The Third Level by Jack Finney, CBSE Class 12th English Summary

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The Third Level

Title of The Third Level

The title of the third level describes the medium for the person to escape the harsh reality and difficult times.

Theme of The Third Level

In this chapter, the writer wants to convey that the life of the person is full of fear, worries, insecurities, and depression. So people wants to escape from reality in the hunt for utopia (A place that is ideally fit for a person).

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Character Sketch of The Third Level

  • Charlie: Charlie is the main character of this chapter who wants to escape from reality and live in a peaceful place. He always thinks the Third level of Grand Central Station is the way to time travel. This shows that he always be an adventurous person who had the curiosity to explore places like The Third Level.
  • Louisa: Louisa is the wife of Charlie in this chapter. The character of Louisa shows understanding, lovable, and practical nature. Louisa firstly doubted about the third level but after getting to know about the envelope written by Sam, she believed in the imagination of Charlie.
  • Sam: Sam is a friend of Charlie who is a Psychiatrist by profession. He is a practical and sensible character who enjoys his life happily.

Summary of the Third Level

The Story is all about the Protagonist (Main Character) Charlie, who has a gut feeling about Three Levels in Grand Central Station, New York. But this station has only Two working Levels. When he discussed to his Psychiatrist Friend about the Third Level existence. He claims that it was (Sam’s) walking dream fulfillment to escape from reality. For Example, His Stamp Collection is the best indicator for escape.

According to Charlie, the Grand Central Stations is the maze because he lost his way several times while taking the Subways. For Example One time he reached the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel, Another time the office building was three blocks away but this time something different and unusual happened when he visited the Third Level.

When he started walking the silent hall looking left and down he saw the old architectural station different from the other two stations. If we talk about the visuals they have old small rooms with few ticket counters and train gates. Other unusual appearances are flame gas light, wooden information booth, and brass spittons which remind him of about 1800s designs. On Further moving he sees the old-fashioned outfits of the person then suddenly he notices the newspaper date of “The World” which is 11th June 1894. This makes them interested in Charlie’s mind about buying the two tickets but later realize that only old currencies are valid at that time.

Charlie always wanted to travel to Galesburg with his wife so the next day he converted his new Three Hundred Dollar Currency to Old Two Hundred Dollar Currency. He does not concerned about the money because at that time everything will get cheap but at last he does not find any way to reach the Third Level. When her wife knows about this incident she asks to stop looking at that place but unfortunately, his friend Sam also missing. As Sam was the only person who discussed Charley about Galesburg.

One day when Charley looking at his stamp collection then he finds a letter which earlier was not exist. This envelope has a postmark of the Six Cent Stamp with the President’s picture Garfield. On Further checking he found that the envelope was from 18 July 1894 to Charley’s grandfather in Galesburg which mentioned Charley’s name.

In that letter, Sam tells Charley that he has found the way to Galesburg and he wants to invite him and Louisa there. On going to the coin and stamp shop he finds that Sam has exchanged the eight hundred dollars for old currency for his business in Galesburg.

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Conclusion of The Third Level

The conclusion of this story is that the world is full of insecurities and modern problems so to get rid of them people escape from harsh reality and want to live in their self-desired world.

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Important Question of The Third Level

How did Charlie reach the Third Level?

One Day Charlie has to take a train from the Second Level of Grand Central Station. He went down the step to reach the First Level then he entered a long tunnel. He continued to walk and come out to a strange level. Initially, he thought he was on the second level but what he saw there was totally different. He concluded that he was on the Third Level.

What was it on the third level that Charlie reached in an old world century?

Charlie went to the Newspaper boy and looked at the stalk of paper at his feet. He glanced at the copy of “The World” a Newspaper that had been published for years. It had a front page story about President Cleveland when he came out to present the world. He found a copy of the same paper with the same front cover dated June 11, 1894, in the public library files.

What Had Sam written in his letter to Charlie?

In this letter, Sam wrote that he had found the Third Level and he had been to Galesburg where he lived a peaceful life and good inhabitant of the town. He called upon Charlie and his wife to keep looking for the 3rd level and come to him.

how did Charlie confirm the truth of Sam’s letter?

Charlie went to the coin dealer and found out that Sam had brought 800 Dollars worth old style currency. So, Now he was sure that he must have taken money for setting up his business in Galesburg in 1894.

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