Date 15th April 2020 The Third Level : Intro & glossary
Dear Students
Today you are given the task of reading the actual story, you need to refer the following background of the story.
The Third Level is written by sci-fi and thriller author Jack Finney.
The story is a time travel story.
The setting of the story is as below :
Setting - A] Place -
1. A realistic world
1. The Grand Central Station, New York (USA) - (1950)
https://goo.gl/maps/AjEZvUjNpNJiUaoXA
The largest Railway Stations of the world with two level
( total platforms -67) :first level -41 platforms + Second level- 26 platforms
2. Galesburg, Illinios (USA) - (1894)
https://goo.gl/maps/fVGP4rHmkR46Aq5Z7
B) Time - 1950 (just after Second War)
Note- the story also speaks of year -1894
C) Time Travel
1. 1950 (just after Second War) to 1894
2. The Grand Central Station, New York (USA) - (1950)
to
The Galesburg, Illinios (USA) - (1894)
D) Medium of Time Travel (Fictious)
- The Third Level, The Grand Central Station, New York (USA)
The Third Level by Jack Finney is an engrossing story set in the 1950s. It takes you back in time. It was a world when people hadn’t seen two of the bloodiest wars in the history of mankind. The story brings to light the fact that figments of someone’s imagination can be used for shying away from reality, which in all fairness, is harsh enough. Let us take a closer look at the story.
The Third Level tells the story of a 31-year-old guy named Charlie. One fine evening, while rushing home, he decides to take the subway from the Grand Central Station in New York City. He ends up finding himself on the Third Level of the Grand Central Station (there were only two levels). There, Charlie observes spittoons lying on the floor. He observes that people wear wearing derby hats and gold watches, which they kept in their vest pockets. He also sees a Currier & Ives locomotive.
Realising that he’s gone back in time, Charlie tries to buy tickets to Galesburg. During the lunch hour, the next afternoon, Charlie withdraws all his savings (nearly 500 US Dollars) to buy old style currency notes. Charlie narrates this incident to Sam, his friend who works as a psychiatrist. Sam concludes that the Third Level is nothing but a mere figment of Charlie’s imagination. The miseries which the modern world, full of war, worry and terror, had to offer made Charlie hallucinate about the existence of the Third Level.
Charlie succeeds in finding an evidence related to the Third Level’s existence. He discovers a letter addressed to him by his psychiatrist friend Sam. The letter was dated July 18, 1894. It seemed that Sam wasn’t as incredulous of the Third Level as he had appeared to be.
Now read the given story from your text book and some references and glossary is given for you to use while reading to understand the story better
Glossary and References :
New York Central and the New York, New Haven, and Hartford . railroads
these are railway boards in USA as we have in India - Central Railway,
South Central Railways, Western Raiways, Kokan Railways etc.
Obvious - natural
Psychiatrist – a doctor who specialises in mental illness
waking-dream wish fulfillment - fufillment of dream while awake
Insecurity – feeling of being unsafe To escape - to skip
Wander down - to get lost
blocks for four of US issues - four time blocks of publication tenures
Refuge – a place that shelters from danger or difficulty
President Roosevelt-Former President of USA Franklin D. Roosevelt1933–1945
Uptown - towards the town
Vanderbilt Avenue - a place in newyork USA
Suburban - outside area of urban locality
BUMPING: knock or run into someone or something with a jolt.
Ducked into – to plunge
Arched – curved, usually a pillar constructed in a curved manner
Lobby - group of shops in market lane
Times Square - a square ( locality) a tan gabardine suit
Central Park - a park in Newwork
Slanting - a way going down/up
Hollow – not filled for having an empty space
Booth – a small stall, here like the ticket counter Eye-shade
Flickering – short, uncertain way of burning
Spittoons - a pot used to spit in
Glint – shine brightly with a short flash of light
Frowned - got angry
a locomotive - a mail train
Currier & Ives locomotive - a company name open-flame gaslights
Side – burns- facial hair from top to bottom of the side of the face
Stacked – piled into a heap
Glance – quick look
The World - a name of a news paper
President Cleveland - former US president Grover Cleveland 1885–1889,1893–1897
the bills - notes of currency
ain’t - are not
to skin - to cheat
Fussing - looking for
Postmark - a stamp from postoffice
a first-day cover - (given in your book)
President Garfield - former US president 1881
Lemonade - lemon juice
M. A. Ghonshetwad
PGT English. JNV Yavatmal
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