The Third Level

- Jack Finney
Question 1.
What was the psychiatrist’s reaction when Charley told him about ‘The Third Level’?
Answer:
The psychiatrist told him that it was a walking-dream wish fulfillment. He also told that Charley was unhappy.

Question 2.
What is the world filled up with?
Answer:
The world is filled up with insecurity, fear,war .worry and a lot of tensions. On the other hand, there is joy, satisfaction, security and positivity
in the world also.

Question 3.
I’ve taken the obvious step’. Explain.
Answer:
Nobody believed on Charley’s statement about ‘The Third Level’. His wife was alarmed and brought him to the psychiatrist. Charley himself
needed to meet the psychiatrist. It was an ‘obvious step’.

Question 4.
What was Charley’s vision about Galesburg town?
Answer:
Charley thought that Galesburg was still a wonderful town. In that century in 1894, people used to sit on their lawns, having sufficient time to
talk to each other, smoking cigars, women waving palm-leaf fans in very long summer evenings, overall, it was a peaceful and friendly place.

Question 5.
When and how did Charley find the letter of Sam?
Answer:
One night, while fussing with his stamp collection, Charley found, among his oldest first-day covers, the letter of Sam with a six-cent stamp
mailed to his Granddad earlier into his collection.

Question 6.
What did the ticket clerk say to Charley?
Answer:
The ticket-clerk scolded Charley that the currency he had was fake. Additionally, he warned Charley that if he was trying to skin him, he
would not go very far. He would be imprisoned.

Question 7
‘But now we are both looking….’ What does this refer to? Explain.
Answer:
The above mentioned words were said by Charley as he and his wife Louisa started their search for the third level every weekend because
they had the proof: Charley’s friend Sam had disappeared.

Question 8.
What does the third level refer to?
Answer:
The third level refers to the subway of the Grand Central Station in New York. Though this ‘Third level’ was not present there physically, but
Charley claimed it to be present there.

Question 9.
Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?
Answer:
Yes, The third level was a medium of escape for Charley because he might be unhappy and fearful from worldly worries. He explained that
he meant the modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest of it, and he just wanted to escape from that and this happens
when any person is unable to face and fight such abstract aggressors.

Question 10
What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?
Answer:
Sam’s letter to Charley proves that Sam has found and reached to the third level. He is staying there in Galesburg since last two weeks and
watching various activities and explains to Charley. He invites both Charley and his wife Louisa and motivates them . to continue their search
of the third level. So, we can say that Sam was also a victim of worldly worries and seeking the escapement, like Charley.

Question 11.
Do you think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?
Answer:
Actually, the third level did not exist at the Grand Central Station. It was confirmed by the station master. Charley, during returning his home
only imagined about the third level to escape himself from the dissonant truth of this world. He often used to think about moving to Galesburg
which existed in 1894. It was considered that the people at that time were without worldly tensions.

He himself also wanted to reach there and imagined his presence in that century. He continuously thought about that world even after
returning to the real life. At the same time, his friend Sam’s disappearance compelled him to believe about it and then again he as well as his
wife Louisa, both started to search the third level. In this way, we can say that the third level was surely a medium of escape for Charley.
Though it was an imagination, but gave him more satisfaction.

Question 12
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?
Answer:
Philately Stamp collecting, the study of postage stamps, postal routes, postal history etc. is a way adopted by many persons to keep the past
alive in their minds. Except this way, various other ways keep our past alive as through museums, historical buildings & monuments, things
used by the past persons, photographs, old books; we travel into our past.

It’s the common tendency of human beings to travel or to constantly move between the past, the present and the future. Actually, we live in
present but through the gift of memory given by God, we go years back and through the power of imagination, we try to step into future also.
This shifting is controlled by our conscious and unconscious both parts of mind and thus we find satisfaction and enjoy and survive in this
world in the present.

Question 13
Do you see an intersection of time and space in the story?
Answer:
Yes, an intersection of time and space is seen in the story. Charley, as an escapist moves in past from present. He reaches in the last
century in 1894, that is practically impossible but due to his imagination he was shifted to the third level and found himself at Galesburg,
Illinois. That seems to be psychological and his psychiatrist friend Sam is also the victim of modem worldly worries and he himself also shifts
to the third level. The author Jack Finney is a science fiction writer and presents the intersection of time and space both in a very logical way
and proves its possibility due to escapement.