The story follows Charley, a man who discovers a mysterious "third level" at Grand Central Station that appears to be a portal to the past. On this level, he encounters outdated technology and fashion from the 1890s. Charley wishes to escape to Galesburg, Illinois through this third level to get away from the troubles of his present day. However, when he fails to reenter the third level, his psychiatrist friend Sam suggests it was just Charley's imagination seeking refuge from modern unhappiness. Later, they find evidence that Sam may have actually traveled to the past when they receive a letter from him dated in 1894 Galesburg.

1. THE THIRD LEVEL
by Jack Finney
PROJECT

3. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Walter Braden"Jack" Finney (born
John Finney; October 2, 1911 –
November 14, 1995) was an
American author. His
best-known works are science
fiction and thrillers, including
The Body Snatchers and Time
and Again. The former was the
basis for the 1956 film Invasion
of the Body Snatchers and its
remakes.

5. 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.

7. The Third Level Theme
The story, ‘The Third Level’ clearly explores the science fiction genre of ‘time travel’. Jack Finney, the
recipient of the World Fantasy Award, interweaves fantasy with reality in his projection of time travel.
Charley, the protagonist wishes to be transported to the third level, the world of Galesburg, Illinois,
1894, which is supposed to be a much happier and quieter place to be in.
The story also dwells on the theme of escapism as a psychological refuge from the grim realities of
the present day world along with a desire to stay with the past—a desire that Charley’s wife Louisa
does not contest. Sam has also happily escaped, with no desire to return to his old profession.
The story exposes the vulnerable side of the common man. Surrounded by myriad problems, we
humans, sometimes experience a craving for peace and serenity, and look for possible escapes.
This story is about time intersection, an illusion, a kind of long dream that we do not experience
during our sleep.

8. 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 realized 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.

10. Charley
Charley is a thirty-one year old man in a tan gabardine suit and a straw hat. One night, on his way back from work, he decides to take the
subway at the Grand Central Station, which as everyone knows, has two levels. Preoccupied and in a hurry, Charley discovers an
unknown exit that takes him through a long corridor, into the third level.
Here, there were fewer ticket windows, the man at the booth wore green eye-shades, the lights were open-flame gas lights, and women
wore old-fashioned, fully covered dresses. The newspaper, ‘The World’, was dated June 11,1894. Charley knows that from there, the
third level of the Grand Central, he could go to anywhere in the United States, 1984. He decides to buy two tickets to Galesburg, Illinois,
for his wife Louisa and himself from the ticket window in the third level.
Galesburg, with its big old houses, huge lawns and tremendous trees represents an idyllic world to Charley, with the World War II still
forty years into the future. However, the clerk at the window refuses the currency Charley offers. Charley leaves, deciding to return the
next day, after converting all his savings into old-style currency. But Charley has never again found the third level.
When Charley tells his psychiatrist friend, Sam Weiner about this, Sam tells him that it was “a waking dream wish fulfillment” as Charley
was “unhappy” in the modern world with its insecurities and fears, and just wanted to escape. Charley never again found the corridor
that led to the third level at the Grand Central. Ironically, his friend Sam, the psychiatrist, disappeared, only to reach Galesburg, Illinois, in
1894.

11. Sam
Sam Weiner is Charley’s friend, and psychiatrist,
and the next most important character in the
story. He concludes that the third level is a
figment of Charley’s imagination, induced by the
pressures of modern living.
When Charley fails to find the third level of the
Grand Central Station, his wife Louisa is worried
for him and tells him to stop looking for it. But
after sometime, both start looking for it because
they find proof that the third level exists. Charley’
s friend, Sam Weiner disappears. A first-day
cover that Charley discovers in his collection, is
signed by Sam and is from Galesburg, Illinois,
dated July 18,1894. Charley subsequently
discovers that Sam had bought eight- hundred
dollars worth of old-style currency and moved to
Galesburg, Illinois, in 1894. He had . set up a hay,
feed and grain business as he had always said
that it is what he really wished to do. Clearly, he
could not go back to his old business—
psychiatry—in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1894.

12. Louisa
Charley’s wife Louisa was initially angry with
Sam’s suggestion that Charley was unhappy, ‘
when Charley tells him about his sojourn to
the third level of the Grand Central Station in
New York. Then Sam explains that it is not
marital unhappiness, but dissatisfaction and
discontent with modern day living with its
insecurity, fear, war and worry. To escape
from these pressures, Charley’s mind had
sought refuge in the idyllic world of the third
level. Louisa’s conviction in the existence of
the third level is affirmed only when she sees
the note sent by Sam himself, from Galesburg,
Illinois, dated July 18, 1894. Since then,
Louisa has been actively involved in looking
for the third level, along with her husband,
Charley.

13. • The Third Level”, written by Jack Finney blends
fiction with reality. It is also about a man’s wish to
escape from the harsh realities of present life. Charley,
though he does not admit it, wants to go into the past
as he is unhappy. He is unhappy with his wife. In fact,
he is as unhappy as he finds the world in which he lives
full of hurry, tension and war. His psychiatrist friend,
Sam tells his stamp collecting also as an escape into
the past.
• There were only two levels at Grand Central Station.
However, Charley found a third one. It was by chance.
Many a times, he was lost there. He was always
discovering new doorways, new corridors and new
tunnels. He had begun to think that the Grand Central
was always pushing out tunnels and new corridors like
roots of a huge tree.
• There he lost his way and found himself on the third
level. This level was entirely different and
old-fashioned. The locomotive, the brass spittoons and
the naked gaslights belonged to the previous century.
He desired to escape to Galesburg, the town of his
dreams. However, he was nearly arrested. The money
EXPLANATION