CBSE CORE VISTAS CHAPTER 1

1. The Third Level- Jack
Finney.

3. We can view consciousness as three
distinct levels: the conscious, the
subconscious (or preconscious), and
the unconscious.
The first level of consciousness is known as the conscious state, and this refers
to our immediate awareness that you are experiencing as you read this. We
make use of our conscious mind when we take in input from our senses,
analyse the information, and then make decisions based on this information.

5. The conscious mind consists of what we are aware of at any given point in time.
It includes the things that we are thinking about right now, whether it’s in the
front of our minds or the back. If we’re aware of it, then it is in the conscious
mind.
For example, at this moment you may be consciously aware of the information
you’re reading, the sound of the music you’re listening to, or a conversation
you’re having. All of the thoughts that pass through your mind, the sensations
and perceptions from the outside world, and the memories that you bring into
your awareness are all part of that conscious experience.
The next level of consciousness, the subconscious (or preconscious), is the stuff
from which dreams are made. We can consider it as the storehouse of all
remembered experiences, impressions that are left on the mind by such
experiences, and tendencies that are awakened or reinforced by these
impressions.
Every experience you’ve ever had, every thought, every impression lives in the
subconscious mind and influences our patterns of thought and behaviour far
more than we realise.

6. The subconscious holds information that is just below the
surface of awareness. An individual can retrieve such
information with relative ease, and we usually refer to these
as memories.
For example, if someone asked you right now what your
middle name was, you would be able to recall it, or when
your father’s birthday was or when it last rained. The
memories of past experiences live in what Freud referred to
as the subconscious part of our minds, that we might not be
aware of one moment, and then fully focussed on the next.

7. What we accomplish in our life, work and relationships will
usually be determined by the habits that we develop over
time. The practice of setting priorities and getting on with
important day-to-day tasks is both a mental and physical
skill. As such, this habit is learnable through practice and
repetition until it locks into our subconscious mind and
becomes a permanent part of our behaviour.
The final level of consciousness is known as the unconscious.
This is made up of thoughts, memories, and
primitive/instinctual desires that are buried deep within
ourselves, far below our conscious awareness. Even though
we’re not aware of their existence, they have a significant
influence on our behaviour.

8. Although our behaviours tend to indicate the unconscious
forces driving them, we can’t readily access the information
which is stored in the unconscious mind. Throughout our
childhood, we gathered many different memories and
experiences that formed the beliefs, fears and insecurities
that we carry today. However, we cannot recall most of these
memories. They are unconscious forces that drive our
behaviours.
For example, things in your unconscious that might be
forgotten include negative experiences from your past or a
traumatic event that you pushed out of your subconscious.
There might be some life experiences or thoughts that are
too threatening for some people to fully acknowledge and are
therefore mediated by the preconscious/subconscious part
of the mind.

9. The past is a good place to visit, but certainly not a good place to
stay. The Third Level by Jack Finney is an engrossing story set in the
1950s. The story is studded with numerous undertones of irony. It
takes you back in time. It was a world when people hadn’t seen two
of the bloodiest wars in the history of mankind. The story brings to
light the fact that figments of someone’s imagination can be used for
shying away from reality, which in all fairness, is harsh enough.

10. The Third Level tells the story of a 31-year-old guy named Charlie. One fine
evening, while rushing home, he decides to take the subway from the Grand
Central Station in New York City. He ends up finding himself on the Third Level
of the Grand Central Station (there were only two levels). There, Charlie observes
spittoons lying on the floor. He observes that people were wearing derby hats
and gold watches, which they kept in their vest pockets. He also sees a Currier &
Ives locomotive.

11. Realising that he’s gone back in time, Charlie tries to buy tickets to Galesburg.
During the lunch hour, the next afternoon, Charlie withdraws all his savings
(nearly 500 US Dollars) to buy old style currency notes. Charlie narrates this
incident to Sam, his friend who works as a psychiatrist. Sam concludes that the
Third Level is nothing but a mere figment of Charlie’s imagination. The
miseries which the modern world, full of war, worry and terror, had to offer
made Charlie hallucinate about the existence of the Third Level.
Charlie succeeds in finding an evidence related to the Third Level’s existence.
He discovers a letter addressed to him by his psychiatrist friend Sam. The
letter was dated July 18, 1894. It seemed that Sam wasn’t as incredulous of the
Third Level as he had appeared to be.

12. HALLUCINATION
Visual hallucinations include seeing people, lights or patterns that no one
else can spot.

13. The Protagonist
Charlie’s a 31-year-old guy. He wore a Tan Gabardine suit
(I remember Roger Moore wearing Tan Gabardine suits
when he portrayed James Bond on screen). He’s an
ordinary guy with a family. Peace and serenity happen to
be the two things he wants rather desperately. His
decision to stay back in the year 1894 reiterates his desire
to live a peaceful and joyous life with his wife.

14. The Verdict
The story clearly explores the concept of time travel. Jack Finney explores the
mentality of a common man. He succeeds in exposing the vulnerable side of a
common man. A myriad of problems conspired to corrupt Charlie’s mind. It
further robbed him of his senses, and in his panic induced state, he
hallucinated about the Third Level at the Grand Central Station. Even though
it was hard for Charlie to believe his eyes, he decided to stay there, in the year
1894.
What stands out in the entire story is the extent of ease with which Jack
Finney was able to bring out a common man’s craving for peace and security.
Like any common man, Charlie too appreciated the so-called ‘pleasures’ of
everyday life and the security of the familiar. He wanted to stay in the past
because 1894 was much more peaceful, secure, serene. The world in 1894
hadn’t seen the repercussions of war. The insecurities that came with war,
terror, and disease had gotten the better of common folks like Charlie who
wanted a transient relief from the harsh realities of life.
All in all, The Third Level brings us to the conclusion that people find it hard
to make peace with unpleasant things they come across in life. The story
further makes the reader realize that the past and future are real illusions.
They exist in the present, which is all there is.

15. The Third Level at Grand Central Station
Grand Central Station of New York has two levels. But Charley, a thirty-one
year old dweller of the city, talks about there being three. Not only does he
believe in the existence of this hypothetical third level but also claims to have
been there.
A visit to his psychiatrist friend
Charley visits a psychiatrist friend to talk about this problem. The
psychiatrist calls it a “waking-dream wish fulfillment” and rationalises
Charley's psychology by saying that the “modern world is full of
insecurity, fear, worry, and war...” and everybody wants to escape to
some “temporary refuge from reality.” According to him, even hobbies
like stamp collection is a manifestation of this escape.
Charley loses his way at Grand Central
The fast growing Grand Central station at times seems to be a maze to
Charley. He had lost his way a couple of times earlier too while taking the
subway. Once, he entered the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel while the other
time he emerged at an office building that was three blocks away. But this
time when he loses his way, something unique happens. He visits the third
level!

16. The Third Level
Charley keeps walking in the quiet corridor, angling left
and slanting downward, till he reaches an architecturally
old station that is completely different from the two
familiar levels. The antiquated small room with fewer
ticket counters and train gates, a wooden information
booth, flickering open flame gas lights and brass spittoons
reminds him of the architecture of the 1800s. He also
finds that people are dressed in outmoded outfits. He
notices that the date on the newspaper The World is
printed June 11, 1894. As he tenders money to the clerk at
the counter to buy two tickets, he realises that he need to
have old currency bills to do so.

17. Charley's plan for a journey not realised
He had always wanted to travel to Galesburg with his
wife, Louisa. In his mind, it is “a wonderful town still,
with big old frame houses, huge lawns, and tremendous
trees....” It is a place with long and pleasant summer
evenings and where people have ample of time. So, the
next day during lunch, he exchanges three hundred
dollars for old style bills amounting to some two hundred
only. The loss doesn’t bother him much as he believes
that in Galesburg everything will be cheaper and that he
can manage even with a small amount. But, he could
never again find the corridor leading to the third level.

18. Sam goes missing!
His wife Louisa is worried after knowing all this
and asks him not to look for the third level any
further. Suddenly Charley realises that his friend,
Sam Weiner, is nowhere to be found, so he and
his wife keep looking for him in the weekends.
Sam was the one with whom Charley used to
share his ideas about Galesburg.

19. Philately & the first day covers
Philately is not just stamp collection but a broad
term including the study of stamps, postal history
and other related items. When a new stamp is
issued, on the first day, people mail a blank paper to
themselves and then retain that unopened letter
with the date on the postmark. Charley has inherited
the hobby and the collection from his grandfather.

20. A letter from Sam
One day while fidgeting with his stamp collection, Charley
comes across a letter that was not there earlier. It bears the
postmark on a faded six-cent stamp with a picture of the
President Garfield. The envelope was sent on July18, 1894
to Charley's grandfather in Galesburg and is addressed to
Charley. The letter reads that Sam has reached Galesburg
and is having whale of a time there. He also invites Charley
and Louisa to Galesburg. When Charley goes to the stamp
and coin store, he is apprised of Sam's exchanging eight
hundred dollars for the old currency bills to establish his
business of hay feed and grain in Galesburg. The letter was
written by Sam Weiner, who was Charley's psychiatrist!

21. Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley?
Why?
Yes, I think that the third level was a medium of escape
for Charley. Life in modern world is full of insecurity,
fear, war, worries and stress. Man has to confront them
all the times. The harsh realities of life make living quite
unpleasant and even unbearable. So he wants to escape
into a wishful world. Charley talks to his psychiatrist
friend about the third level at the Grand Central Station.
His friend calls it “a walking-dream wish fulfillment”.
Charley possesses an escapist tendency. Even his stamp
collecting is a ‘temporary refuge from reality’.

22. What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?
The way Charley came across Sam’s letter was surrounded
in mystery. Among his oldest first-day covers, he found an
envelope. The envelope containing the letter bore the
address of his grandfather. It was written on July 18, 1894.
The postmark showed the Picture of President Garfield.
Generally the first day covers have blank papers in them,
but this one contained a letter. The letter was addressed to
Charley. In the letter Sam had informed Charley that he
was living on the third level. He had also told Charley and
his wife to keep looking for the third level. Clearly, the letter
was a product of Charley’s imagination.

23. 3. ‘The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress.’ What are
the ways in which we attempt to overcome them?
We can overcome the anxieties and insecurities bred by our inevitable existence
in the modern world by getting involved in some practical and beneficial
activities. Cultivating hobbies, spending time with family and friends, going on
trips and excursions, pursuing meditation and exercises help us live a balanced
and healthy life. Reading good books is equivalent to having good friends with
great insight. They not only enrich us with the vast store of knowledge but also
help us to learn from other’s experience and stay rooted to some basic qualities
of humanity. Joining hobby classes or gym, attending social events like
birthdays and weddings, going for outdoor games, interacting meaningfully
through social-networking sites and writing diaries etc can also help us relieve
our worries and stay focussed and disciplined in life. Simple activities like
listening to music, playing with pets, an occasional dinner out, watching cinema
or plays or going to places like parks etc can go a long way in helping us get rid
of stress, boredom and insecurities.

24. 4. Do you see an intersection of time and space in the story?
Yes, there are certain instances in the story that show 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 he rushes to get old currency to buy two
tickets to go to the Galesburg of 1894. Further, the old architecture of the platform
at the third level is different from the modern platforms of the first two levels.
Besides, the archaic manner of dressing by the people, and the newspaper, The
World, dated June 11, 1984 also overlaps with Charley’s real time world and
existence. Lastly, the letter that was mailed to Charley’s grandfather on 18th July,
1894 highlights the intersection of time and space as the sender (Charley’s friend
Sam) and receiver (Charley himself) belong to the present time.

25. 5. Apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic projection?
Discuss.
It is true that apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic
projection. Before the Wright Brothers invented the first aeroplane, nobody
could have dared to believe that man could fly. Before Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone, it would have been impossible to believe in long-
distance talks happening in the real-time interface. Moreover, there are
examples of inventions, like that of inventing a modern-day sewing machine
with a needle that has hole on its wrong end, which were conceived in dreams
but now are part of our everyday reality.
All this emphasises that fantasies of one point of time that seem illogical may
turn out to be revolutionary things that change the future of the mankind.
Similarly, it would not be far-fetched to think about railway stations fitted with
time-machine devices that would make travel from one era to another just a
matter of time.

26. 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?
Besides philately, there are numerous other ways to help keep the past alive. Collecting
historical artefacts, paintings and inscriptions in a museum, collecting and reading books
(including autobiographies, bio-sketches, letters and diary entries) written in different
eras, collecting and viewing documentaries and other videos are all a few ways of
revisiting history. Besides, we can keep our culture and traditions alive when we follow the
rituals in ceremonies, treasure memories in the form of videos, photographs and audio
collections. Also, reviving old monuments, buildings and other artefacts may prove a huge
learning opportunity to those visiting such places, and promote tourism at the same time.
The 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. Consider a very simple example of adopting a study technique for board
exams. Considering the past result (of class test or half yearly exams) a student makes a
strategy plan to address the weak areas more and score better in the future. Thus, such a
tendency helps in ensuring acceptance of the impact of important decisions taken at any
point of time and learning from them.

27. 7. You have read ‘Adventure’ by Jayant Narlikar in Hornbill Class XI. Compare
the interweaving of fantasy and reality in the two stories.
In 'Adventure' Jayant Narlikar expressed that many world exist simultaneously
though they appear to be separated by time. He expressed that the other world
also existed and prospered with the world we are aware of. On the other hand,
In the third level, Charley a young new york commuter wandering Grand
Central Station by accident finds a gateway that leads to a real past of
1894Seizing the oppurtunity Charley attempts to escape the rat race by buying
a one way ticket to his childhood town of Galesburg. Not having proper
currency for that period, he forced to postpone his plan to escape to the past.