easy to understand

1. ENGLISH LITERATURE
SUPPLEMENTARY BOOK(VISTAS)
ALKA SHARMA(English Teacher)
• The Third Level
• The Tiger King
• Journey to the end of the
Earth
• The Enemy
• Should Wizard hit
Mommy
• On the face of It
• Evans Tries an O-level
• Memories of Childhood

2. ENGLISH LITERATURE
SUPPLEMENTARY BOOK(VISTAS)
ALKA SHARMA(English Teacher)

3. The Third Level
About author
Jack Finney (2 October 1911-16 November 1995) was born in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and given the name John Finney. His
father died when he was three years old and he was renamed
Walter Braden Finney in honour of his father. Yet the nickname
Jack remained with him throughout his life. He attended Knox
College in Galesburg, Illinois. His best-known works are science
fiction and thrillers. Two of his novels, ‘The Body Snatchers’ and
‘Good Neighbour Sam’ became the basis of popular films. Jack
Finney first showed an interest in time travel in the short-story
collection ‘The Third Level’. Finney’s greatest success came with
his science fiction novel ‘Time and Again’. Finney died of
pneumonia and emphysema at the age of 84, not long after
finishing ‘From Time to Time’, the sequel to ‘Time and Again’.

4. STORY IN SHORT…
1. Charley claims to have been on the third level (floor) of the grand central station .
2. The Presidents of the New York Central and Hartford Railroads swear on the basis of
records that there are only two levels at the Grand Central . No one has ever seen the
third level there .
3. Charley consults his psychiatrist friend. He tells him about the third level. His friend
calls it ‘a walking –dream wish fulfilment ‘.
4. Actually ,Charley doesn’t feel at home in the modern world of fear insecurity ,war
and worries . Therefore , he just escapes into the world of dreams and fancies .
5. Charley’s friends claimed that he has an escapist tendency . His stamp collecting is
nothing but a temporary refuge from reality .
6. One day Charley is in a hurry to get to his apartment . He takes the subway from the
Grand Central because it is faster than the bus .
7. He goes down the steps to the first level . Then he walks down to the second level .
The suburban trains leave from there.
8. He goes into an arched door-way heading for the sub-way and gets lost . It is quiet
easy to get lost there. The Grand Central is growing like a tree with endless corridors,
doorways and stairs .

5. STORY IN SHORT…
9. He find himself on the third level . It is a different world of guest light ,
brass spittoons , derby hats , beards , sideburns ,fancy moustaches.
10. He wants two tickets for Galesburg, Illinois. The clerk figures out the fare .
He is surprised to see different kinds of notes in Charley’s hands. He warns
saying to him ,”That ain’t money ,mister “. Charley turns away and goes out
fast .
11. He buys old currency .But he never again finds the corridor that leads to
the third level at the Grand Central .
12. His friend Sam Weiner disappears , no body knows where . But Charley
suspects him to be in Galesburg ,Illinois , as he was very fond of the place .
13. Charley find out that Sam bought old currency worth three hundred
dollars .
14. He also finds a rare marked envelope . it was addressed to his grandfather
at his home in Galesburg. The postmark showed the date ,18 july,1894 . The
letter was addressed to Charley .Sam claimed to have found the third level .
He asked Charley and his wife Louise keeps looking for the third level . The
letter was writing and signed by Sam .
15. The most mysterious thing was that Sam was his psychiatrist.

6. Phrases used in the story:
• Swear- take an oath
• Psychiatrist- a doctor trained in
mental illness
• Walking-dream- day-dream while
walking
• Fulfilment- the feeling of being
satisfied
• Wander- walk aimlessly
• Points to it- leads to this conclusion
• Claimed- to state that it is true even if
not proved
• Issue- providing officially
• First day covers- envelopes of new
issued stamp posted on the first day
• Uptown- towards the northern part
of a city or town
• Subway- underground passage
• Gabardine- cloth which doesn’t allow
water to go through and used for
making suits
• Avenue- a big street in a town
• Straw- dried stem of wheat
• Flight- a set of stairs between two
floors
• Ducked- bent down(suddenly)
• Heading for- leading to
• Right now- just at this time/just now
• Glanced- looked quickly
• Glimpse- casual look
• Locomotive- a railway engine
• Lead story- main story
• Frown- made an angry expression
• Twenty years off- twenty years away
• Fare- the rate of the ticket
• Nodded- shook his head
• Skin me- deceive me
• Won’t get very far- won’t succeed
much
• Fuss- too much importance to a small
thing

7. 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.

8. IRONY OF THE STORY
The ending is ironic because it is the
narrator Charley's "psychiatrist friend"
Sam who makes it back to Galesburg, Illinois in 1893, not
Charley himself. Charley confided in Sam about the third
level, and Sam of course told Charley that he was
experiencing a kind of "waking dream wish fulfillment. "
But Sam "got to wishing" that Charley had been right; like
everyone, Sam, too, craves an escape from the twentieth
century; he was able to find the third level (because, it is
suggested, he wanted escape so badly) and buy train
tickets to Galesburg. In the end, it is the psychiatrist, who
ostensibly is trying to ground Charley in the present, who
escapes into a past where even his profession does not
yet exist.

9. The Protagonist
• Charlie was a young man living in New York.
He was married to Louisa. Charlie's hobby was stamp-
collection (philately). Charlie appeared to be suffering from
fear, insecurity and fear of the war-ridden world. He was
looking for an escape from this world. His longing for some
idyllic and peaceful place like Galesburg made him stray to a
corridor at Grand Central Station that took him to the Third
Level of the station from where one could take train to the
past, year 1894.When he shared this incidence with his wife,
she felt angry at it; she asked him to see his psychiatrist
friend, Sam. Sam explained the unique experience to be
Charlie’s waking dream wish ful fillment. He further explained
it could have happened because of his unhappiness or hobby
of stamp collection.

10. Character Sketch of 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.
When Charley talks to her about his predicament regarding
the third level, she gets alarmed and advises him not to look
for the third level anymore. Her husband’s exchanging the
new currency with the old one is a cause of concern for her
and she tells Charley emphatically to stop looking for it. When
Charley tells her about Sam’s disappearance, she joins him in
looking for the third level every weekend.

11. Character Sketch of Sam
• 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.
• He gets fascinated by Charley’s description of Galesburg, Illinois, as a
wonderful town with big old frame houses, huge lawns, tremendous trees
lining the streets. He is also affected by the pulls and pressures of modern
life that he thinks of escaping to the peaceful world of Galesburg of 1894.
In the end, he discovers the third level of Grand Central and goes there. He
writes a letter from there advising Charley and Louisa to keep finding the
third level because it is worth. According to Charley, Sam must have set up
his little hay feed and grain businesses as he can’t go back to his old
business as psychiatrists are redundant in Galesburg of 1894.

12. 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.

13. SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
Q1 What, according to the psychiatrist, was Charley’s problem?
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
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.
Q2. What did the psychiatrist think about Charley’s stamp collection ? Why did
Charley not agree with him?
Ans . The psychiatrist thought that Charley’s stamp collecting was a temporary refuge
from reality Charley did not agree with him because his grandfather for whom things
were nice and peaceful and who did not need refuge from reality also collected
stamps.
Q3.How does Charley describe himself?
Ans. Charley describes himself as just an ordinary guy, thirty-one years old. He wore a
tan gabardine suit and a straw hat with a fancy band. He was just like other men he
passed on the road and he was not trying to escape from anything.

14. SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS
Q4.What idea did Charley have about the tunnel and why didn’t he tell the
psychiatrist about it?
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.
Q5. In which context did Charley say, “eggs were thirteen cents a dozen in 1894”?
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 then than
they were now.
Q6. What made Louisa, Charley’s wife, believe that the third level was a reality?
Louisa, like Charley’s friends, believed whatever explanations the psychiatrist friend
had given. But later, when she received a mail from Sam himself from the old
Galesburg, Louisa believed that Charley was true to his claims and even began to
search for the third level.

15. LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS
Q1. Describe the Grand Central Station at the third level ?
Grand Central Station at the third level looked very different.
There were Fewer ticket windows and train gates . Information booth was
in the center, it was made of wood and was very old looking man in the
booth wore green eye shade and long sleeve protectors. The lights were dim
and flickering as they were open flame gaslights. There were brass
spittoons on the floor.
Men wore Derby hats a black four button
suit with tiny lapels and he had a big ,black
handlebar moustache. Men had beards,
sideburns and fancy moustaches .Women wore
dresses with leg of mutton sleeves .He caught a
glimpse of a very small Currier &Ives Locomotive
with a funnel shaped stack. He also saw a copy of
the “The World’ ,a Newspaper which hadn’t been
published for years.

16. LONG ANSWER QUESTIONS
Q2. ‘The Third Level’ written by Jack Finney is a story that illustrates an intersection of time
and space. Elaborate.
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.

17. VALUE ADDED QUESTION
Q1. Have you ever had any curious experience which others find hard to believe?
Ans. Yes, there is one such incident in my life. Last May, I went to Rishikesh to enjoy river-rafting
with my family including my father, mother and sister. We got into a raft with a group of five
college friends. While the rafting instructor was giving us instructions, I felt that I had experienced
this already although it was going to be my first rafting experience. I knew exactly what he would
say, how he would say and also what his audiences would ask. I was puzzled, and shared this with
my sister but she simply dismissed it. Even her laughing sounded as if I had experienced it under
the same circumstances. Then, we seated ourselves properly in the raft, and the adventure
began. Initially we took our raft slowly and enjoyed swimming. After that, we came across several
rapids. The thrill of rafting experience and my love for the water made me forget all about my
premonitions. Suddenly, as we were about to face another rapid, I recollected everything as if I
had seen it in a dream. I started shouting that the boy sitting at the front will hit his head. My
mom scolded me while people on the raft simply laughed it off. But I was not to be consoled. I
asked our trainer to avoid the next rapid and kept on insisting the same. Time was flying very fast,
I repeated that the boy will get injured seriously but nobody paid attention. As we entered the
next rapid, our raft hit a rock very hard and all of us were thrown into the water. With great
difficulty, our trainer got us all back on the raft to find just one person bleeding. The scene was
exactly as I had recollected. The same boy, whom I had pointed out, hit his head on the rock.
After examining him, the trainer said that the injury is not very serious but could have been if I
had not warned him. For the rest of the journey, everybody was silent. No one spoke anything
about the correlation between what I said and what happened. After a few days, I found out that
what I had experienced is known as a déjà vu.