(Vistas) Chapter 1 The Third Level
by Jack Finney
The Third Level 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 the common man tends to escape reality by various means. In this story,
a man named Charley hallucinates and reaches the third level of the Grand Central Station
which only has two levels.
Theme of the Lesson
The third level represents a break from the “full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and all the rest
of it” modern world. The 1890s depict a tranquil lifestyle that is not feasible in the present.
The main character wants to take his wife Louisa to Galesburg, Illinois, from this point on.
While his psychiatrist friend refers to it as a “waking-dream wish fulfilment,” for him, it is a
part of reality.
The Third Level Summary
Summary of The Third Level is given below
The story revolves around a 31 year old man named Charley, who experienced something
weird. One day after work coming from the Subway, he reached the third level of the Grand
Central station (which doesn’t actually exist). He reminisces the entire experience with his
psychiatrist friend Sam. Charley thought he experienced time travel and had reached
somewhere in the eighteen-nineties, a time before the world saw two of its most deadliest
wars. As soon as he realised what time he is in, he immediately decided to buy two tickets to
Galesburg, Illinois; one for himself and the other for his wife. Unfortunately, the currency
used in that century was different. Thus, the next day he withdrew all his savings and got
them converted even if it meant bearing losses. He went looking for the third level but failed
to find it. It worried his wife and the psychiatrist Sam who told him that he is hallucinating in
order to take refuge from reality and miseries of the modern world which is full of worry.
Charley thus resorts to his stamp collection in order to distract himself when suddenly one
day he finds a letter from his friend Sam who had gone missing recently. Sam wrote that he
always wanted to believe in the idea of third level and now that he is there himself, he
encourages Charley and Louisa to never stop looking for it.
