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The Third Level by Jack Finney
ABOUT THE STORY
The Third Level by Jack Finney
The story "The Third Level" is an interesting psychological story from the first chapter of the book "Vistas" of class 12. This story was written by Jack Finney, an American author. Most of his creations are based on scientific as well as thriller experiences. The plot of the story was written around 1958. This story, "The Third Level," has presented various unbelievable incidents that have created a kind of question mark in the readers' minds. The story begins with the narration of the main narrator and ends up surprisingly creating confusion among all the readers. The writer of the story has raised a question for all his readers before starting the story. His question is: "Have you ever had any curious experience that others find hard to believe?" Through this question, we get the idea that "The Third Level" is somewhat related to unbelievable incidents.
MAJOR CHARACTERS
The Third Level by Jack Finney
There are three major characters here in this story. The characters are as follows:
Charley: Charley is the main protagonist as well as the narrator of the story, who is an ordinary person aged 31 with a hobby of stamp collection.
Louisa: Louisa is Charley's wife and cares more about Charley.
Sam Weiner: Sam Weiner is Charley's friend and is a psychiatrist by profession.
MAIN SUMMARY
The Third Level by Jack Finney
The story "The Third Level" is all about the unbelievable experience of the main narrator at the railway station, which is the Grand Central Railway Station of New York. Grand Central Railway Station is one of the biggest railway stations in New York. This railway station was established in the year 1870. Charley's experience related to the third level of Grand Central Railway Station is quite unbelievable and hard for others to believe. The story "The Third Level" begins with the narrator's convincing lines. Here, the main protagonist is claiming that he has been on the third level of Grand Central Railway Station. According to him, the president of the New York Railroads will swear to the existence of only two levels at Grand Central Railway Station. Not only this, but his friend and even his wife are quite confident about the existence of only two levels at that station. But the main narrator, Charley, is quite confident about the existence of the third level at the Grand Central Railway Station, which he has experienced. Due to his unbelievable talks, Charley's wife, Louisa, takes Charley to his psychiatrist friend, Sam Wiener. When Charley recounts his experience related to the third level of the Grand Central Railway Station to his psychiatrist friend Sam Wiener, his friend doesn't believe his words. Sam tells Charley that it is just our waking dream fulfilled. According to Sam, Charley is unhappy with his stressful life. Due to him, his wife is also upset. He explains that Charley wants to escape the present reality because the present modern world is full of insecurities, fear, war, worries, and all the rest of it. But Charley denies his friend's words, saying that everyone wants to escape from all these tensions in the modern world. In a very funny way, he adds a line that people don't wander down into any third level of the Grand Central Railway Station just like him to escape from reality. Later on, Sam starts talking about Charley's hobby of stamp collecting.
According to him, stamp collection itself is a temporary refuge from reality. Charley gives a fine example of his grandfather and American President Roosevelt. According to him, his grandfather also had a hobby of stamp collection. But he did not need any temporary refuge from reality. During the time of his grandfather, things were pretty nice and peaceful. His grandfather had a nice collection of stamps, which Charley has in the present time too. His grandfather used to collect blocks of four stamps at once, which were issued by the US government, first-day covers, and so on. According to Charley, it doesn't mean that his grandfather wanted to take a temporary refuge from reality. He even asked if President Roosevelt was a man of his time. He had quite a strong personality. He even had the hobby of collecting stamps. He was quite courageous enough to fight with reality; in fact, he didn't need any temporary refuge from reality. Later on, Charley starts telling his actual incident to all the readers that happened with him on one of the nights last summer at Grand Central Railway Station. According to him, he worked quite late at his office that day. He wanted to meet his wife, Louisa. He wanted to reach his home in a short time, so he decided to take the subway to Grand Central Railway Station because it was faster than the bus. That day, he was wearing a tan gabardine suit and a straw hat with a fancy band. On his way to the subway, he met a dozen people who looked just like him. He did not want to escape at all. He just wanted to reach home and meet his wife, Louisa. He entered the first level, where anyone can take trains, like in the 20th century. When he reached the first level, he found out that the train had already left. After that, he moved on to the second level, where the suburban trains leave. The same thing happened to him there too. He found the train missing.
After some time, he found an arc-shaped doorway, which he had never seen in his life before. He dogged into that doorway in search of the subway. Finally, he got lost there. Charley reveals to all the readers that he has been in and out of Grand Central Railway Station a hundred times. He has experienced many new things in that station, such as new doorways, stairs, corridors, etc. But he hasn't seen such an arc-shaped doorway in his life before. He compares the Grand Central Railway Station to a big tree's roots that keep on growing or developing. He even relates his experience of walking a mile-long tunnel too. After entering that arc-shaped doorway, Charley did not get his proper way ahead.
He entered a corridor that had a left turn. It was also slanting somewhat downward. It was like a tunnel. He met no one on the way. There was pin-drop silence. After walking for some time, there was a left turn in the corridor. He moved downstairs and finally reached the third level of Grand Central Railway Station. He noticed various unusual things there.
Things were quite different on the third level. There were a few ticket counters. The rooms were quite small. The lights were dim and flickering because they were open-flame gas lights. There were brass spittoons on the floor. When he moved further, he heard some people talking. When he moved around, he found old-fashioned people everywhere. Those people looked like the people of the 1890s. They had worn out old-fashioned clothes, such as Derby hats and four-buttoned suits with small lapels. The men had beards, side whiskers, and moustaches.
He noticed a woman wearing a long skirt that reached the top of her shoes. He even noticed a man using an old-fashioned golden pocket watch. After some time, he met a paper boy. There was a stack of paper on his feet. When he read that newspaper, he found the title of the newspaper, "The World," which was dated June 11, 1894. He even noticed that there was an old wooden information board. Charley realised that he had done time travel and reached the past period. He moved towards the ticket counter. He wanted to buy tickets for his favourite place, Galesburg, Illinois. When he counted his money in front of the counter clerk, the counter clerk nodded his head, saying, "That ain't money, mister." The counter's clerk warned Charley about not skinning him. Charley saw the old-fashioned money bills just beside that counter clerk and left the counter because he did not want to be in jail in 1894.
Charley always had a deep desire to move to Galesburg, along with his wife Louisa. For him, Galesburg is such a wonderful town with big old frame houses, huge lawns, and tremendous trees whose branches meet overhead and on both the streets. His lovable grandfather also used to live there.
The next day, during lunchtime, Charley went to the bank and took out all his money. He exchanged his $300 into old currencies. He got only 200 dollars for that amount. He did not feel any concern about the loss of a hundred dollars. Charley's friends were surprised to see his act of converting his money into old bills. Actually, Charley had to pay the premium of his life insurance policy, but he didn't care much about that insurance policy. The only wish for Charley was to reach Galesburg, which was a quite peaceful town, and things were quite cheap there.
Charley moved directly to the Grand Central Railway station. He wanted to move into the third level, but he did not get the proper way ahead of the third level. He became quite upset and returned home. Charley related everything to his wife, Louisa. Louisa became quite worried and asked him to stop his task of searching the third level at Grand Central Railway Station.
Charley agreed and stopped his task of searching that third level at Grand Central Railway Station. He engaged himself in his stamp collection again.
Now the main turning point in the story:
Charley reveals to all the readers that now both of them, Charley and Louisa, are eagerly and hopefully searching for the third level at Grand Central Railway Station. Both of them have now proved the existence of the third level at Grand Central Railway Station. Charley starts telling his story related to his psychiatrist friend Sam Weiner to all the readers. Both Charley and Louisa came to know that their psychiatrist friend Sam Weiner had been missing for many days. He was out of contact. They tried their best to find Sam Weiner, but they did not get any information about him. Some days before, Charley was busy with his stamps. He found a first-day cover in his stamps dated July 18, 1894. That first-day cover was dull brown with a six-cent stamp on it and a picture of President Garfield.
Charley had never seen that first-day cover on his stamps before. The envelope of that first-day cover was addressed to his grandfather. Charley took that first-day cover and opened it. The surprising part was that the first-day cover did not contain blank paper. There was a written note inside the envelope. That note was sent to his grandfather, but it was written for Charley. After reading that note, Charley came to know that his psychiatrist friend Sam Weiner was in Galesburg. In that note, Sam Weiner stated that Charley was right about the existence of the third level at Grand Central Railway Station.
According to Sam, he found that third level at the Grand Centre Railway station and reached Galesburg about two weeks ago. He also wanted to see Charley and his wife, Louisa, in Galesburg. He was enjoying his lemonade drink along with piano music and song at Daly's Street in Galesburg. He also asked them to keep searching the third level at Grand Central Railway Station. There was the signature of Sam Weiner at the end of that note. That note created confusion for Charley. The next day, Charley went up to the coin section, where he came to know that his psychiatrist friend Sam Weiner had recently exchanged his eight hundred dollars into old currencies. In this way, this interesting story, "The Third Level," ends up quite surprisingly creating confusion for all the readers.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
The Third Level by Jack Finney
Question 1.
What does the third level refer to? What is the significance of the third level?
Answer:
The third level refers to an unexpected level at Grand Central Station that Charley claims to have traveled to. Its significance lies in being a portal to the past, specifically the year 1894.
Question 2.
What convinced Charley that he had reached the third level at Grand Central Station and not the second level?
Answer:
Charley was convinced of the third level's existence because he encountered an arc-shaped doorway and a corridor with a left turn, both unfamiliar in the known levels of the station.
Question 3.
How does Charley, the narrator describe the third level at Grand Central Station?
Answer:
Charley, the narrator describes the third level at Grand Central Station as having small rooms, dim flickering lights from open-flame gas lamps, brass spittoons on the floor, and an atmosphere reminiscent of the 1890s.
Question 4.
How did Charley make sure that he was not in the present time?
Answer:
Charley made sure that he wasn't in the present when he saw old-fashioned people, a newspaper dated June 11, 1894, and an old wooden information board at the third level.
Question 5.
How did Charley often get lost on the Grand Central Station?
Answer:
Charley often got lost due to encountering new doorways, stairs, corridors, etc., within the station, which seemed to evolve like the growing roots of a tree.
Question 6.
Why did Charley suspect that Sam had gone to Galesburg?
Answer:
Charley suspected Sam had gone to Galesburg because he found a note in a first-day cover, dated 1894, hidden in his stamp collection, suggesting Sam's presence in Galesburg.
Question 7.
How does Charley describe Galesburg as it used to be in 1894?
Answer:
Charley describes Galesburg as it used to be in 1894 as a wonderful town with big old houses, vast lawns, and towering trees. It represents a peaceful place he desires to visit.
Question 8.
What did Charley learn about Sam from the stamp and coin store?
Answer:
From the stamp and coin store, Charley learned that Sam Weiner had exchanged $800 into old currencies, indicating his involvement with the third level and Galesburg.
Question 9.
How did Sam reach Galesburg? What did he advise Charley to do?
Answer:
Sam reached Galesburg through the third level at Grand Central. He advised Charley to keep searching for the third level and mentioned enjoying life in Galesburg.
Question 10.
Why did the booking clerk refuse to accept the money?
Answer:
The booking clerk refused to accept Charley's money because it was modern currency, and the clerk only recognized the old-fashioned money bills seen in 1894.
Question 11.
Why did Charley rush back from the third level?
Answer:
Charley rushed back from the third level because he got lost and felt disoriented, and the unfamiliar surroundings made him uneasy.
Question 12.
How did Charley reach the third level of Grand Central? How was it different from the other levels?
Answer:
Charley reached the third level by entering an arc-shaped doorway and navigating through a slanting corridor, discovering a different environment with small rooms, dim lights, and old-fashioned people. It was distinct from the other levels in its appearance and atmosphere.
Question 13.
Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?
Answer:
Yes, I think the third level served as a medium of escape for Charley as it provided him access to the past, offering a refuge from the insecurities and stresses of the modern world.
Question 14.
What made Charley believe that the was actually standing at the third level?
Answer:
Charley believed he was standing at the third level due to the presence of old-fashioned elements, encounters with people from the 1890s, and finding a newspaper dated 1894.
Question 15.
What kind of people did Charley ‘See’ at the third level?
Answer:
Charley "saw" people at the third level who resembled individuals from the 1890s, wearing outdated clothing, and exhibiting behaviors and items typical of that era.
Question 16.
How does Charley make his description of the third level very realistic?
Answer:
Charley makes his description realistic by detailing specific elements of the third level, such as the arc-shaped doorway, slanting corridor, old-fashioned rooms, and the atmosphere, enhancing the vividness of his experience.
Question 17.
What is being inferred from Sam’s letter to Charley?
Answer:
Sam's letter to Charley implies that Sam successfully reached Galesburg through the third level, supporting Charley's claims. Sam encourages Charley to continue searching for the third level, indicating its existence.
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