question_answer 1)

Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?    

Answer:

•             Yes, It was. It was about being able to catch a train back Into a quieter, happier past. He had admitted to himself that 'everybody I know wants to escape'. So did Sam. He, too, was not untouched by the modern world's Insecurity, fear, war, and worry.   Galesburg was a place where Charley had gone to school and he had always liked the sound of the place. His grandparents had been there at about the same era In which he reached. Probably his prior knowledge of the life then through his grandparents-the open-flame gaslights, the brass spittoons, the attire, the locomotives etc.—was all very fascinating. It was the pre-World War era in 1894, devoid of Insecurity, fear, war, and worry and It would be natural for one to want to escape there. People, then, sat out in their lawns leisurely, the men smoking cigars and talking quietly, the women waving palm-leaf fans, with the fire-flies all around, in a peaceful world. The pace of life appeared peaceful. To be back there was certainly a fulfilment of his wish.   •             No, it wasn't wish fulfilment. If it were so then Sam, the psychiatrist, would not have reached there. Moreover, despite his wanting to rediscover the mysterious third level of Grand Central, he was unable to do so. For Charley, the proof of the existence of such a place, came from a much unexpected but tangible source. He found a first-day cover envelope that had never been opened. It had been mailed to his grand father at his home in Galesburg and had been there since July 18, 1894. Moreover, the letter in it was addressed to him from Sam, who had found the third level. He had been there for two weeks—the time coincided with his disappearance.   The Grand was anyways a confusing place where Charley was always bumping Into new doorways and stairs and corridors. He had once got into a mile-long tunnel and had come out Into the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel. At another time he had emerged in an office building on Forty-sixth Street, three blocks away. Hence, not being able to locate it was not really unbelievable.