Class XII - (Vistas) Chapter - 1 "The Third Level" - Jack Finney

 The Third Level.

The Third Level Introduction

The Third Level by Jack Finney is about the harsh realities of war. War has irreversible consequences thus leaving people in a state of insecurity. It is also about modern day problems and how common man tends to escape reality by various means. In this story, a man named Charley hallucinates and reaches the third level of the Grand Central Station which only has two levels.

The Third Level Summary

The story revolves around a 31 year old man named Charley, who experienced something weird. One day after work coming from the Subway, he reached the third level of the Grand Central station (which doesn't actually exist). He reminisces the entire experience with his psychiatrist friend Sam. Charley thought he experienced time travel and had reached somewhere in the eighteen-nineties, a time before the world saw two of its most deadliest wars. As soon as he realised what time he is in, he immediately decided to buy two tickets to Galesburg, Illinois; one for himself and the other for his wife. Unfortunately, the currency used in that century was different. Thus, the next day he withdrew all his savings and got them converted even if it meant bearing losses. He went looking for the third level but failed to find it. It worried his wife and the psychiatrist Sam who told him that he is hallucinating in order to take refuge from reality and miseries of the modern world which is full of worry. Charley thus resorts to his stamp collection in order to  distract himself when suddenly one day he finds a letter from his friend Sam who had gone missing recently. Sam wrote that he always wanted to believe in the idea of third level and now that he is there himself, he encourages Charley and Louisa to never stop looking for it.

THEME OF THE THIRD LEVEL 

 Charley wishes to be transported to third level, the world of 1894 which is supposed to be the most happier and quieter place to be. 

 The question whether third level exist in real or in Charley’s mind can be inferred from Sam’s letter.

 The story also dwells on 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.

Charley: The protagonist of the story, Charley is a true representative of modem man. He is a victim of stress, insecurity and fear and wants to run away from reality. He is an escapist and wants to escape from the world of harsh realities. He is fond of stamp collection, a hobby, which he takes up to make his leisure hours more productive and fulfilling experience. But his psychiatrist friend calls it a temporary refuge from reality. He yearns to lead a good simple life of his grandfather’s time, when things were pretty nice and peaceful. He is an imaginative person. Hence on the wings of his imagination, he takes a flight to the non-existent world – the third level at Central Station. But after finding it once, he and his wife fail to find it again. In short, Charley is the true representative of the modern man who is torn between the pulls and pressures of a hectic modem life and wants to escape since he is not happy.

Louisa: Louisa is Charley’s wife. She is loving and caring towards her husband. However, she is a simple lady and it is not difficult to take her in. She refuses to accept the psychiatrist’s observation that her husband is unhappy. She takes this comment as a personal attack and feels ‘kind of mad’. On being told the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, etc. she feels satisfied with the psychiatrist explanation.

Sam-Charley’s Psychiatrist friend: Sam is a psychiatrist by profession. He is a typical city boy. When Charley shares his visiting the third level he tells him it is a waking dream wish fulfilment. He tells him that he is looking for ways to escape since he is not happy. But he immediately revises his statement that Charley is a victim of insecurities of modern life. He dubs the argument of narrator’s hobby of stamp collection as a temporary refuge from reality. He does not believe in mixing up his profession with his friendship.

The Third Level Lesson (TEXT)

THE presidents of the New York Central and the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroads will swear on a stack of timetables that there are only two. But I say there are three, because I've been on the third level of the Grand Central Station. Yes, I've taken the obvious step: I talked to a psychiatrist friend of mine, among others. I told him about the third level at Grand Central Station, and he said it was a waking dream wish fulfillment. He said I was unhappy. That made my wife kind of mad, but he explained that he meant the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it, and that I just want to escape. Well, who doesn't? Everybody I know wants to escape, but they don't wander down into any third level at Grand Central Station.

 Stack- a pile of objects, typically one that is neatly arranged

Timetables- a schedule showing the departure and arrival times of trains, buses or aircraft

Waking dream- an involuntary dream occuring while a person is awake

Wander- walk; roam

 But that's the reason, he said, and my friends all agreed. Everything points to it, they claimed. My stamp collecting, for example; that a ˜temporary refuge from reality. Well, maybe, but my grandfather didn't need any refuge from reality; things were pretty nice and peaceful in his day, from all I hear, and he started my collection. It's a nice collection too, blocks of four of practically every U.S. issue, first-day covers, and so on. President Roosevelt collected stamps too, you know.

Refuge- the state of being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger or difficulty

 

 Anyway, here's what happened at Grand Central. One night last summer I worked late at the office. I was in a hurry to get uptown to my apartment, so I decided to take the subway from Grand Central because it's faster than the bus.

 

Now, I don't know why this should have happened to me. I'm just an ordinary guy named Charley, thirty-one years old, and I was wearing a tan gabardine suit and a straw hat with a fancy band; I passed a dozen men who looked just like me. And I wasn't trying to escape from anything; I just wanted to get home to Louisa, my wife.

 I turned into Grand Central from Vanderbilt Avenue, and went down the steps to the first level, where you take trains like the Twentieth Century. Then I walked down another flight to the second level, where the suburban trains leave from, ducked into an arched doorway heading for the subway  and got lost. That's easy to do. I've been in and out of Grand Central hundreds of times, but I'm always bumping into new doorways and stairs and corridors. Once I got into a tunnel about a mile long and came out in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel. Another time I came up in an office building on Forty-sixth Street, three blocks away.

 Suburban- residential

Ducked- lower the head or body quickly

Arched- curved

Bumping- knock or run into something

 

Sometimes I think Grand Central is growing like a tree, pushing out new corridors and staircases like roots. There's probably a long tunnel that nobody knows about feeling its way under the city right now, on its way to Times Square, and maybe another to Central Park. And maybe because for so many people through the years Grand Central has been an exit, a way of escape  maybe that's how the tunnel I got into... But I never told my psychiatrist friend about that idea.

 

 The corridor I was in began angling left and slanting downward and I thought that was wrong, but I kept on walking. All I could hear was the empty sound of my own footsteps and I didn't pass a soul. Then I heard that sort of hollow roar ahead that means open space and people talking. The tunnel turned sharp left; I went down a short flight of stairs and came out on the third level at Grand Central Station. For just a moment I thought I was back on the second level, but I saw the room was smaller, there were fewer ticket windows and train gates, and the information booth in the centre was wood and old looking. And the man in the booth wore a green eyeshade and long black sleeve protectors. The lights were dim and sort of flickering. Then I saw why; they were open-flame gaslights.

  

 There were brass spittoons on the floor, and across the station a glint of light caught my eye; a man was 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 he had a big, black, handlebar mustache. Then I looked around and saw that everyone in the station was dressed like eighteen-ninety-something; I never saw so many beards, sideburns and fancy mustaches in my life. A woman walked in through the train gate; she wore a dress with leg-of-mutton sleeves and skirts to the top of her high-buttoned shoes. Back of her, out on the tracks, I caught a glimpse of a locomotive, a very small Currier & Ives locomotive with a funnel-shaped stack. And then I knew.

Spittoons- a metal or earthenware pot typically having a funnel-shaped top, used for spitting into

 Vest- a garment worn on the upper part of the body

Snapped- break suddenly and completely

Locomotive- a powered railway vehicle used for pulling trains

 

 To make sure, I walked over to a newsboy and glanced at the stack of papers at his feet. It was The World; and The World hasn't been published for years. The lead story said something about President Cleveland. I've found that front page since, in the Public Library files, and it was printed June 11, 1894.

 

I turned toward the ticket windows knowing that here is on the third level at Grand Central  I could buy tickets that would take Louisa and me anywhere in the United States we wanted to go. In the year 1894. And I wanted two tickets to Galesburg, Illinois. Have you ever been there? It's a wonderful town still, with big old frame houses, huge lawns, and tremendous trees whose branches meet overhead and roof the streets. And in 1894, summer evenings were twice as long, and people sat out on their lawns, the men smoking cigars and talking quietly, the women waving palm-leaf fans, with the fire-flies all around, in a peaceful world. 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.

  

 The clerk figured the fare  he glanced at my fancy hatband, but he figured the fare ” and I had enough for two coach tickets, one way. But when I counted out the money and looked up, the clerk was staring at me. He nodded at the bills. ˜That  money, mister,he said,  if you are trying to skin me, you won't get very far, and he glanced at the cash drawer beside him. Of course the money was old-style bills, half again as big as the money we use nowadays, and different-looking. I turned away and got out fast. There is nothing nice about jail, even in 1894.

 And that was that. I left the same way I came, I suppose. Next day, during lunch hour, I drew three hundred dollars out of the bank, nearly all we had, and bought old-style currency (that really worried my psychiatrist friend). You can buy old money at almost any coin dealers, but you have to pay a premium. My three hundred dollars bought less than two hundred in old-style bills, but I didn't care; eggs were thirteen cents a dozen in 1894.

 But I've never again found the corridor that leads to the third level at Grand Central Station, although I've tried often enough. Louisa was pretty worried when I told her all this, and didn't want me to look for the third level any more, and after a while I stopped; I went back to my stamps. But now we're both looking, every weekend, because now we have proof that the third level is still there. My friend Sam Weiner disappeared! Nobody knew where, but I sort of suspected because Same a city boy, and I used to tell him about Galesburg ” I went to school there  and he always said he liked the sound of the place. And that's why where he is, all right. In 1894.

  

Because one night, fussing with my stamp collection, I found - Well, do you know what a first-day cover is? When a new stamp is issued, stamp collectors buy some and use them to mail envelopes to themselves on the very first day of sale; and the postmark proves the date. The envelope is called a first-day cover. They are never opened; you just put blank paper in the envelope.

Fussing- show unnecessary or excessive concern about something

 That night, among my oldest first-day covers, I found one that shouldn't have been there. But there it was. It was there because someone had mailed it to my grandfather at his home in Galesburg; that's what the address on the envelope said. And it had been there since July 18, 1894 -the postmark showed that -” yet I didn't remember it at all. The stamp was a six-cent, dull brown, with a picture of President Garfield. Naturally, when the envelope came to Granddad in the mail, it went right into his collection and stayed there _ till I took it out and opened it. The paper inside wasn't blank. It read:

  

941 Willard Street Galesburg,

Illinois

July 18, 1894

Charley

 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! I've been here two weeks, and right now, down the street at the Daly's, someone is playing a piano, and they're all out on the front porch singing ˜Seeing Nelly Home. And I'm invited over for lemonade. Come on back, Charley and Louisa. Keep looking till you find the third level! It's worth it, believe me!

The note is signed Sam.

At the stamp and coin store I go to, I found out that Sam bought eight hundred dollars worth of old-style currency. That ought to set him up in a nice little hay, feed and grain business; he always said that's what he really wished he could do, and he certainly cant go back to his old business. Not in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1894. His old business? Why, Sam was my psychiatrist.

 

 The Third Level- Question and Answers

Read and Find  out

1. What does the third level refer to?

A. Third level refers to an additional floor at the Grand Central Station which originally only had two levels. Charley was hallucinating one night while going home when he reached the third level.

2. Would Charley ever go back to the ticket-counter on the third level to buy tickets to Galesburg for himself and his wife?

A. Charley went looking back for the third level that could take him and his wife to Galesburg because he wanted to go back to his past. He wanted to go back to the world that has not seen two of its deadliest wars that changed everything.

Read with insight

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

A. Yes, the third level of the Grand Central Station was a medium of escape for Charley. Modern world offers a lot of challenges and in order to take refuge from reality, one might resort to day-dreaming or hallucination We all understand the miseries of the modern world which is full of worry and pressure, thus, in order to take the burden away from his shoulders and heap a sigh of relief, Charley resorted to escaping reality, although unintentionally.

2. What do you infer from Sam's letter to Charley?

A. The way Charley discovered Sam is letter was rather peculiar. It was one of those first-day covers people used to mail to themselves back in time with a blank page inside. So to begin with, the cover had a letter in it and not a blank page in it. Secondly, the letter dates back to 18 July, 1894 when Sam (the writer of the letter) didn't exist because both Sam and Charley exist in the present times. Thus, it is sound to conclude that it was just a product of Charley's imagination.

3. The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress. What are the ways in which we attempt to overcome them?

A. One cannot count on fingers the negative aspects the modern lifestyle has to offer. There is stress, pressure, fear, insecurity and worry. In order to relieve yourself of all these miseries, one can indulge in creative activities from time to time. Making time for yourself and what you love without worrying about a productive outcome is a crucial thing many people tend to ignore in the hustle and bustle of daily lives. Secondly, one can read a good book or even meditate. Long walks in the lap of nature are not to be underestimated because nature has its own healing power. Apart from these, a short weekend getaway, movie night with friends or even alone at home can be done in order to dissociate oneself from the routine.

4. Do you see an intersection of time and space in the story?

A. Yes, there are a lot of instances that tell us about the intersection of time and space in the story. First intersection being the one between the first two levels of the Grand Central Station and its third level which is based somewhere in the 1890s whereas the former exists in the present times. Also when Charley went to buy tickets for Galesburg which existed in 1894 while he and his wife exists in the present times. Not   to ignore the old fashioned architecture of the third level in contradiction to the modern interiors of the first two levels. Lastly, the letter dated 18th July, 1982 that Charley found also throws light upon the intersection of time and space as both the sender (Sam) and the receiver (Charley) exist in the present times. 

5. Apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic projection? Discuss.

A. While a lot of the world is greatest inventions were made by people who were criticised for their ideas. Audiences used to mock at them for being illogical. Sighting the example of Thomas Edison who invented the light bulb, no one believed in him at first but all he had was an idea and it is realistic projection in mind. The idea here tells us how important it is to sometimes follow one's insight and have hope for it holds the capacity to change the world through its futuristic projections.

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?

A. Philately does indeed help in keeping the treasures of past alive. It gives one a chance to revisit and embrace the past of one's existence. Some of the other ways in which it can be done is by keeping a record of all the letters, ancient manuscripts, things that are discontinued but were a significant part of the past, images, videos and written records of experiences.

Human beings are a collection of all the experiences they have been through. Their tendency to connect with the past from time to time helps them stay connected to the roots while helping them to face the present and future challenges with more strength. Connecting with the future on the other hand, is just as important to know the outcome of one of current actions and decisions. If one doesn't seem satisfied with the realistic interpretation of future, it can certainly help in altering current actions to direct towards a better future.