THE THIRD LEVEL

Summary
Charley's convinced there are three, not just two, levels at Grand Central Station. Charley's psychiatrist, and his friends, thinks his delusion is a “waking-dream wish fulfillment,” and like his stamp collection, a temporary refuge from a world full of insecurity, fear, war, and worry.
Charley explains that one evening while hurrying home, he decided to take the subway from Grand Central Station, and became lost. He eventually found himself on a strange third level with spittoons on the floor, oddly dressed people, and a locomotive from 1894.
Understanding he'd somehow gone back in time, Charley tries to buy tickets to Galesburg, IL, “a wonderful town … with big old frame houses, huge lawns and tremendous trees whose branches meet overhead and roof the streets.” Because the clerk won't accept his 1950-style money, Charley leaves the station.
During his lunch break the next day, Charley withdraws nearly all their savings and buys old-style currency. But he can never again find the entrance to the third level at Grand Central Station.
Charley finds evidence the third level actually exists when he discovers a letter to him, dated July 18, 1894, from Galesburg, IL. It seems Charley's psychiatrist was not as incredulous of the third level as he appeared.


Theme
The story third level clearly explores the science fiction genre of ‘time travel’; Jack Finney, the recipient of the world fantasy award interweaves fantasy with the reality in the most futuristic projection of time travel. Charley wishes to be transported to the third level, the world of 1894 which is supposedly much happier and quieter place to be. It is one of the most concise and entertaining story about time travel. The question whether the third level exist in real or only in charley’s mind can be inferred from Sam’s letter.
The story also dwells on the theme of escapism, not only as a psychological refuge from the grim realities of the present day world but also as a desire to stay with the past or to keep the past alive in the complexities of the present. In the story charley not only expresses desire to escape but also prepares and tries very hard, a desire which is not contested by the wife either. Sam is also happily escaped with no plans to resort to his old profession along with scores of other people who cross the grand central everyday… to escape seems to be an all pervasive feeling.

Questions with the clues to the answers (well…really comprehensive clues)

(Q.) Why did the narrator meet a psychiatrist?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The narrator met a psychiatrist because he was sure he had been on the third level of the Grand Central Station. He was also aware of the fact that only two levels of the station existed and the presidents of the rail road would even swear on a stack of timetables to prove this point. The need to meet a psychiatrist became urgent because he was in a dilemma.


(Q.) What, according to the psychiatrist, was Charley’s problem?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) Charley told the psychiatrist about his belief in the existence of the third level at the Grand Central Station but was told that it was only a waking- dream wish fulfillment. The third level was the work of his mind, his desire and fantasy. The psychiatrist also added that Charley was unhappy because of the insecurity, fear, war, worry and that he just wanted to escape just like everyone else. And the third level offered him that escape just like his hobby of collecting the stamps which was interpreted as ‘ a temporary refuge from the reality’.




(Q.) What does Charley think of Grand Central?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) Charley thought that Grand Central was growing like a tree, pushing out new corridors and stair cases, like roots. According to him, the grand central was so big that it could lose his way very easily and each time discovered some new part of it suggesting its meandering ways. Charley thought that there was probably a long tunnel that nobody knew about, feeling its way under the city, on its way to Times Square, and maybe another to Central Park. He thought Grand Central had been an exit, a way of escape.


(Q.) What was the most shocking and disturbing discovery/ revelation made by Charley?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The most shocking and disturbing discovery Charley made was that the note had been sent by his friend Sam who had recently disappeared. Charley found out that he had exchanged a large sum of present time dollars and bought eight hundred dollars worth of old-style currency which he wanted to invest in the business in 1894 at Galesburg. He also admitted that Sam was his psychiatrist who could not go back to his ‘old business’ (psychiatry) in 1894. It was shocking because Sam had initially dismissed charley’s claims of third level as a ‘waking dream fulfillment’ whereas his letter in the end becomes the clenching evidence of the third level.

(Q.) What was Charley’s argument when the psychiatrist told him that the stamp collecting was a temporary refuge from reality?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) Charley argued that his own grandfather lived at a time when things were pretty nice and peaceful and he was the one who had actually started his collection of stamps. Charley refused to believe that his stamp collection was ‘a temporary refuge’ from reality. He considered third level to be true. He further gave the example of the President Roosevelt who also shared his hobby and was far removed from any desire to escape.

Q.) What idea did Charley have about the tunnel and why didn’t he tell the psychiatrist about it?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) Charley felt there was a tunnel that nobody knew about, which was feeling its way under the city at that moment too, on its way to Times Square, and maybe another to Central Park. Grand Central, he felt, was like an exit, a way of escape and perhaps that’s how he got into the tunnel. He didn’t want to tell the psychiatrist, for he would not have believed him and would have wanted to treat him it as it would further prove that charley was imagining the third level since he nurtured a desire to escape.

Q.) Describe briefly the scene at the station as seen by Charley.
(2 Marks)
(Ans) Charley noticed that everyone at the station was dressed like eighteen-ninety something. He never saw so many beards, side burns, and fancy moustaches in his life. A woman he saw was wearing a dress with leg-of-mutton sleeves and a skirt to the top of her high-buttoned shoes. On the tracks, he saw a locomotive, a very small Currier and Ives locomotive with a funnel shaped stack. The open gaslight and brass spittoons at the third level clearly gave it a look of 1894.


(Q.) Why did Charley go to the newsboy?
Or
How did charley confirm that he has been to the third level? (same answer)
(2 Marks)
(Ans) Charley had walked up to the newsboy to confirm what he thought was true, i.e. the third level of the Grand Central as he saw existing in the year 1894. He saw the newsboy selling the newspaper, The World, which hadn’t been published for years and which carried the lead story about President Cleveland. Later, he found a copy of the same newspaper in the Public Library Files dated June 11, 1894.

(Q.) Describe Galesburg, as it existed in the year 1894?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) Galesburg was a wonderful town with big old frame houses, huge lawns, and tremendous trees whose branches met overhead and roofed over the streets. In 1894, summer evenings were twice as long, and people sat on their lawns, the men smoking. It was the peaceful and tranquil place without wars and worry.

(Q.) In which context did Charley say, “eggs were thirteen cents a dozen in 1894”?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) Charley had got his three hundred dollars out of the bank and got them changed into old-style currency so that he could go back to the third level and buy the tickets to Galesburg. For his three hundred dollars he had got only two hundred dollars old-style currency but he didn’t mind that. The only consolation was that in the year 1894, the two hundred dollars would have more value, as things were much cheaper than they were now.

(Q.) What did Charley suspect when his friend Sam Weiner disappeared?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) Despite Charley’s efforts to go to the third level, he was unable to find it again. He shared his experience with his wife, who got worried. He went back to his stamps. His friend Sam had disappeared and nobody knew where he was but Charley was certain that he had found the third level and gone there. Charley’s description of the place had fascinated him and he had gone there, in 1894.

(Q.) What was written on the paper that Charley found inside the envelope?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) Charley read the note that said the fact that the third level existed, was true. The note signed by Sam also read that he had been at Galesburg for two weeks and was enjoying himself there. Sam had urged Charley and his wife Louisa to keep looking for the third level till they could find it and join him. It was worth the effort.

(Q.) What happened when Charley went to buy the tickets?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The clerk at the ticket counter stared hard at Charley and also glanced at his fancy hat bands. But he figured the fare. When Charley was about to pay the fare for two tickets, he told him that it wasn’t money and if Charley tried to cheat him, he wouldn’t get far. Charley went away from there as fast as he could.

(Q.) Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) According to Charley’s psychiatrist Sam, it was just a waking dream wish fulfillment and provided escape from modern day fear, insecurity, worry, etc. On the other hand, the vivid description that Charley provides indicates that the place really existed and later Sam exchanging money, disappearing and sending a letter in the first day cover perhaps prove that it was not an escape but a reality.


(Q.) What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?
(7 Marks)
(Ans) Charley, the main character of Jack Finney’s ‘The Third Level’ gave up hope of ever finding the third level again. He resumed his stamp collecting to pass his time. It was then that he noticed a first day cover which he had not seen before and should not have been there. It bore the stamp of July 18, 1894 and had been posted from Galesburg, Illinois. As Charley read the contents of the letter, he was shocked and surprised to read that it was Sam, his friend who had posted it to him. Earlier he had only hoped that Charley was right about the third level but now he actually believed in it. He had found it and had been there for two weeks. He admired the place as it was peaceful, people were warm and friendly. He urged Charley and Louisa to continue their search for the place and not to give up.The letter brought out the difference between the two worlds –the peaceful one of the pre-world war era and the modern world full of stress, worry and insecurities. People led a life of fun, enjoyment and little pleasures meant a lot to them in 1894. The letter also corroborates charley’s belief in the third level.

(Q.) ‘The Third Level’ written by Jack Finney is a story that illustrates an intersection of time and space. Elaborate.
(7 Marks)
(Ans) In ‘The Third Level’, Jack Finney treats his favourite subject ‘Time’ in a new dimension. The Third Level is a point where the past and the present meet.Charley, the protagonist loses his way. He finds himself in what he thinks is the third level of the Grand Central Station in New York. He realizes that something is different and discovers that he has somehow reached the year 1894.It is the period Finney would want to be in. The responses and happiness of the three characters in the story revolve around the third level. Charley is excited and wants two tickets for Galesburg, a peaceful town in the pre-war period. Sam, Charley’s psychiatrist friend attributes it to his desire to escape from the stress of life. Later on, Sam drew all his life’s savings from the bank and exchanged it for 1894 currency. He was able to cross time and reach a quieter, more peaceful past where his services as a psychiatrist were not required. Louisa did not believe that one could cross over the time dimension till Charley received a letter from Sam. Jack Finney leaves the readers wondering what ‘The Third Level’ really is. Even though Charley is able to find proof and make the transition back and forth in time, Sam, his friend is already there and enjoying himself. The reader gets transported into the shadowy, eerie world of dreams, desires and reality.

My Mother at sixty six: question bank with answers

My mother at 66
Kamala das:
Summary
The poet is on her way to the airport to cochin with her old mother sitting beside her,as she looks at her mother’s pale and pallid face, she is struck with the horror and pain of losing her. The mother with the dozing face and open mouth is compared to a corpse. The poet is pained and shifts her attention outside the car in order to drive out the negative feelings. The scene outside the window is of growing life and energy. The rapidly sprinting trees alongside the merrily playing children symbolize youth and vitality. The poet here is reminded of her own childhood when her mother had been young whereas now she is encircled with the fear of losing her and that has made her insecure. As she bids goodbye to her mother at the airport, the image of the old, wan, worn out mother in the twilight of years strikes her again but keeping a brave front she hides her tears and smile.


Theme
The poem revolves around the theme of advancing age and the fear that adheres to its loss and separation. It is a sentimental account of the mother’s approaching end through the eyes of the daughter. The seemingly short poem touches upon the theme of the filial bond between the mother and daughter smeared in the backdrop of nostalgia and fear. Nostalgia of the past(the time spent with the mother) and fear of the future without her.

Poetic device
It is a short poem, without a full stop, the poem is like a long sentence, over flowing thought process. The poet uses the device of comparison and contrast, simile and repetition. Although there is no rhyming scheme in the poem yet its lyrical quality cannot be missed.






Following are the clues to the various probable questions from the text.
In case of discrepancies with the answers kindly bring it to my notice.


(Q.) Why does the poet smile and what does she say while bidding goodbye to her mother?
(1 Mark)
(Ans) The poet smiles in order to put up a brave front so that her mother may not observe her pained and frightened look. She smiles in order to reassure her mother and says that she would soon see her again.



(Q.) What is the kind of pain and ache that the poet feels?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The emotional pain and ache that the poet feels is due to the realization that her mother has gone old and has become frail and pale like a corpse. She is dependent on her children. The ache also refers to the old familiar ache of the childhood that revisits the poet due to the mother’s old age and her approaching end.


(Q.) Why are the young trees described as sprinting?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The young trees are personified in the poem. They seem to be running in the opposite direction when seen through the window of the moving car. The movement is juxtaposed with the expression on the mother’s face i.e. ashen like a corpse. The movement of the children and the trees is in stark contrast with the stillness associated with the mother.



(Q.) Why has the poet bought in the image of the merry children ‘spilling out of their homes’?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The poet highlights the helplessness and frailty of old age with the help of contrasts. The mother dozes off mouth open, whereas the children spilling out of their homes signify movement and energy, enthusiasm and vivacity, which the old people are bereft off.



(Q.) Why has the mother been compared to ‘late winter’s moon’?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The mother has been compared to the late winter’s moon which is dull and shrouded. It symbolizes the ebbing of life. The moon brings to the poets mind night or the approaching end of life. The mother like the late winter’s moon is dull, dim and dismal.



(Q.) What do the parting words of the poet and her smile signify?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The parting words ‘see you soon Amma’ are used by the poet to reassure the mother and to infuse optimism in the poet herself. The poet accepts the reality yet keeps up the façade of smiling in order to put up a brave front. It requires a lot of effort and hence the poet has used the poetic device of repetition.


(Q.) What does the poet mean by ‘all I did was smile and smile and smile…’?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The poet realizes the pain and ache she would get at separating from her mother. It was her childhood fear that she experienced again. She was trying to hide her true emotions by smiling and smiling. The smile here is the forced smile and not the natural one.





(Q.) What childhood fears do you think the poet is referring to in the poem ‘My Mother at Sixty Six’?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The poet refers to the fears of a child has of losing a parent or getting lost somewhere and thus getting separated from them. The poet felt this kind of fear while looking at her mother’s aged and pale face. She was afraid that she might never see her again. However the fear is also symbolic of the strong filial bond that the poet has not yet overgrown.



(Q.) What does the poet mean by ‘she looked?’
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The poet felt that perhaps her mother too would be feeling insecure about her future. She saw these expressions on her mother’s face as well.


(Q.) What does the poet’s mother look like? What kind of images has the poet used to signify her ageing decay?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The poet’s mother at sixty-six, is sitting beside the poet and is dozing off with her mouth open. This is a sign of old age. Her face was pale like a corpse’s. Imagery of death has been created by the poet in this comparison.




(Q.) What were the activities that the poet saw outside the car window?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The poet saw young trees speeding past and it seemed as if they were sprinting or running fast. Happy, enthusiastic and energetic children could be seen running out of their homes. They represent an image of life, youth and energy in comparison to the poet’s mother who is described as a corpse, devoid of any energy and is an antithesis of children who are in the full swing of life.



(Q.) Why does the poet look outside? What does she perceive?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The very thought of separation from her mother upsets and depresses the poet. She experiences the fear that she may never meet her mother again. In order to drive away such negative thoughts, she looks out of the window and her mind gets diverted when she sees trees moving rapidly and children playing merrily.



(Q.) What is the poet’s familiar ache and why does it return?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The poet is pained to see her mother old and suffering. The sight of her mother’s pale and weak face looks like that of a corpse, which arouses her childhood’s ‘familiar ache’ in her heart. The old familiar ache refers to the childhood premonition of losing or being separated from the parents (mother), the fear returns due the old age of the mother signifying her approaching end.


(Q.) What does Kamala Das do after the security check-up? What does she notice?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) Immediately after the security check-up at the airport, and standing a few yards away from her mother, the poet observes her mother once again and compares her to the pale, colourless winter’s moon, marking the last phase of her life i.e. her old age. She is pained to see her and the fear of separation returns in her, once again.




(Q.) What poetic devices has the poet used in ‘My Mother at Sixty-six’?
(2 Marks)
(Ans) The poem is rich in imagery. Devices of comparisons and contrasts are also used by the poet to draw out the differences in young age and old age. She describes her mother’s age as ‘ashen like a corpse’, using simile and compares her to late winter’s moon, using a simile again. The merry children playing happily are contrasted with the old, weak, frail, feeble and pale mother of the poet.




(Q.) Driving from my parent’shome to Cochin last Friday
morning, I saw my mother,
beside me,
doze, open mouthed, her face
ashen like that
of a corpse and realized with pain
that she was as old as she looked and
thought away…

a) Where was the poet driving to? Who was sitting beside her?
b) What did the poet notice about her mother?
c) Why did her mother’s face look like that of a corpse?
d) Find words from the passage which mean
i) Sleep lightly
ii) Dead body
(4 Marks)
(Ans) (a) The poet was driving to the airport in Cochin. Her mother was sitting beside her.
(b) The poet noticed that her mother was looking old, pale and weak. She had dozed off.
(c) She was old, pale and ashen. Since she had dozed off, with mouth open the poet felt she looked like a corpse in that condition.
(d) i) Dozed; ii) Corpse



(Q.) ….andlooked but soon
put that thought away, and
looked out at young
trees sprinting, the merry children spilling
out of their homes

a) What did the poet realize? How did she feel?
b) What did she do then?
c) What did she see outside?
d) Find words from the passage which mean
i) Running fast
ii) Happy
(4 Marks)
(Ans) (a) The poet realized that her mother too, was lost in some distant thoughts. It pained her to see in that condition resembling a corpse.
(b) She started looking out in order to divert her own attention to something else as she wanted to dispel the sad and gloomy thoughts of her mother
(c) She saw young trees moving fast as if they were sprinting and also saw young children happily running out of their homes to play.
(d) i) Sprinting; ii) Merry




(Q.) but all I said was, see you soon, Amma,all I did was smile and smile and smile…’

a) Why did the poet say ‘see you soon, Amma’?
b) Why did the poet smile and smile?
c) ‘Smile and smile and smile’ is a poetic device. Identify it.d) Amma is the fond way of addressing someone. Who is being addressed here?
(4 Marks)
(Ans) (a) The poet says this to reassure her mother that she would see her soon. After the pain, there is a mood of acceptance of reality.
(b) The poet tries to put up a brave front in order to hide her true feelings of pain at seeing the old and weak mother.
(c) It is repetition and is used to emphasize the tone of acceptance of the poet and the brave front she puts up.
(d) The poet’s mother. She addresses her as ‘Amma’ and reassures her that she would meet her again.

High Order Thinking Skill

Higher Order Thinking Questions- a Necessity



In the Board’s question paper in Economics of Class XII, there will be higher order thinking questions of 15 to 20 marks. The objective is to assess the students’ understanding, analytical ability and interpretation.
In the course content for Economics, an attempt is made to introduce basic concepts used in the study of this subject. Many of these concepts are also interrelated.
Memorising these concepts and their relationship will not help in understanding the economic laws and principles. These have to be understood in totality by asking questions such as why and how and going a step further by applying them to various situations.

Some of these concepts are:

o Marginal and average cost etc and their relationship.
o Concept of equilibrium in microeconomics and in macroeconomics.
o Concepts of elasticity.
o Concepts of domestic product and national product.
o Intermediate and final products.
o Concepts of inflation, depreciation of domestic currency, etc.
Just memorising the meaning of concepts does not help in understanding the subject and the use of these concepts. For instance just memorising the meaning of average and marginal costs and their relationship will not help you in answering question, like.

o Why must marginal cost curve pass through the minimum point of average cost curve? Or
o If marginal revenue falls, will total revenue fall? Or
o Are the wages and salaries received by Indians working in American Embassy in India a part of Domestic Product of India? Or
o What are the main reasons for the present price rise in India? Or
o Why must aggregate demand and aggregate supply be equal when the economy is in an equilibrium?
To give a practice of the application of these concepts and to test whether the students have really understood them, the situations from day to day life should be put before
them. They should then be asked to analyse them. Some topics can also be taken up for debate, such as “Are borrowings bad?” or “Is inflation harmful?”


Some examples of higher order thinking questions in Economics for class XII are given below:-

1 When price of a good rises from Rs.5 per unit to Rs.6 per unit, 3
its demand falls from 20 units to 10 units. Compare expenditures
on the good to determine whether demand is elastic or inelastic.

2 What is the relation between good X and good Y in each case, if 3
with fall in the price of X demand for good Y (i) rises and (ii) falls?
Give reason.

3 Giving reasons explain how the following are treated while estimating 2,2,2
national income:
(i) Payment of fees to a lawyer engaged by a firm.
(ii) Rent free house to an employee by an employer.
(iii) Purchases by foreign tourists.

4 Explain what happens to the profits in the long run if the firms are free to 3
enter the industry.

5 Given market equilibrium of a good, what are the effects of simultaneous 6
increase in both demand and supply of that good on its equilibrium price
and quantity?

6 Explain the implications of the following :
(i) The feature ‘differentiated products’ under monopolistic competition.
(ii) The feature’Large number of sellers’ under perfect competition.
7 At a given market price of a good a consumer buys 120 units. When price
falls by 50 percent he buys 150 units. Calculate price elasticity of demand.

8 Explain, by giving examples, how do the following determine price elasticity
of demand:
(i) nature of the good
(ii) availability of substitutes

9 In the following table, identify the different phases of the law
of variable proportions and also explain the causes:
Variable input (units)
1
2
3
4
5
6
Total product (units)
10
22
32
40
40
35

10 Giving reasons, explain how the following are treated in estimating 6
National Income:
(i) Purchase of a truck to carry goods by a production unit.
(ii) Payment of income tax by a production unit.
(iii) Services rendered by family members to each other.

My Mother at 66

By Kamala Das

Summary

The poet is on her way to the airport in cochin with her old mother sitting beside her,as she looks at her mother’s pale and pallid face, she is struck with the horror and pain of losing her. The mother with the dozing face and open mouth is compared to a corpse. The poet is pained and shifts her attention outside the car in order to drive out the negative feelings. The scene outside the window is of growing life and energy. The rapidly sprinting trees alongside the merrily playing children symbolize youth and vitality. The poet here is reminded of her own childhood when her mother had been young whereas now she is encircled with the fear of losing her and that has made her insecure. As she bids goodbye to her mother at the airport, the image of the old, wan, worn out mother in the twilight of years strikes her again but keeping a brave front she hides her tears and smile.

Theme

The poem revolves around the theme of advancing age and the fear that adheres to its loss and separation. It is a sentimental account of the mother’s approaching end through the eyes of the daughter. The seemingly short poem touches upon the theme of the filial bond between the mother and daughter smeared in the backdrop of nostalgia and fear. Nostalgia of the past(the time spent with the mother) and fear of the future without her.

Poetic device

It is a short poem, with only one full stop in the end, the poem is like a long sentence, over flowing thought process. The poet uses the device of comparison and contrast, simile and repetition. Although there is no rhyming scheme in the poem yet its lyrical quality cannot be missed.