ENGLISH HOLIDAY

ASSIGNMENT
SUBMITTED BY: BATUL ROKADIA
12-A
2021-22
MANSUKHBHAI KOTHARI NATIONAL SCHOOL
 VISTAS:
LESSON 1

THE THIRD LEVEL

AUTHOR: JACK
FINNEY
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WALTER BRADEN "JACK" FINNEY WAS AN

AMERICAN AUTHOR. HIS BEST-KNOWN
WORKS ARE SCIENCE FICTION AND
THRILLERS, INCLUDING THE BODY
SNATCHERS AND TIME AND AGAIN. THE
FORMER WAS THE BASIS FOR THE 1956 FILM
JACK FINNEY
 INTRODUCTION

THE THIRD LEVEL BY JACK FINNEY IS ABOUT

THE HARSH REALITIES OF WAR. WAR HAS
IRREVERSIBLE CONSEQUENCES THUS LEAVING
PEOPLE IN A STATE OF INSECURITY. IT IS ALSO
ABOUT MODERN DAY PROBLEMS AND HOW
COMMON MAN TENDS TO ESCAPE REALITY BY
VARIOUS MEANS. IN THIS STORY, A MAN NAMED
CHARLEY HALLUCINATES AND REACHES THE
 THEME OF THE LESSON
The story, ‘the third level’ clearly explores the science fiction genre of ‘time travel’. Jack
finney, the recipient of the world fantasy award, interweaves fantasy with reality in his
projection of time travel. Charley, the protagonist wishes to be transported to the third level,
the world of galesburg, illinois, 1894, which is supposed to be a much happier and quieter
place to be in.
The story also dwells on the theme of escapism as a psychological refuge from the grim
realities of the present day world along with a desire to stay with the past—a desire that
charley’s wife louisa does not contest. Sam has also happily escaped, with no desire to return
to his old profession.
The story exposes the vulnerable side of the common man. Surrounded by myriad problems,
we humans, sometimes experience a craving for peace and serenity, and look for possible
escapes. This story is about time intersection, an illusion, a kind of long dream that we do not
experience during our sleep.
 CHARACTERS OF THE STORY

Charly
Charley is a thirty-one year old man in a tan gabardine suit and a straw hat. One
night, on his way back from work, he decides to take the subway at the grand
central station, which as everyone knows, has two levels. Preoccupied and in a
hurry, charley discovers an unknown exit that takes him through a long corridor,
into the third level.
Charley never again found the corridor that led to the third level at the grand
central. Ironically, his friend sam, the psychiatrist, disappeared, only to reach
galesburg, illinois, in 1894.
SAM
Sam Weiner is Charley’s friend, and psychiatrist, and the next most important character in
the story. He concludes that the third level is a figment of Charley’s imagination, induced
by the pressures of modern living.
When Charley fails to find the third level of the Grand Central Station, his wife Louisa is
worried for him and tells him to stop looking for it. But after sometime, both start looking
for it because they find proof that the third level exists. Charley’s friend, Sam Weiner
disappears. A first-day cover that Charley discovers in his collection, is signed by Sam
and is from Galesburg, Illinois, dated July 18,1894. Charley subsequently discovers that
Sam had bought eight- hundred dollars worth of old-style currency and moved to
Galesburg, Illinois, in 1894. He had . set up a hay, feed and grain business as he had
always said that it is what he really wished to do. Clearly, he could not go back to his old
business—psychiatry—in Galesburg, Illinois, in 1894.
Louisa
Charley’s wife Louisa was initially angry with Sam’s suggestion that Charley was
unhappy, ‘ when Charley tells him about his sojourn to the third level of the Grand
Central Station in New York. Then Sam explains that it is not marital unhappiness,
but dissatisfaction and discontent with modern day living with its insecurity, fear,
war and worry. To escape from these pressures, Charley’s mind had sought refuge
in the idyllic world of the third level. Louisa’s conviction in the existence of the third
level is affirmed only when she sees the note sent by Sam himself, from Galesburg,
Illinois, dated July 18, 1894. Since then, Louisa has been actively involved in
looking for the third level, along with her husband, Charley.
THE GRAND CENTRAL, NY