NCERT Solutions for Class 12 English Vistas Chapter 1: The Third Level

Yes, I think that the third level was a medium of escape for Charley. The third level is an escape for Charley from the modern setting of worry and insecurity. It is an escape from the unhappy contemporary world that is full of insecurity, fear, war, and worry. He had always desired to live his life peacefully as he did in Galesburg. Charlie was so upset and frustrated with modern life and the way of living that he wanted to move back into the past. Thus, in his mind, he has forever wanted to go back in time, so he found the third level as a realization of his dream.

Sam’s letter is a consequence of Charley’s thoughts. Sam’s letter was full of mystery when Charley came across it. This can be understood from the truth that the letter was enclosed in the oldest first-day cover and directed to his grandfather. Usually, the first-day covers have blank papers in them, but this one included a letter. This is made so that the envelope is stamped along with the date, and it remains as a remembrance always. So these kinds of envelopes carry just blank letters and should not be opened. In this letter, Sam had notified Charley that he was living on the third level. He had also stated that Charley and his wife keep waiting for the third level. This confirms that Sam’s letter is an outcome of Charley’s complete imagination.

The contemporary world is full of illusion, insecurity, war, fear, worry, tension, and stress. This is because the world is full of competition and people need to pull each other downward. People can overcome this unrealness, anxieties, and insecurities bred by our certain existence in the advanced world by getting involved in useful and practical activities. To overcome such uncertainties, firstly we must believe that both good and bad come our way. Hence, we want to create equilibrium among professional, creative, personal, and economic provinces of life. People need to spend a good time with friends and family, be productive in art, poetry, prose, or in pursuing their hobbies.

Yes, some situations in the story show an interaction of time and space. Firstly, the first two levels of Grand Central Station were found in the present time, while the third level survived. Charley tries to buy tickets to Galesburg but finds that he has current-day currency. The stairs that guide Charley to the third level are also seen to be the pattern of the 19th century. Charley opens up the first-day cover from his grandfather’s collection of stamps and assumes it to be Sam’s letter which is supposed to be blank. In certain situations, Charley is brought to a parallel world of thought where everything happens according to his desires. This instance makes him completely content. However, when he experiences the modern world, he becomes upset.

Indeed, apparent illogicality sometimes turns out to be a futuristic prediction. Sometimes what appears to be illogical today or at a point in time often turns out to be a reality the next day or in the future. This has usually been the trend with scientific discoveries. No one could have accepted that man could fly before the Wright Brothers invented the aeroplane. It was an illogical thought. It later rolled out to be an actuality in the form of planes and parachutes. Likewise, the baseless thought of communicating with people over long distances by Graham Bell made him invent the telephone. Another example of this is the mobile phone which is another version of taking the telephone to its next level. All these discoveries were seeded in absurd thoughts. Illogical thoughts converted to real-time inventions are possible due to time, effort, patience, hard work, and resources.

Besides philately, there are many other ways to help keep the past alive. Holding on to the past alive also means protecting the memories, which can be preserved in numerous ways. Philately is collecting the stamps that transport us into our actual past. In the past, people would maintain a diary to keep incidents recorded. Some people would also safely preserve letters, souvenirs, gifts, and coins that they got from others. In the modern world, as time flies and technology develops in people’s lives, they make videos or take photographs to capture the moments.

The ability to fluctuate between the past, present, and future is a great intellectual gift. It is good to make mistakes in our past. We can take beautiful lessons from it and can make today and tomorrow wonderful. Human beings have a good ability to keep events recorded in mind. This enables them to continually go back to any situation in the past and revive it. Hence, we as humans have the power to probe deep into the past, think about the present, and also imagine the future.

In both stories, reality and fantasies are interwoven. Jayant Narlikar’s ‘Adventure’ is a complete narration of what happens to a person when his life is stuck between two worlds that is imagination and presence. Professor Gaitonde and Charley both have reached a situation where they are helpless to differentiate between the world of actuality and fantasy. Professor Gaitonde is so engrossed in concepts of the battle of Panipat that he visualises it happening in front of him during the accident. He rather imagines it to be the chaotic battle of Panipat and moulds it in the way that he wishes.

In the same way, Charley, in the third level, completely indulges himself in the thoughts of Galesburg. So, he assumes the presence of the Third Level, which could help him reach the land of his fantasies – Galesburg. In both cases, they were extremely unsatisfied with the present scenario and desperately wanted to change it. Thus, both stories present fantasy as well as reality.