the third level

• “The Third Level” was published during a period of immense societal trauma and instability, including the Korean War and the Cold War
• The story romanticizes the late 19th century, a time of peace in the United States
• The protagonist of “The Third Level” is Charley
• Charley’s psychiatrist is named Sam
• Another character in the story is Louisa
• The setting of the story is New York in the 1950s and Galesburg, Illinois in 1894
• The climax of the story is when Charley gives up on his search for the third level and his friend Sam disappears
• The antagonist in the story is modern society
• The point of view of the story is first person
• Charley, the protagonist, expresses envy of older generations who lived in simpler times
• The story reflects the desire to return to a more straightforward way of life
• The concept of escapism is also prominent in the story
• Charley discovers a hidden third level in Grand Central Station that allows him to time travel to the past
• His psychiatrist, Sam, dismisses this as a waking dream caused by Charley's desire to escape modern life
• The tension between reality and imagination is a central conflict in the story
• Sam, the psychiatrist, struggles to accept Charley's experiences as real and believes they are products of his imagination
• The theme of the trauma of war is subtly woven into the narrative
• Charley reflects on the anxiety of modern society, influenced by the aftermath of World War I and World War II
• The story was published in 1950, a time when society was still reeling from the effects of the wars
• Charley insists there is a third level to Grand Central Station, despite others saying there are only two
• His psychiatrist believes Charley's experience is mental escapism from the modern world
• Charley acknowledges wanting to escape due to the instability and war in the modern world
• Charley recounts discovering the third level while trying to get home to his wife, Louisa
• He gets lost in the station and muses about its architecture, feeling swallowed up by modernity
• Charley enters the third level, a vibrant place set in the past (1894), with 19th-century details
• He tries to buy tickets to Galesburg, Illinois, in 1894 to escape the modern world with Louisa
• Unable to pay with modern currency, Charley spends most of his money on old currency but can't find the third level again
• Charley initially gives up on searching for the third level at Louisa’s insistence and goes back to his stamp collection
• Charley and Louisa pick up the search again after his friend Sam disappears
• Charley suspects that Sam found the third level and went to 1894 Galesburg
• Sam is drawn to Galesburg as a symbol of peace and simplicity
• Sam, despite growing up in New York City, is drawn to Galesburg and is weary of modernity
• Charley finds a first-day cover in his stamp collection, postmarked July 18, 1894, with a six-cent stamp of President Garfield
• Inside the first-day cover, there is a letter from Sam to Charley, confirming that Sam made it to 1894 Galesburg and loves it
• Sam bought $800 of old currency in 1894 Galesburg to set up a new business because psychiatry didn't exist then, and Sam was Charley's psychiatrist
• The story's ending connects the past and present through Charley's stamp collection, highlighting the superiority of the past over the present
• Charley is the protagonist of "The Third Level," a 31-year-old stamp collector who sees himself as an ordinary man with nothing unusual about him
• Charley's psychiatrist explains Charley's encounter with the third level as a moment of mental escapism
• Louisa is Charley's wife who is supportive of him and disagrees with some of the psychiatrist's hypotheses about Charley
• The clerk sells train tickets on the third level and acts as the gatekeeper to 1894