Vistas Chapter-1

Third Level

Summary of Third Level Class 12 starts with the story revolving

around a thirty-one-year-old man named Charlie who had a
weird experience. While returning to his residence he reaches to
the third level of the Grand Central station, which does not exist.
He reminisces the entire experience with his friend Sam, who is a
psychiatrist and terms this experience as “a walking dream wish
fulfilment.” Charlie had hallucinated time travel to somewhere in
1894, a time before the world saw the two deadly World Wars.
After he had realized that he had time travelled he wanted to buy
two tickets to Galesburg, Illinois. He wanted to travel to
Galesburg with his wife Louisa. According to Sam, his
psychiatrist friend, he wanted to escape the reality of the harsh
world.
The next day Charlie reached the station to look for that third
level to visit Galesburg, and he doesn’t find it. Charlie hence
resorts to his stamp collection which would distract him from his
thoughts of the third level. While going through his stamp
collections he finds out a letter from Sam who had gone missing
recently. He wrote that he always believed in Charlie’s idea of the
third level. He says he himself is present in the third level. He
motivated Charlie and Louisa to keep looking for the third level.
This is ideally The Third Level Class 12 summary.

CBSE Class 12 English Third Level Summary: A Detailed

Explanation
The summary of Third Level starts with the narrator himself
talking about the third level at the Grand Central Station which
has only two levels in real life, which the President of New York
Central and the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroads
would vouch by. The protagonist says he himself has been to the
third level. Charlie, the protagonist and narrator was reminiscing
the entire incident with his psychiatrist friend Sam, who said
that he was trying to escape the burden of the present reality.
Charlie said his stamp collection was proof that he needed refuge
from reality. He adds on to say that his grandfather did not need
any refuge from reality and that things were peaceful and simple
during his times. He said that his grandfather also had started
stamp collection but not out of insecurities. He added that even
President Roosevelt collected stamps.
One night, the previous summer he was returning from his work
and was in a hurry, so he decided to take a subway from the
Grand Central station instead of a bus. He says that he was
dressed ordinarily. He says that the station has been growing like
a plant and he had often bumped into new corridors and doors.
Hence he thought that he was walking through a secret tunnel
and reached the third level of the station. He said when he
reached the level he saw every room was smaller, there was a
lesser number of ticket windows, information booths, and train
gates. They were all old looking and made of wood. The station
was dim-lit. There was the usage of open-flame gaslights.
People were dressed in old fashioned clothing and there were
brass spittoons everywhere around. People had fancy beards and
moustaches. His suspicion was validated by the date on the
newspaper- June 11, 1894. Charlie after realizing his time travel,
wanted to go to Galesburg with his wife Louisa. While he went
looking for tickets to the ticket counter he found that the
currency in use was different and that of the old times. The
following day he withdrew all his savings and got it converted to
the old century currency. This distressed his wife. He does not
find the third level at the station the next day. His wife was
worried when she got to know about it. After a while, he
distracted himself with stamps. Somehow, Sam, the psychiatrist
disappeared out of the blue. This is the Third Level summary.
Here the author indirectly describes the repercussions of war.
The Third Level Class 12 summary shows the urge of people
wanting to live in a peaceful environment without stress, fear,
and anxiety.