word in the book | Simple 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 or sure about life | 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 my money | 4 |
| old-style currency | paper money of an earlier time, different from today’s | 5 |
| premium | an extra amount paid over the usual price | 5 |
| first-day cover | an envelope postmarked on the first day a stamp is on sale | 5 |
| postmark | the post office’s mark on a letter, which shows the date | 5 |
| intersection | a place where two things meet and cross | 6 |
| Apparent illogicality | something that seems, on the surface, to make no sense | 6 |
| futuristic projection | a glimpse of the future, a guess about what lies ahead | 6 |
| Philately | the hobby of collecting postage stamps | 7 |
6. How to check written answers
The book has nine questions: two in Read and find out (pp. 1 and 5) and seven in Reading with Insight (pp. 6–7). The answers are written in English. Under each question we say what a good answer should contain. If the words are not the same, do not worry; if the points are there, the answer is fine.
Q 1: What is the third level? (p. 1)
In the book the Read and find out question is printed like this: “What does the third level refer to?”
- Main point: the third level of Grand Central Station, where Charley says he went and where the year is 1894.
- The psychiatrist friend’s view: he calls it “a waking-dream wish fulfillment”, that is, a wish to escape from the worries of the modern world.
- A good conclusion: the child writes both: that Charley says he went there, and that the psychiatrist friend calls it wish fulfillment.
Q 2: Will Charley go back to the ticket-counter? (p. 5)
In the book the Read and find out question is printed like this: “Would Charley ever go back to the ticket-counter on the third level to buy tickets to Galesburg for himself and his wife?”
- Main point: Charley wants to go, but the story does not say whether he will be able to.
- Preparation: the next day Charley draws three hundred dollars and buys old-style currency.
- The obstacle: “I’ve never again found the corridor that leads to the third level at Grand Central Station, although I’ve tried often enough.”
- Hope: after Sam’s letter, Charley and Louisa are “both looking, every weekend”.
- A good conclusion: Charley will go only if he finds the third level again, and the story leaves this open.
Q 3: Was the third level a way of escape for Charley? (pp. 1–5)
In the book Reading with Insight Q1 is printed like this: “Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?”
- Main point: this asks for an opinion. Whether the child chooses yes or no, there must be a line from the book to go with it.
- For yes: the psychiatrist friend says “a waking-dream wish fulfillment”. Charley finds the Galesburg of 1894 “a peaceful world”. Charley spends “nearly all we had” on old-style currency. Charley’s friends also call his stamp collecting a “temporary refuge from reality”.
- For no: Charley says “I wasn’t trying to escape from anything; I just wanted to get home to Louisa, my wife.”
- A good conclusion (if the child chooses yes): that night Charley was not running away, but after seeing 1894 he wants to go back there. This wish is what makes the third level his way of getting away.
Q 4: What do you infer from Sam’s letter? (pp. 5–6)
In the book Reading with Insight Q2 is printed like this: “What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?”
- Main point: according to Sam’s letter, he has found the third level and is in the Galesburg of 1894.
- What the letter says: the date is July 18, 1894; “I’ve been here two weeks”; someone at the Daly’s is playing a piano; Sam is invited for lemonade.
- The invitation: Sam writes “Keep looking till you find the third level!”
- The proof: the letter was inside a first-day cover that was sent to Charley’s grandfather in Galesburg, and “the postmark proves the date”.
- Irony: according to the last line Sam was Charley’s psychiatrist, and now it is Sam who writes “I got to wishing that you were right. Then I got to believing you were right.”
- A good conclusion: Sam first wished that Charley was right, then believed that Charley was right. The child should also write that the letter reaches us only through Charley’s telling.
Q 5: How do we deal with the worries of today? (pp. 1, 6)
In the book Reading with Insight Q3 is printed like this: “‘The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress.’ What are the ways in which we attempt to overcome them?”
- Main point: this asks for the child’s own opinion; the book gives no ready answer. The child should describe their own ways.
- Keep in mind: the sentence in the question is not a line of the story. 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”.
- Possible ways: hobbies, singing or sports or a walk, talking to family and friends, going to a quiet place, and losing oneself in dreams.
- Link with the story: for Charley’s friends his stamp collecting is a “temporary refuge from reality”; Charley tells his experience to Louisa.
- A good conclusion: escaping brings a little relief for a short time; facing one’s troubles and keeping a balance between work and rest help in the long run.
Q 6: Is there an intersection of time and space in the story? (pp. 2–6)
In the book Reading with Insight Q4 is printed like this: “Do you see an intersection of time and space in the story?”
- Main point: two times meet in one place, Grand Central Station: Charley’s own time and 1894.
- One place, two times: on the third level there are gaslights, old clothes and a newspaper of June 11, 1894.
- Travel between the two: Charley thinks of “tickets that would take Louisa and me anywhere in the United States we wanted to go. In the year 1894.”
- A letter across time: a letter of July 18, 1894 reaches Charley in his own time.
- The shape of the station: Charley feels that Grand Central is “growing like a tree”.
- A good conclusion: the story joins the past and the present in a single place.
Q 7: Can something that seems absurd turn out to be a glimpse of the future? (pp. 1, 5–6)
In the book Reading with Insight Q5 is printed like this: “Apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic projection? Discuss.”
- Main point: this is a Discuss question, so the child has to look at both sides and then give an opinion.
- A common example: things that once seemed impossible, such as flying in the air or talking to a person in another country, are part of everyday life today.
- From the story: a third level that leads to 1894 seems absurd. The psychiatrist friend calls it wish fulfillment, and Charley does not find the corridor again. Then Sam’s letter arrives, and about it Charley says “now we have proof that the third level is still there”.
- A caution: even inside the story this is Charley’s telling, and time travel is still fantasy today.
- A good conclusion: an idea should not be rejected only because it seems absurd today.
Q 8: Philately and other ways of keeping the past alive (pp. 1, 5–6)
In the book Reading with Insight Q6 is printed like this: “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?”
- Main point: the answer should have three parts: Philately in the story, other ways of keeping the past alive, and the child’s opinion on the habit of moving between the past, the present and the future.
- In the story: Charley says that his grandfather “started my collection”. The first-day cover of 1894 brings back a date, a stamp and a letter from the past.
- Other ways: old letters, diaries and family photographs; old coins and notes; museums and old buildings; folk songs, festivals and the stories of grandparents; old newspapers.
- On the habit: the past gives comfort and lessons, we have to live in the present, and plans for the future are made with hope. This is natural.
- A caution: Charley puts “nearly all we had” into old notes. Living only in the past or only in dreams can make us miss the present.
- A good conclusion: a balance among the three is right.
Q 9: Fantasy and reality in two stories (pp. 1–6)
In the book Reading with Insight Q7 is printed like this: “You have read ‘Adventure’ by Jayant Narlikar in Hornbill Class XI. Compare the interweaving of fantasy and reality in the two stories.”
- Main point: this question can be answered only if the child has read the Hornbill story of Class XI. The answer has two parts, one for each story, and then the comparison.
- The Third Level: the story begins in the real world: an ordinary office worker, a railway station and a stamp collection. Then a corridor takes Charley to the third level, where the year is 1894.
- The Hornbill story: Professor Gaitonde reaches another world in the present itself, not in the past or the future. Rajendra Deshpande explains his experience with two scientific theories.
- The difference: Charley reaches the past, while Professor Gaitonde reaches another world in the present itself.
- What they share: in both stories proof makes the fantasy seem real: Sam’s letter, and, in Gaitonde’s story, a torn page of the Bakhar (an old historical text).
To check an answer, the child can look at the answers to all the book’s questions in the Revision notes, after writing their own.
7. A ten-minute talk at home
Pick any one of these, after a meal or on a walk. Let the child speak first; then compare with the points below.
First talk: Should we believe what Charley says? (pp. 1, 5–6)
Ask the child what they think: was the third level real, or only a wish in Charley’s mind? These clues from the book may come up in the answer:
- On one side: the psychiatrist friend calls it “a waking-dream wish fulfillment”, and Charley does not find the corridor again.
- On the other side: Charley says “now we have proof that the third level is still there”, and Sam’s letter says “it’s true; I found the third level!”
- Whatever the child says, ask for one line from each side, and also ask what else in the story, besides Charley’s word, supports it.
Second talk: What did Sam leave behind, and what did he gain? (p. 6)
Ask the child: if we accept Charley’s account, what did Sam give up by going to 1894, and what did he gain? These clues from the book may help:
- Given up: Sam’s old work. Charley says “he certainly can’t go back to his old business”.
- Gained: Sam bought “eight hundred dollars’ worth of old-style currency”. By Charley’s reckoning, “That ought to set him up in a nice little hay, feed and grain business”.
- Gained: Sam writes that at the Daly’s someone is playing a piano, everyone is singing on the front porch, and he has been invited for lemonade.
- If the child adds an opinion of their own, ask which point in the book it rests on.
Third talk: A hobby that links us with the past (pp. 1, 5)
Ask how the past is kept alive in a hobby or belonging of the child or the family, such as an old letter, coins or photographs. This is a question for the child’s own opinion; these clues from the book may help:
- Charley’s friends call his stamp collecting a “temporary refuge from reality”.
- Charley’s grandfather “didn’t need any refuge from reality”. Charley says that “he started my collection”.
- The cover that holds Sam’s letter is found among Charley’s oldest first-day covers.
- Whatever the child says, ask which point in the book supports the answer.
If you have only five minutes
Ask these four questions. If all four answers are right, the main points of the story are covered.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| How many levels of Grand Central do the railroads’ presidents accept, and how many does Charley? | The presidents two, Charley three (p. 1). |
| When was The World printed? | June 11, 1894 (p. 4). |
| What date was in the postmark of the first-day cover, and what was inside? | July 18, 1894; inside was Sam’s letter (pp. 5–6). |
| What does the last line of the story say? | “Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.” (p. 6) |
More pages on this story for your child
- Revision notes: the whole story in brief, with the answers to all the book’s questions.
- Question bank: practice questions with answers. The child writes first, then compares.
- Flashcards: question on the left, answer on the right. Cover the answer, say it aloud, then check; for five minutes of revision every day.
- Glossary: the words of the story and their meanings.
- PARAKH questions: questions that need thinking, based on passages from the story, with the answer to each.
- Interactive chapter: the whole story on screen, part by part.