The Third Level - A Critical Analysis with Latest MCI Questions for Practice.

The Central Theme

The Third Level by Jack Finey is a futuristic projection of time travel and space travel. While this concept has been broached by H.G.Wells in his book The Time Machine, students of grade twelve would have come across a similar theme in the lesson, The Adventure by Jayant Narlikar in grade eleven. Moreover, the concept of time travel in the form of teleportation is a familiar concept for those who have watched the Star Trek T.V. Series and the movie besides the movies Interstellar and Inception.

Another important theme this short story explores is the theme of escapism - 'a temporary refuge' from the stress of living in the modern world. Daydreams, fantasies, and hobbies offer a brief respite from the hectic routines of everyday life. The short story, The Third level explores the ideas of time travel, space travel and the role of pastimes or hobbies. The author deliberately leaves the interpretation of the story open-ended.

Important Symbols in the lesson

1. The Third Level also refers both to an intersection in time and space and for that matter, an escape mechanism that helps us escape the harsh realities of the world for a brief time. Jack Finey has deliberately left the interpretation open-ended in order to convey a sense of randomness in a world that seems to be so well ordered! The idea of randomness is best expressed by Jayant Narliker in the short story The Adventure as, a "lack of determinism in quantum theory", or when an electron makes a "jump from high to low energy".

2. The tree with roots is like a tunnel, a passageway, a portal, a wormhole, that helps you travel in space. It is like a tesseract, a means for travelling large distances in a split second.

3. The stamp collection is a medium with the help of which one can visit the past through the stamps. It is like a time machine that helps you see how things were in the past. It connects the present with the past and future. The stamp collection is like a portal or intersection (like the third level) that helps you travel back and forth in time. Like a photograph, stamps have captured a slice of time, a moment in history. They are important capsules of time.

4. The Galesburg in the year 1894 is rather like the ideal world to live in. It is a Utopian world where everyone has a rather laid-back, carefree life. Remember that the First World War is yet to happen. It is a world without stress, a world where there is so much leisure. In fact it is because of this reason that Sam Weiner decides to wind up his dispensary and instead set up a hay and animal feed business in Galesburg in the year 1894.

Important Characters in the Story

1. Charley is the narrator of the story. He had been able to somehow step into the third level but could not buy the train tickets to the Galesburg in the year 1894. He had travelled back in time to the year 1894 in the Grand Central railway station. He had also travelled in space, meaning that on two occasions he had ended up in a different place than his intended destination. On the first occasion, he left his office for his home and ended up in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel. On the second occasion, he left his place of work for home but ended up in an office building on Forty-sixth Street, three blocks away.

2. Louisa is Charley’s wife. She is a bit sceptical about the whole story of the third level and she didn’t want Charley to look for it. But then, when they both learn that Charley’s friend Sam Weiner had managed to travel back in time to the Galesburg in the year 1894, she also is interested in finding the third level.

3. Sam Weiner is Charley’s Psychiatrist friend. Initially, when Charley told him about the third level he dismissed it as a ‘waking dream wish fulfilment’, a fantasy whereby he thought Charley wanted to escape from the troubles and disappointment of everyday life. Later, however, he bought old currency notes and was able to buy a ticket to Galesburg in the year 1894. He sold off his dispensary and bought a hay-feed business!

Is the third level a medium of escape for Charley?

From a psychological point of view, the third level was a medium of escape for Charley. According to Sam his Psychiatrist friend, "it was a waking-dream wish fulfilment." He believed that Charlie wanted to escape from a modern world "full of insecurity, fear, war worry" however briefly! Sam adds that Charley's hobby of stamp-collecting offered him a "temporary refuge from reality." In the lesson Going Places,  a similar thing happens when Sue resorts to fantasizing about meeting Danny Casey as a means of escaping from a life that she thinks is too limited for her aspirations beyond the biscuit factory. For Sue, however, fantasizing had taken up pathological proportions.

Charley was not able to escape to Galesburg, Illinois in the year 1894 because he did not have old currency notes to buy two tickets for the train journey and when he returned to the Grand Central Station, he would never find the corridor that led to the third level. On the other hand, his psychiatrist friend, Sam Weiner was able to escape in time and space as is evident from the letter posted by him to his grandfather. The letter was posted to Charley's grandfather and this is because once Sam had reached Galesburg in the year 1894 he could only post the letter to Sam's Grandfather in the same year, same time zone.

Clearly, therefore, the third level could at the most afford Charley a temporary peek into the past, to a railway station in the year 1894 as is evidenced by the date on the World newspaper. He had to beat a hasty retreat from that railway station before the ticket seller, the clerk raised a hue and cry about him thinking that he was trying to "skin" him with his fancy cash!

What does the third level refer to?

Taken literally, the third level refers to the third floor at the Grand Central Railway station. Symbolically, however, it refers to some kind of a portal that can help one travel back in time, (in this case, 1894) and it can teleport the person to Galesburg, thus helping the person to travel some distance, (which is equivalent to travelling in space). At a psychological level, the third level is an imaginary dream, a "waking dream" that afforded him an escape from the insecurity and stress of everyday life. There are therefore three different aspects to the third level.
The first interpretation is supported by Charley's description of how once while going back home, he turned into Grand Central from Vanderbilt Avenue, went down the steps to the second level,  walked down another flight of stairs, ducked into an arched doorway and got lost. He ended up in the lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel. The second time he entered a corridor and stepped into a tunnel ending up in an office building on 46th street. The third time he ended up in a railway station on the third level in the year 1894! The third level was thus an intersection in time and space.
An interesting Science fiction interpretation is that the third level is a portal, an exit into another town and another town. Charley ended up in a railway station in 1894. Sam, his psychiatrist friend was able to travel, from the third level to Galesburg in 1894. To quote from Sam's letter, "I got to wishing that you were right. Then I got to believing you were right. And, Charley, it's true; I found the third level! I've been here two weeks, and right now, down the street at the Daly's someone is playing a piano". The address on the letter reads, "941 Willard Street, Galesburg, Illinois", and the date is, "July 18, 1894". The symbol of the "tree, pushing out new corridors and staircases like roots," suggests a highway, a portal into space (place) and time. The multiple corridors take you to different time zones and different places.
The third explanation is that the third level is a mere figment of the imagination. Charley was "unhappy" probably stressed out from work so he decided to escape into a fantasy world. It was a "temporary refuge" from the real world. It was an escape mechanism built by the brain to give the mind some rest. So one might argue that the third level was nothing but a daydream, fantasy or something imagined on the spur of the moment.

How do people attempt to overcome the insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress of the modern world?

 According to Sam, the psychiatrist in The Third level, people attempt to escape from the stress and worries of the modern world through fantasizing, daydreaming and taking up hobbies like stamp collecting. He believes that waking dream wish fulfilment is about escape. Charley liked to think about Galesburg as a "wonderful town still with big old frame houses, huge lawns, and tremendous trees whose branches meet overhead and roof the streets. And in 1894, summer evenings were twice as long, and people sat out on their lawns...a peaceful world" a wistful memory, a fantasy of a time long gone by. Charley was obsessed with the Galesburg of 1894, something that, according to Sam was an escape from the world of stress and worry. What he had experienced, according to Sam the psychiatrist was a waking dream wish fulfilment in which he lived his fantasy of travelling back in time when people were more relaxed and laid back, things were more peaceful and the air was fresher. However, one should note that by the end of the story, Sam the Cynic, the non-believer, himself ends up travelling to Galesburg in the year 1894! What greater comment can Jack Finney make about not believing the implausible!
People take up hobbies as an attempt to escape and overcome the insecurity, fear, worry and stress of life in the modern world. To quote from the lesson, "My stamp-collecting, for example; that's a 'temporary refuge from reality.' " However, Charley doesn't agree with this point of view since he believes that his grandfather "didn't need any refuge from reality; things were pretty nice and peaceful in his day."
Taking up hobbies, sports, adventure activities do have benefits. They provide us with a much-needed break from hectic work schedules. Pastimes help divert the mind from work and provide a moment for the brain to cope with mental fatigue. Hobbies provide people with coping strategies. Hobbies like stamp-collecting (Philately) and coin-collecting (Numismatics) help keep the past alive. They help enthusiasts meet each other, and widen their social circles.

Hobbies like Stamp-collecting and Coin collecting have advantages. Even President Roosevelt collected stamps.

Philately and Numismatics have great advantages for enthusiasts. They help people travel back and forth in time between the past, the present and the future. Old coins and stamps take you back in time. One learns a lot about the past through them, like social conditions, the rulers who ruled in those times, you learn about the economics of those time, geography, ecology and so forth. Stamps and coins of the present times can form a reference point to make projections about the future and they help you compare the present with the past. The use of silver and gold in the coins of the past followed by alloys in the present time tell you a lot about the shift in the economy.
Charley was able to connect to his past, more specifically to his grandfather through the stamp collection that he had inherited from his grandfather. The stamps that his grandfather had collected were in a way like a time capsule. Moreover, Charley's connection to Galesburg was through his stamp collection. It is pertinent to note that he discovered Sam's note inside a first-day cover envelope addressed to his grandfather who had lived in Galesburg. Charley's stamp album helped him connect to the past. It was a means of travelling in time.

Apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic projection!
The submarine was a futuristic projection about underwater travel. Jules Verne's description of the Nautilus would have been an illogical concept in the times when Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under The Sea was published. H.G.Wells description of space Travel to the moon must have seemed implausible in the time when his book was published. The steam engine did not pop out of the drawing board, it was dreamt! In all these cases, illogicalities turned out to be futuristic projections of discoveries and inventions that have become rather commonplace today.
Looking at the above examples as a basis for futuristic projections of the world, would it not be correct to assume that time travel and space travel (teleportation) might not become realities of the future? Films like Back to the Future, Inception and Interstellar, predict what might one day become a reality. Jayant Narliker writes about travel between multiple dimensions both in space and time in the grade eleven lesson The Adventure. Quantum physics describes the world through Quantum theory as a world based on the randomness of things. Professor Gaitonde had travelled back in time and space after his collision with a truck.
The very concept of reality is challenged by Quantum theory. Professor Gaitonde was able to make a transition; he was able to experience two worlds. Charley was able to experience (theoretically at least) time travel for a short while. Sam, the cynical psychiatrist was able to travel back in time and space permanently at least!

What do you infer from Sam's letter to Charley?
At a symbolic level, Sam had managed to find 'the corridor that leads to the third level at Grand Central Station' and travelled back in time to Galesburg in the year 1894.
That he had travelled in time and space is evident from his letter to Charley. According to him,' it's true; I found the third level!' Sam goes on to describe life in Galesburg in the year 1894 and he encourages both Charley and Louisa to 'Keep looking' for the third level.
The final proof that Sam had travelled back in time and space is also evident from the way the letter ends up in Charley's stamp collection. Another important proof is the address and the date in Sam's letter 941, Willard Street, Galesburg, Illinois, July 18, 1894.

Extract-based Questions

1. Sometimes I think Grand Central is growing like a tree, pushing out new corridors and staircases like roots. There's probably a long tunnel that nobody knows about feeling its way under the city right now, on its way to Times Square, and maybe because for so many people through the years Grand Central has been an exit, a way of escape-maybe that's how the tunnel I got into...But I never told my psychiatrist friend about that idea.

1. Who is 'I' in the extract?

2. What figure of speech has the writer used in the first line? Why does the writer use the figure of speech?

3. What has the Grand Central been 'an exit' to?

4. What 'idea' is the narrator talking about?

2. Sometimes I think grand Central is growing like a tree, pushing out new corridors and staircases like roots. There's probably a long tunnel that nobody knows about feeling its way under the city right now, on its way to Times Square, and maybe another to Central Park.

1. Identify the metaphor used in the first line.
2. Where does the tunnel exist?
3. What are the two destinations of the tunnel?
4. Who is I and what does he think?

3. Then I saw why: they were open-flame gaslights.
   There were brass spittoons on the floor, and across the station, a glint of light caught my eye; a man was pulling a gold watch from his vest pocket. He snapped open the cover, glanced at his watch and frowned. He wore a derby hat, a black four-button suit with a tiny lapel, and he had a big, black, handlebar moustache. Then I looked around and saw that everyone in the station was dressed like...

1. Why were there open-flame gaslights?
2. What kind of a watch did the man pull out?
3. What is so strange about the man's clothes and appearance?
4. What year did Charlie travel to?

4. But now we're both looking, every weekend because now we have proof that the third level is still there. My friend Sam Weiner disappeared.

1. Who are  'we' in the first line?
2. What are they looking for every weekend?
3. What 'proof' is the narrator talking about?
4. Who is Sam? Where had he disappeared to?

5.   Have you ever been there? It's a wonderful town still with big frame houses, huge lawns, and tremendous trees whose branches meet overhead and roof the streets. And in 1894, summer evenings were twice as long, and people sat out on their lawns, the men smoking cigars and talking quietly, the women waving palm-leaf fans, with the fireflies all around, in a peaceful world.

1. What place is being described in the above extract?
2. How is the place different from the place Charlie lives in?
3. How are the people different from the people who live in a modern city?
4. What does the writer mean by, 'summer evenings were twice as long '.

MCQI Type Questions

1.       Sometimes I think Grand Central is growing like a tree, pushing out new corridors and staircases like roots. There's probably a long tunnel that nobody knows about feeling its way under the city right now, on its way to Times Square, and maybe another to Central Park.

1. The figure of speech used in the first sentence is not an example of:

     i.  alliteration

     ii. simile

     iii.metaphor

     iv. imagery

2. The Grand Central as a metaphor refers to

     i. some kind of a portal

     ii. an intersection in time and space

    iii. a time travel device

    iv.  all of the options are correct.

3.  The expression, "feeling its way" suggests a movement that is

      i. tentative and a little explorative.

     ii. confident and insistent.

    iii. insinuative and persistent.

    iv. unsure but goal-oriented.

2.          The clerk figured the fare - he glanced at my fancy hatband, but he figured the fare - and I had enough for two coach tickets, one way. But when I counted out the money and looked up, the clerk was staring at me. He nodded at the bills. "That ain't money, mister," he said, "and if you're trying to skin me, you won't get very far," and he glanced at the cash drawer beside him.

1. The clerk glanced at Charley's 'fancy hatband' because

     i. it was an expensive one.

    ii. it was rather flashy.

   iii. it looked strange.

   iv. it looked exclusive.

2. The second coach ticket was for

    i. his psychiatrist friend.

   ii. Sam Weiner

  iii. Loiusa

  iv. his boss

3. The reason why he had bought a 'one way' ticket was that

    i. he couldn't afford a two-way ticket.

   ii. he did not plan to return to New York.

  iii. he planned to stay for some time there.

  iv. none of the above statements holds true.

4. The clerk 'nodded at the bills' because

    i. they were fake bills

   ii. they were soiled and torn

  iii. they looked different 

  iv.  they were counterfeit

3. The clerk's glancing at the cash drawer is indicative of

    i. his nervousness lest Charley intended to steal the cash in it.

   ii. a warning to Charley to run away before he used a weapon.

  iii. he had something that was most valuable in the drawer.

  iv. he was checking on the small change. 

4. I got to wishing that you were right. Then I got to believing you were right. And, Charley, it's true; I found the third level! I've been here two weeks, and right now, down the street at the Daly's, someone is playing a piano, and they're all out on the front porch singing 'Seeing Nelly Home.' And I'm invited over for lemonade.

1. The tone in the above extract is

   i. excited 

  ii. wistful

 iii. languid

  iv. joyful

2. The above extract suggests that the narrator is

  i. glad to have travelled back to the town where he had spent his childhood.

 ii. glad to have travelled back in time to the Galesburg described by Charley.

iii. glad to have opened his clinic in a different town.

 iv. glad to have been invited for lemonade.

3. The narrator in the above extract describes

   i. a revision in the narrator's opinion about life in a metro.

  ii. a revision in the narrator's opinion about the third level

 iii. a revision in the narrator's opinion about the hay business

 iv. a revision in the narrator's opinion about wish fulfilment.

Suggested Reading:

The Adventure by Jayant Narliker-Hornbill, Textbook for Class XI