Dr.G.S.

Kalyanasundaram Memorial School

Chozhan Maligai, Kumbakonam
Unit Test -1
Study Material
My Mother at sixty six
Q1. What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
Ans: When the poet sees the pale and corpse-like face of her mother, her old familiar pain or the
ache returns. Perhaps she has entertained this fear since her childhood. Ageing is a natural
process. Time and ageing spare none. Time and ageing have not spared the poet’s mother and
may not spare her as well. With this ageing, separation and death become inevitable.
Q2. Why are the young trees described as ‘sprinting’?
Ans: The poet is driving to the Cochin airport. When she looks outside, the young trees seem to
be walking past them. With the speed of the car they seem to be running fast or sprinting. The
poet presents a contrast—her ‘dozing’ old mother and the ‘sprinting’ young trees.
Q3. Why has the poet brought in the image of the merry children ‘spilling out of their homes’ ?
Ans: The poet has brought in the image of merry children ‘spilling out of their homes’ to present
a contrast. The merry children coming out of their homes in large numbers present an image of
happiness and spontaneous overflow of life. This image is in stark contrast to the ‘dozing’ old
mother, whose ‘ashen’ face looks lifeless and pale like a corpse. She is an image of ageing, decay
and passivity. The contrast of the two images enhances the poetic effect.
Q4. Why has the mother been compared to the ‘late winter’s moon’ ?
Ans: The poet’s mother is sixty-six years old. Her shrunken ‘ashen’ face resembles a corpse. She
has lost her shine and strength of youth. Similarly the late winter’s moon looks hazy and obscure.
It too lacks shine and strength. The comparison is quite natural and appropriate. The simile used
here is apt as well as effective.
Q5. What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
Ans: The poet’s parting words of assurance and her smiles provide a stark contrast to the old
familiar ache or fear of the childhood. Her words and smiles are a deliberate attempt to hide her
real feelings. The parting words: “See you soon, Amma” give an assurance to the old lady whose
‘ashen face’ looks like a corpse. Similarly, her continuous smiles are an attempt to overcome the
ache and fear inside her heart.

Q6. Why does the poet look outside? What does she see happening outside?
Ans: The thought of the ageing mother at sixty-six and her pale and ashen face looking
like a corpse becomes too heavy for the poet to bear. She needs a distraction, a
diversion and therefore she looks outside. She watches young trees. These trees speed
past them and appear to be sprinting. Then she sees happy children moving out of their
houses and making merry.

Q7. How has the poet contrasted the scene inside the car with the activities going on
outside?
Ans: The poet has used beautiful images to highlight the stark contrast between the
scene inside the car and the activities going on outside. The ‘ashen’ face of the poet’s
mother is pale and lifeless. It looks like that of a corpse. She is dozing and lost to
herself. The image of the ‘dozing’ mother is contrasted with the ‘spilling’ of children. The
‘ashen’ and ‘corpse¬like’ face is contrasted with the young trees sprinting outside.

Q8. What does the poet do after the security check-up? What does she notice?
Ans: They have to pass through a security check-up at the airport. After it, the poet
stands a few yards away. Before saying parting words to her mother, she looks at her
mother again. Her face looks pale and colourless like the late winter’s moon. She
presents a picture of ageing and decay.

Q9. Why is the poet’s mother compared to the late winter’s moon?
Ans: The poet’s mother has been compared to the late winter’s moon to bring out the
similarity of ageing and decay. The late winter moon looks hazy and obscure. It lacks
shine and strength. The poet’s mother has an ‘ashen’ face resembling a corpse. She has
lost her shine and strength of youth. The comparison reinforces the impact.

Q10. What is the poet’s familiar ache and why does it return?
Ans: The poet is pained at the ageing and decaying of her mother. The fear is that with
ageing comes decay and death. The sight of her old mother’s ‘ashen’ and corpse-like
face arouses “that old familiar ache” in her heart. Her childhood fear returns. She is also
pained and frightened by the idea that she may have to face all these things herself.

Q11. How does Kamala Das try to put away the thoughts of her ageing mother?
Ans: Kamala Das was in much trouble after seeing the lifeless and faded face of her
mother. The old lady seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. The poetess turned away
her attention from her mother and looked outside. The outside world was full of life and
activity. The young trees seemed to be running fast. The children looked happy while
moving out of their homes.

Q12. Why does the poet smile and what does she say while bidding good bye to her
mother ?
OR
With fear and ache inside her heart and words of assurance on lips and smile on the
face, the poet presents two opposite and contrasting experiences. Why does the poet
put on a smile?
Ans: The ‘wan’, ‘pale’, face of the poet’s mother at sixty-six brings an image of decay
and death. It brings that old familiar fear of separation back. She fears the ultimate fate
of human beings. But she has to put on a brave face. She regains self-control. She
composes herself and tries to look normal. She utters the words of assurance that they
will meet again soon. She tries to hide her ache and fear by smiling continuously.

Q13. What poetic devices have been used by Kamala Das in ‘My Mother at Sixty-six’?
Ans: The poem ‘My Mother at Sixty-six’ is rich in imagery. Kamala Das uses the devices
of comparison and contrast. The use of simile is very effective. The face of the poet’s
old mother is described as ‘ashen’. This ashen face is ‘like that of a corpse’. The poet
uses another simile. The “wan, pale’ face of the mother is compared to ‘a late winter’s
moon’.
The poem excels in contrasts. The old ‘dozing’ lady inside is contrasted with the young
trees “sprinting” and merry children “spilling” out of their homes

1. The Last Lesson

Q1. What was Franz expected to be prepared with for school that day?
Ans: That day Franz was expected to be prepared with participles because M. Hamel
had said that he would question them on participles. Franz did not know anything about
participles.

Q2. What did Franz notice that was unusual about the school that day?
Ans: Usually, when school began, there was a great bustle, which could be heard out in
the street. But it was all very still that day. Everything was as quiet as Sunday morning.
There was no opening or closing of desks. His classmates were already in their places.
The teacher’s great ruler instead of rapping on the table, was under M. Hamel’s arm.

Q3. What had been put up on the bulletin-board?

Ans: For the last two years all the bad news had come from the bulletin-board. An order
had come from Berlin to teach only German in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. The
Germans had put up this notice on the bulletin-board.

THINK AS YOU READ

Q1. What changes did the order from Berlin cause in school that day?
Ans: M. Hamel had put on his best dress—his beautiful green coat, his frilled shirt and
the little black silk cap, all embroidered. The whole school seemed so strange and
solemn. On the back benches that were always empty, the elderly village people were
sitting quietly like the kids.

Q2. How did Franz’s feelings about M. Hamel and school change?
Ans: Franz came to know that it was the last lesson in French that M. Hamel would give
them. From the next day they will be taught only German. Then he felt sorry for not
learning his lessons properly. His books, which seemed a nuisance and a burden earlier
were now old friends. His feelings about M. Hamel also changed. He forgot all about his
ruler and how cranky he was.
UNDERSTANDING THE TEXT
Q1. The people? in this story suddenly realise how1 precious their language is to them.
What shows you this? Why does this happen?
Ans: M. Hamel told the students and villagers that henceforth only German would be
taught in the schools of Alsace and Lorraine. Those who called themselves Frenchmen
would neither be able to speak nor write it. He praised French as the most beautiful, the
clearest and most logical language in the world. He said that for the enslaved people,
their language was the key to their prison. Then the people realised how precious their
language was to them. This shows people’s love for their own culture, traditions and
country. Pride in one’s language reflects pride in the motherland.

Q2. Franz thinks, “Will they make them sing in German, even the pigeonsT’ What could
this mean?(There could he more than one answer.)
Ans: This comment of Franz shows a Frenchman’s typical reaction to the imposition of
learning German, the language of the conquerors. Being deprived of the learning of
mother tongue would mean cutting off all bonds with the motherland. Teaching the
pigeons to sing in German indicates how far the Germans would go in their attempts of
linguistic chauvinism.

TALKING ABOUT THE TEXT

Q1. “When a people are en slaved, as long as th ey hold fast to their language it is as if
they had the key to their prison.”
Can you think of examples in history where a conquered people had their lan¬guage
taken away from them or had a language imposed on them?

Ans: Mother tongue helps a person to express his feelings and thoughts most lucidly and
intimately. Conquerors try to subdue and control the people of the enslaved territory by
enforcing many measures such as use of force to crush dissent and imposing their own
language on them.
From time immemorial the victorious nations have imposed their own language on the
conquered people and taken away their own language from them. The Romans conquered
many parts of Europe and replaced the local languages by their own language— Latin. Later on
Spanish, Pourtuguese, Italian and French developed from Latin. The Muslim invaders imposed
Arabic and Persian in the countries of Asia overpowered by them. In many Arab countries the
local religion and language have disappeared. In India, a new language Urdu developed from the
mixture of Persian and Hindi.

Q2. What happens to a linguistic minority in a state? How do you think they can keep
their language alive? For example:
Punjabis in Bangalore
Tamilians in Mumbai
Kannadigas in Delhi
Gujaratis in Kolkata
Ans. The linguistic minority in any state is easily marked and faces the same
discrimination as the religious, social or ethnic minorities. There is, however, a
pronounced difference in the treatment meted out and the level of acceptance
displayed by the majority community in that region/city. Some cities like Delhi, Mumbai
are cosmopolitan in outlook.
The linguistic minority tries to preserve its identity through an intimate contact,
interaction and preservation of their language in social get-togethers, family functions
and festivals of their own region. Adherence to social customs and traditions in family
gatherings/group meetings of women also promote the unity between members of the
linguistic minority.

In short, they create a mini-Punjab in Bangalore, mini-Chennai in Mumbai, mini-Bangalore in

Delhi and mini-Surat in Kolkata.

Q3. Is it possible to carry pride in one’s language too far? Do you know what
“lin¬guistic chauvinism” means?
Ans. ‘Linguistic chauvinism’ means an aggressive and unreasonable belief that your
own language is better than all others. This shows an excessive or prejudiced support
for one’s own language. Sometimes pride in one’s own language goes too for and the
linguistic enthusiasts can be easily identified by their extreme zeal for the preservation
and spread of their language. In their enthusiasm, love and support for their own
language, they tend to forget that other languages too have their own merits, long
history of art, culture and literature behind them. Instead of bringing unity and winning
over others as friends, having excessive pride in one’s own language creates ill-will and
disintegration. The stiff-resistance to the acceptance of Hindi as national language by
the southern states of India is a direct outcome of the fear of being dominated by Hindi
enthusiasts. The result is that ‘One India’ remains only a slogan.

3.Third Level

What does the third level refer to?

Answer:
The third level is the world somewhere between desire or dream and reality. It is a world of
fantasy that we create for ourselves and occasionally seek to escape to. Most of the time it is a
picture of the simple past of our forefathers, who, we believe were happier. It is an escapist’s
world which one weaves around to be off the current-day problems, worries, anxieties and
tensions.

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?
Answer:
Time travel is a temporary relief that man seeks to escape from the rush of his present
existence. It was a world of fantasy that Charley too had created. So, he exchanged all his
savings for 1894 currency to buy tickets from the third level to Galesburg, Illinois. However, he
could not find the third level again as it did not exist.

Question 1.
Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?
Answer:
Life today is full of insecurity, fear and worries and time travel is man’s way of escaping from it.
Occasionally, man seeks escape into the world of fantasy and his nostalgic memories, the
happier • times of the past. Yes, the third level was Charley’s medium of escape from the mad
rat race of modern times.

Question 2.
What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?
Answer:
Sam’s letter shows man’s pining for the simple, less harassing and a happier era. He too had
found respite from the hurry and worry of modern life in time travel. Sam had learnt to transport
himself into the time period of his ancestors whose quality of life he considered was better than
their present existence.

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?
Answer:
Man often creates in his fantasy a world which is somewhere between his desire and reality,
and often seeks respite by transporting himself to it mentally. Time travel is another way of
overcoming stress; we travel back in time to the past which we believe was a quieter and
happier era. Nostalgic memories too are often a way of escape from the harassing present.

Question 4.
Do you see an intersection of time and space in the story?
Answer:
Yes, the story clearly shows an intersection of time and space. Firstly, the first two levels of
Grand Central Station were located in the present time while the third level existed in the 1890s.
Secondly Charley and his wife, Louisa, live in the present time yet Charley goes to get old
currency to buy tickets to go to the Galesburg of 1894. The old architecture of the platform at
the third level is different from the platform of the modern times. The archaic manner of
dressing by the people and the newspaper, The World, dated June 11, 1894 also overlap with
Charley’s real time world and existence. Finally, the letter that was mailed to Charley’s
Grandfather on 18 July, 1894 highlights the intersection of time and space.

Question 5.
Apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic projection? Discuss.
Answer:
It is true that apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic projection. A good
number of scientific inventions sounded ridiculous and absurd till some brilliant minds gave
them a concrete shape. Before the Wright Brothers invented the first aeroplane, nobody could
have dared to believe that man could fly. There are many other examples of inventions which
were conceived in dreams but now are part of our everyday reality. All this emphasizes that
fantasies of one point of time that seem illogical may turn out to be revolutionary things that
change the future of the mankind. It would not be far-fetched to think about railway stations
fitted with time-machine devices from one era to another. It is just a matter of time.

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?
Answer:
Besides philately, there are numerous other ways to keep the past alive. Collecting historical
artefacts, paintings and statues in a museum, collecting and reading books, collecting stamps,
first day covers, etc. are all a few ways of revisiting history.

Fond memories of the past are often kept alive through photographic collections, letters, etc.
Man seeks refuge in the nostalgic memories, the happier times of the past. He transports
himself to the world by travelling through time to escape the present. In fact, he is constantly
moving between past for escape, and present and future.

This capacity to oscillate between the past, present and future is a great intellectual gift. This
human tendency enables him to plan for the future in the present by reaping benefits from the
past. Such a tendency helps in ensuring acceptance of the impact of important decisions taken
at any point of time and learning from them.

Question 7.
You have read ‘Adventure’ by Jayant Narlikar in Hornbill Class XI. Compare the interweaving of
fantasy and reality in the two stories.
Answer:
In ‘Adventure’ Jayant Narlikar expressed that many worlds exist simultaneously though they
appear to be separated by time. He conveyed that the other world also existed and prospered
with the world we are aware of.

In The Third Level, Charley, a young New York commuter wandering Grand Central Station by
accident, finds a gateway that leads to the past of 1894. Charley attempts to escape the rat
race by buying a one way ticket to his childhood town of Galesburg, Illinois. But circumstances
forced him to postpone his plan to escape to the past.
The Third Level Extra Questions and Answers

The Third Level Short Answer Questions

Question 1.
How does the narrator describe himself? What made him take the subway from Grand Central?
Answer:
The narrator describes that he is Charley, 31. He is wearing a tan gabardine suit and a straw hat
with a fancy band. One night last summer, he worked late at the office. So, he was in a hurry to
be at his apartment. He took the subway from Grand Central because it was faster than the bus.

Question 2.
How does the narrator describe the first two levels of the Grand Central?
Answer:
The narrator went down the steps of the Grand Central from Vanderbilt Avenue to the first level.
From there one can take trains like the twentieth century. Then he walked down another flight to
the second level. From there the suburban trains leave for various destinations.

Question 3.
The narrator got lost once when he ducked into an arched doorway heading for the subway.
Where did he come out?
Answer:
The narrator says that he has been in and out of Grand Central hundreds of times. He always
bumps into new doorways, stairs and corridors. Once he got into a one-mile-long tunnel and
came out in the Roosevelt Hotel lobby. Another time he came up in an office building on Forty-
sixth street, three blocks away.

Question 4.
What does the narrator think of Grand Central? What does it symbolize?
Answer:
The narrator thinks that Grand Central is growing like a tree. It pushes out new corridors and
staircases like roots. There are long tunnels under the city on their ways to Times Square and to
Central Park.
The Grand Central symbolizes the labyrinth that this world is with its intricate and tangled
pathways. It has always been an exit, a way to escape.

Question 5.
What strange things did the narrator see when he reached the third level of Grand Central?
Answer:
Charley noticed a difference in the way things looked at the third level of the Grand Central
Station. It was smaller, with fewer ticket counters and had an old look of the 1890s with wooden
booths, dim open-flame gaslights, brass spittoons and an old-style locomotive with a funnel
shaped stack. Even the people’s attire was old fashioned and men had funny handle-bar
mustaches and sideburns. The whole setting was in contrast to the modern times.

Question 6.
How did the man on the third level appear to the narrator?
Answer:
The narrator saw a man pulling a gold watch from his vest pocket. He snapped open the cover,
glanced at his watch and frowned. He wore a derby hat, a black four-button suit with tiny lapels
and had a big, black handlebar mustache.

Question 7.
What did the narrator do to make sure that he was actually at the third level of Grand Central?
Answer:
The narrator walked over to a news boy. He glanced at the stack of newspapers. It was The
World and The World had not been published for years. The lead story was about President
Cleveland. Later on, he confirmed from the public library files that the newspaper was dated
11th June 1894.

Question 8.
Why did the narrator turn towards the ticket windows? Why did he run back from there?
Answer:
The narrator turned towards the ticket window to buy tickets to go to Galesburg, Illinois, in the
year of 1894. When Charley produced money to pay for the two tickets, the clerk stared at him
as the currency did not match with the currency of that time. He accused him of trying to cheat
him and threatened to hand him over to the police. The narrator turned away thinking that there
was nothing nice about jail even in 1894.

Question 9.
How does the narrator describe Galesburg, Illinois?
Answer:
The narrator states that Galesburg, Illinois, is a wonderful town with big old frame houses, huge
lawns and big trees. Summer evenings were twice as long. People sat out on their lawns, the
men smoking cigar and talking quietly, the women waving palm-leaf fans. It means the people
had lived in peace and harmony and had a lot of leisure time.

Question 10.
What did the narrator do the next day?
Answer:
The narrator withdrew his entire money from the bank. He bought old-style currency to buy two
tickets to Galesburg. He got less than two hundred old-style bills for his three hundred dollars.
He consoled himself for having got less money by the fact that life in 1894 Galesburg was quite
cheaper as compared to the modern life.
Question 11.
How does the narrator’s psychiatrist friend react to the narrator’s statement that the third level
exists?
Answer:
The narrator’s psychiatrist friend, Sam Weiner, says it is ‘a waking-dream-wish fulfilment’. He
says that the narrator is unhappy and the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war and worry.
So, he wants to escape and has created an imaginary third level.

Question 12.
How did Louisa react when the narrator told his wish to go to the third level to buy tickets?
Answer:
When the narrator told Louisa about his wish she got pretty worried. She was a loving and a
caring wife. She got alarmed at Charley’s claim of having been to the third level. His exchanging
the currency was a cause of concern. She thought the third level to be a product of Charley’s
imagination and asked him to stop looking for it. However, after some time they both started
looking for the third level.

Question 13.
Why was going to the psychiatrist the obvious step? Did it help?
Answer:
Charley was convinced that there were three and not just two levels at the Grand Central
Station, when all others claimed there were only two. Going to the psychiatrist was the obvious
step because he wanted his opinion on whether it was insanity on his part to believe so. The
psychiatrist too interpreted his delusion as a waking-dream wish fulfilment and, like his stamp
collection, a temporary refuge from a world full of tensions, worries, insecurity, fear, war and
envy.

Question 14.
Why could Charley not be convinced by his distractions that the third level was only a wish
fulfilment?
Answer:
Charley could not be convinced that the third level was a temporary escape from reality through
fantasy like stamp collection. He argued that his grandfather too was into stamp collection and
he started Charley’s collection. He said that at that time people were content and lived in
peaceful times and did not need to seek such refuge.

Question 15.
What happened to the narrator’s psychiatrist friend Sam Weiner? What do you deduce from it?
Answer:
One day the narrator’s psychiatrist friend Sam Weiner disappeared. He was a city boy. He
always
said that he liked Galesburg very much and its sound. From this I deduce that even Sam was
affected by the stress of modern living and sought temporary refuge by travelling through time.
Question 16.
Why was Charley sure that his psychiatrist friend had gone back to the year 1894 in Galesburg?
Answer:
Charley’s psychiatrist friend Sam had disappeared. One night going through his first-day covers,
Charley found one dated 1894 and with his Grandfather’s address on it. He opened and found
inside a letter from Sam addressed to him. He invited him to the third level saying that it was
worth it.

Question 17.
What is the first-day cover?
Answer:
At that time when a new stamp is issued, stamp collectors buy some of them and use them in
order to mail envelopes to themselves and the postmark proves the date. That envelope is
called the first- day cover.

Question 18.
Describe the first-day cover envelope that the narrator found among his collection.
Answer:
The first-day cover envelope was dated July 18, 1894. It was addressed to his grandfather in
Galesburg. It carried a letter from Sam addressed to Charley. The stamp was a six-cent, dull
brown, with a picture of President Garfield.

Question 19.
What had Sam Weiner written on the paper in the first-day cover?
Answer:
Sam Weiner had invited the narrator to the third level. It was worth it. It added that it was true,
there existed the third level and he had found that. He had been there for two weeks. He could
hear someone playing a piano, down the street. They were singing ‘Seeing Nelly Home’.

Question 20.
What did the narrator find about Sam Weiner when he went to the stamp and coin store?
Answer:
When the narrator went to the stamp and coin store he came to know that Sam had bought
eight hundred dollars worth of old currency. That ought to set him up in a nice little hay, feed
and grain business. He always wanted to do that. He didn’t want to go back to his old business.
Not in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1894, Charley felt that the services of a psychiatrist would not be
needed in Galesburg of 1894, his friend would be jobless there.

Question 21.
What is the evidence that Charley often sought escape through time travel?
Answer:
Charley had often bumped into new doorways, archways and stairways at the Grand Central and
got lost. Once he had got into a long tunnel, about a mile long, and another time had landed in
an office building on the Forty-sixth street, three blocks away. This makes it evident that
Charley, often sought escape through wishful dreaming and in nostalgic memories. He often
lived in a world of fantasy.

Question 22.
Discuss the irony at the end of the chapter.
Answer:
Charley had found the third level and desired to go back to the Galesburg of 1894. It is ironical
that at the end, not Charley but his psychiatrist friend who had scorned his discovery, uses the
third level to reach Galesburg of 1894 and tells Charley to keep looking for it.

The Third Level Long Questions and Answers

Question 1.
Describe the third level as a science fantasy?
Answer:
Science makes the impossible possible by giving a touch of realism to things that simply cannot
happen in the real world under any circumstances. It explains a person’s perceptions, his
difficulties and circumstances. Science fantasy has an aura of magic. In the lesson ‘The Third
Level’ Charley’s fantasies are magical. He travels through time to Galesburg of 1894, the world
of his childhood. He is stressed out by his modern living and takes refuge in his nostalgic
memories, and at times he loses touch with reality. Such time travel is an essential element of
all scientific fantasy.

Question 2.
Finney manages to not only capture the reader’s imagination, but also provides a clear example
of time travel that does not confuse the reader. Discuss.
Answer:
‘The Third Level’ is a well-defined and convincing description of time travel. It can be divided
into modern world and the world of the 1890s, the world of Grand Central Station of New York
and the past world of Galesburg, Illinois. The narrator talks of the present world of 21st century
through the references of New York Central, New York, New Haven, Hartford of Galesburg,
Illinois of the 1890s in clearer terms. His visit to the third level of Grand Central and the physical
description of this symbolize a flashback of the 19th century. So, the writer takes the reader in
both the eras with care without confusing them. Thus, the third level is a beautiful interpretation
of things through what, we call ‘the catastrophe theory’ as given in ‘The Adventure’ by Jayant
Narlikar.

Question 3.
Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?
Answer:
The torture of stress, sense of insecurity and fear have made man an escapist who wants to run
away from reality. He looks for a temporary refuge and starts pursuing different hobbies to
divert his attention temporarily and give himself some comfort. The fast pace life has made
Charley uneasy and restless. He yearned for peace and tranquillity. He turned to philately but
could not find much relief. His efforts for escape resulted in his flight to the third level—a level
of existence which he associated with tranquillity. His psychiatrist friend Sam, diagnosed
Charley’s claim as a waking- dream wish fulfilment. Hence, the third level undoubtedly is a
medium of escape for Charley.

Question 4.
What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?
Answer:
Sam’s letter is a proof of his having reached the third level and of having been transported to
Galesburg of 1894. The date 18th July 1894 and the content of the letter indicate that he too
yearned for such an escape. Being equally insecure, he started believing in the existence of the
third level and eventually found it. Galesburg always fascinated him with ample leisure and
innocent happiness. He suggested to Charley and Louisa to keep on looking for it till they come
across it. Sam’s letter also indicates the social life of Galesburg where people loved music,
dance and socializing. But we are not sure that Sam’s letter is a mere figment of Charley’s
imagination just like the third level or has he really transported to Galesburg of 1894. So, the
whole idea of travel in time and multiple levels of reality is mind-boggling and so is Sam’s letter
indeed.

Question 5.
The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry, tension and stress. What are the ways in
which we attempt to overcome them?
Answer:
There is no doubt that the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry, tension, stress,
anxiety and what not. Strangely, there is no escape from these things, yet people devise, find
and invest different ways to escape from them. Some like liquor, some tranquillizers, some
sleeping pills, some consult saints or seers or psychiatrists. Some daydream or listen to music
or visit night parties or browse the Internet and fall down to tiredness and sleep. They awake to
another day of tension and . anxiety. People like the narrator invent an imaginary world around
them and get lost in it for the time being. But such a life is not for all the persons. It is for those
who are a sensitive mind and look at life in a thoughtful manner, albeit, very seriously.

Question 6.
Did Sam really go to Galesburg or was it Charley’s figment of imagination?
Answer:
The third level at the Grand Central symbolizes man’s yearning to attain an ideal level of
existence which is free from wars, worries, insecurities, tensions and a level which exudes calm,
peace and tranquillity. Charley imagined this world briefly but could never get back to that world.
His craving for such a world forced him to imagine things. He imagined that his psychiatrist
friend, Sam, had succeeded in reaching there. He even saw a letter from Sam in his first-day
cover collection. It was dated July 18, 1894 and posted to his grandfather’s address in
Galesburg, Illinois. After this he redoubled his efforts to search the third level.
If it is only the imagination of Charley, then how do you explain Sam’s exchanging of currency at
the coin shop? The fact that Sam too lived in a world of fantasy makes us understand that time
travel was one way of escape for the modern man.