-Jack Finney
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Summary:
"The Third Level" by Jack Finney is about the harsh realities of war.War has irreversible consequences which often renders people in an insecure situation not only socio-economically but also mentally.It also briefly revolves around the modern-day problems and how common man tends to escape reality by various means and starts hallucinating.
The story is primarily about a strange thing experienced by a young man named Charley.In New York,there was a subway famously called as "Grand Central Station". Actually,there were two levels in the station whereas the narrator claimed recurringly that once he had stepped on to the third level.
When he talked to one of his psychiatrist friends,he told him that he was unhappy.He explained to the narrator that he was unhappy.He explained the narrator that the contemporary world is full of insecurities,worry and fear of the unknown which makes hand hallucinate.
But the author was not at all agreed.For instance,he gave a counter-argument that his hobby of collecting stamps was also a kind of refuge from the reality.His grandmother also used to collect stamps but during his time everything was fine.
Then,he narrates his experience briefly.Charley was pretty certain that he had experienced time-travel and reached a point of time somewhere between the 1890s.As soon as he realised where he was,he immediately decided to buy two tickets to Galesburg,Illionis.However,he failed in doing so as the currency used at that point of time was different.
He was so influenced by the idea of the third level.He withdrew all his savings and got them converted even if it meant bearing losses.But,when he went looking for the third level again,he could not find it.
All this worried his wife Louisa,the narrator's wife,took him to a psychiatrist and told him about her husband's outlandish behaviour.He advised her that in modern times due to difficulties,sometimes we tend to take refuge from reality.After this whole episoode,the narrator went to his stamp collection.
After some days,Sam Weiner,the narrator's friend,disappeared,mysteriously.At the same time,one day while going through his stamp collection,he found a first-day cover,he had never seen earlier.When a new stamp is issued,stamp collectors buy some and use them to mail envelopes to themselves on the very first D-Day of sale.The postmark proves the date and the envelope is called a first-day cover.Those envelopes are never opened as only a blank paper is put inside those envelopes.
His curiousity aroused as he had never seen this first-cover before in his collection.He opened it and was shocked to find a note inside the envelope.After going through the contents of the note,he found that it was actually a letter from Sam.It was that friend who had gone missing.
In the note,he told the narrator that he had successfully reached the third level in the Grand Central Station.He also advised that the narrator that he and his wife must keep looking for it.The letter was signed Sam.After some checkings,he figured out that Sam had got his money exchanged for eight-hundred dollars worth of old-style currency.The narrator assumed that Sam must have setup his business related to fodder and grains he always wanted.The narrator also shocks us all of us by the fact that actually Sam was his psychiatrist.
Difficult Words:
1)Stack:An arranged pile of objects.
2)Walking down:An involuntarily occuring dream while a person is awake.
3)Wander:Walk aimlessly.
4)Refuge:The state of being safe or sheltered from.
5)Blocks:A large number of something.
6)Garbardine:A smooth,durable,twill-toven worsted or cotton-cloth.
7)Suburban:Residential.
8)Arched:Curved.
9)Bumping:Knock or run into someone.
10)Vest:A garment worn on the upper part of the body.
11)Snapped:Break suddenly and completely.
12)Locomotive:A powered railway vehicle used for pulling trains.
13)Clerk:Administrator.
14)Psychiatrist:A medical practitioner specialising in curing mental illness.
15)Straw Hat:A wide-brimmed hat woven out of straw.
16)Open-Flame Gaslights:Lights emitting light by burning fuels.
17)Spittoons:A metal or earthernware pot used for spitting into.
18)Derby Hat:A hard-felt hat with a rounded crown.
19)Sideburns:Facial hair grown on the sides of the face.
20)Handlebar Moustaches:A moustache with particularly lengthy and upwardly curved extremities.
21)Lapels:The part on each side of a coat which is folded back.
22)Skin:(Here)Defraud somebody.
23)Feed and grain:Fodder and grains.
24)Locomotive:An engine used to pull a big vehicle.
About Author:
Walter Braden 'Jack' Finney(1911-1995) was an American author.His best-known works are science fiction and thrillers.He is known for his non-conformist views and his experimentation with different genres.
NCERT Questions:
A)Reading with Insight.
1)Yes,I think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley.Life of humans in the modern era has become hectic and is fraught with fears,worries,insecurities et cetera.Man has no other way but to confront them.These harsh realities has often compelled people to hallucinate and hover in a separate world of their own.From the story,we can understand that Charley's economic condition was also not great.He wanted to escape into a world of virtual reality which provided him a 'temporary refuge from reality'.
2)The way Charley came across Sam's letter is mysterious.Among his oldest first-day covers,he found an envelope.The envelope containing the letter bore the address of his grandfather.The letter bore the date July 18,1894.The postmark showed the picture of American President Garfield.Generally,first day covers have blank paper in them.But,this one contained a letter.Tbe letter was addressed to his wife and the narrator.It was written by Sam who had informed him that he has already been in the third level for a good while now.Sam also encouraged the couple to keep looking for the 3rd level.However,in reality the letter never existed and was a product of Charley's imagination.
3)It is quite accurate that in this era of
hyper-competition,our life is full of worry,fear and depressing as well as negative thoughts.However,we can overcome these anxieties and mental hurdles by getting oursleves involved in some productive or useful work.We can also enjoy ourselves by going out with friends and family.This helps us to maintain a work-life balance as well as ensuring that we are rejuvenated.We can also do simple things like listening to music and binge on our favourite shows or web-series.Spending some time alone can also dramatically uplift our moods and help us to get rid of stress and boredom.
4)Yes,we can certainly spot various instances in the story where their is 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 2 tickets to go to Galesburg in the year 1894.The newspaper named 'The World' dated June 11,1894 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 space and time.This was an intersection of space and time.This was an intersection as the sender and the receiver belong to the present times.
5)The fact "Fact is stranger than Fiction" is quite accurate in the context.Sometimes,a thing which people would already have deemed as useless and illogical becomes a huge success.Before Wright Brothers invented the aeroplane,nobody in the entire mankind had ever imagined that even a human could fly.Nobody ever thought that they could communicate between long distances before the invention of telephone.All this rightly points out that fantasies of one point of time which seem illogical may turn out to be revolutionary breakthroughs th next moment.
6)There are various ways to keep the past alive.Philately obviously is a way to keep our past alive besides collecting old coins, historical artefacts,books and manuscripts.These things helps us to delve and visit the past when we wnat to.Besides these,we can also keep our past alive by keeping our good culture and traditions alive.Humans are gifted with the power to switch and move between different points of time at the same instant.This human tendency enables one to plan for the future in the present while reaping the benefits of the past.
7)In 'Adventure' by Jayant Narlikar,the narrator explained that many worlds exist simultaneously though they appear to be separated by time.He explained that the other world functioned and prospered with the world we are aware of.In the 3rd Level by Jack Finney,the author wanders into a level in the railway station back in 1894 in the present age.It is either true or just a hallucination of his thoughts.
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Quality content. Thanks for sharing.
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