NCERT Class 12 English Chapter 21 The Third Level

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NCERT Class 12 English Chapter 21 The Third Level

Also, you can read the NCERT book online in these sections Solutions by Expert Teachers as per Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Book guidelines. CBSE Class 12 English Solutions are part of All Subject Solutions. Here we have given NCERT Class 12 English Chapter 21 The Third Level Notes, NCERT Class 12 English Textbook Solutions for All Chapters, You can practice these here.

The Third Level

Chapter: 21

VISTAS (SUPPLEMENTARY READER)

TEXTUAL QUESTIONS ANSWERS

READ AND FIND OUT

Answer the following questions:

Q. 1. What does the third level refer to?

Or

Was there the Third Level? Give an evidence from the story in support of your answer?

Ans. For Charley, Grand Central Station of New York has three levels. Actually, there are only two levels. There does not exist any third level. The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war and worries. Charley just wants to escape. So he wanders into the fanciful world of 1894 which is much away from the harsh realities of life. The writer Jack Finney uses the Third Level on Grand Central Station as a medium of escape. Consequently Charley wants to escape in the old world. Even his psychiatrist Sam calls it just a waking-dream wish fulfillment.

Q. 2. Would Charley ever go back to the ticket-counter on the Third Level to buy tickets to Galesburg for himself and his wife?

Ans. In order to buy two tickets to go to Galesburg, Charley drew three hundred dollars from the bank so that he could arrange old currency. He tried his best to find the corridor that led to the Third Level at Grand Central Station but he never found it. Since, the Third Level is just a medium for escape so Charley is not only lingering but has also entered into the world of fantasy and romance. Hence he will not be able to reach there.

READING WITH INSIGHT

Answer the following questions:

Q. 1. Do you think that the Third Level was a medium of escape for Charley? Why?

Ans. In reality the Third Level is the creation of Charley’s own mind, fantasy and whim. He is inhabiting in the modern world which is full of insecurity, fear, war, worries, stress and tension. He has to confront with them round the clock. The harsh realities of life are making our stay unpleasant and unbearable. There is a mental tension which is transforming our lives burdensome and heavy. Charley has an escapist mind. Even stamps collecting is a temporary refuge from reality. So he talks to his psychiatrist friend Sam about the third level at the Grand Central Station. He terms it as a “waking-dream wish fulfilment.”

In this lesson even the writer Jack Finney interweaves Charley in the midst of fantasy and reality. The compulsions and realities of modern life make Charley escape into a world of fancy and romance. There is a reference to his grand father’s stamp collection of 1894 in the lesson. In those days there was peace as well as tranquility. So there was no need for escape. For Charley the Grand Central is an exit and he wanders down to the third level and finds himself into the world of 1894 which used to be a romantic living. So the Third Level is indirectly a mode of escape for Charley.

Q. 2. What do you infer from Sam’s letter to Charley?

Or

Point out some of the mysteries that can trace the Sam’s letter.

Ans. One can notice that Sam’s letter to Charley is engulfed with series of mysteries. When Charley was fussing with his stamp-collection in the night, he comes across an envelope among his oldest first day covers. In a way it should not have been there, but it was there. He had not seen that envelope before. It was there because someone had mailed it to his grandfather at his home in Galesburg, Illinois and it had been there since July 18, 1894. The post-mark revealed that the stamp was a six-cent with a picture at President Garfield.

Generally, the first day cover has only a blank paper in the envelope but there the paper was written and signed by Sam. It was only addressed to Charley. Sam had written that he had found the Third Level. It means that Charley was correct about the Third Level. Further he had been putting up at Galesburg, Illinois for two weeks where people had been enjoying a ramantic life. He asked Charley and Louisa to go there. They should keep looking till they found the Third Level.

It is rather much astonishing how such a letter was never noticed earlier. It is all the more surprising how Sam disappeared and nobody knew his whereabouts. But Charley had doubts about his (Sam) presence in Galesburg. It is also mysterious that the letter is written by Sam and is addressed to Charley on July 18, 1894. It is also strange to note that Sam is not else except Charley’s psychiatrist.

Q. 3. “The modern world is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress.” What are the ways in which we attempt to overcome them?

Ans. We are all living in the modern world. It is full of insecurity, fear, war, worry and stress. We have lost all our peace of mind. We can be butchered within moments. The use of atomic bombs and other fatal ammunition has made our lives like a hell. We do not have safety. The crimes are increasing day by day. There is utter chaos, confusion, fear, trouble terror and unemployment in the society. So the mind of every one has got stuck in the midst of tension and fear. There is so much violence, selfishness, despise and hatred in the world that none is ready to see the other progressing. The affluent nations are trying to overpower the developing and underdeveloped countries. There is constant competition of manufacturing, hoarding and developing dangerous weapons. Thus, the harsh realities of life are making our living quite unpleasant and bitter. So we try to overcome them through day-dreaming and wishful thinking like Charley.

In the past our ancestors used to lead a free life. They did not need any refuge from reality. Things were pretty, nice and peaceful in those days. But Charley expresses his unhappiness and he wants to escape. So he wanders down into the Third Level. The writer has provided stamp collecting as a means of temporary refuge from reality. We can overcome all these problems through meditation and devising ways to the welfare of mankind.

Q. 4. Do you see an intersection of time and space in the story?

Ans. Definitely one can see an intersection of time and space in the story “The Third Level” since the story is constantly moving between the past and the present. Charley is an ordinary man of thirty-one years old. He wears a tan gaberdine suit and a straw hat with a fancy band. He lives and works in an office in New York. This city is full of insecurities, fear, war, worries, stress and tension. People feel unsafe and troubled and as such they want to escape.

The Third Level at Grand Central Station is a medium of an easy escape for Charley. It is nothing but a ‘waking-dream-wish-fulfillment. At the Third Level, one can see flickering gas lights, spittoons, beards, side burns and fancy mustaches of 1894. There Charley glimpses a very small Currier and Ives Locomotive with a funnel-shaped stack. There the tickets are available in old currency. Charley returns and arranges for the old-style bills. He decides to go to Galesburg using the Third Level. But he can never find the Third Level again. So there is a lot of intersection between space and time in the story. Further one can noto that Galesburg is a place where people live in big old frame houses having huge lawns and tremendous trees. This is clear cut contrast of modern world of New York with Galesburg.

Q. 5. Apparent illogically sometimes turns out to be a futuristic projection. Discuss.

Ans. Sometimes which appears to be illogical at a point of time, proves to be logic in the future. A thing which is not worthy today may prove to be useful in our future. Charley is troubled with the insecurity, fear, war, stress, tension and worry of the modern world. He is unable to cope with the harsh realities. So he indulges in “waking-dream wish fulfilment.”

For him the Third Level is a convenient medium of escape. Here he escapes into the old world of 1894 in order to lead a peaceful life in Galesburg where the people are leading a life of romance and are living in big houses. Here the escape is not in the past but in a futuristic world of fantasy. In his work of fiction, once George Orwell imagined about some radical changes in the communist world of the Soviet Union. He drew a picture that turned out to be a futuristic projection. The Soviet Union was dis-integrated and there came an end to the cold war between the USA and the Soviet Union.

Q. 6. Philately helps keep the past alive. Discuss other ways in which this is done. What do you think of the human tendency to constantly move between the past, the present and the future?

Ans. Philately is an art of collecting stamps that transports us into the real past. It is one of the effective and common ways to keep the past alive. People cultivate hobbies like coin-collecting, newspapers and cartoon clippings etc. in order to tie up with the contemporary as well as the past world. In this lesson, Charley, in his possession of stamp-collecting, finds some of the oldest “first day covers”. It is mailed to his grandfather at his home in Galesburg. It is there since July 18,1894. The postmark shows the date with a picture of President Garfield. The stamp offers a chance to transport into the beautiful and romantic world of 1894.

It is our tendency to move constantly into the past, the present and the future. Even there are some people who go on collecting rare things which can serve to keep our past alive. They revive our memories and help in comparing our past with the present.

Q. 7. You have read ‘Adventure’ by Jayant Narlikar in Hornbill class XI. Compare the interweaving of fantasy and reality in the two stories.

Ans. In both the stories fantasy and reality are interwoven. In the story ‘Adventure’ Narlikar tries to prove that reality is limited to what we perceive. It has been proved that on firing an electron from a source, it may go anywhere. Even all the parts can exist together. Gangadhar’s mind suffers such a transition from one world to another and back again.

In the same way, Charley in the Third Level wanders away from the rush, strain and crowd of New York to the Third Level at the Grand Central Station. It is the world of 1894 when he witnesses flickering gaslights, beards, side-burns, fancy mustaches and small Currier and Ives locomotives. There is a sweet world of Galesburg where people are living and enjoying to their best.

Thus both the stories present fantasy as well as reality.