Skip to main content

Is Charley an Escapist?

Illustration by Copilot Designer


Charley wants to go back in time and live in the Galesburg of 1894. He belongs to mid-20th century in Jack Finney’s short story, The Third Level. What triggered his longing for Galesburg of 1894 is his accidental arrival at the third level of New York Grand Central Railway station. Grand Central has only two levels. But Charley lands on a different platform which belongs to the older period. The people’s dress, the ticket counters, the gaslights, the newspaper stand, and the Currier & Ives locomotive all convince Charley that he is standing in the year of 1894.

Charley’s grandfather lived in Galesburg. So Charley knows that it is a “wonderful town still, with big old frame houses, huge lawns, and tremendous trees whose branches meet overhead and roof the streets. And in 1894, summer evenings were twice as long, and people sat out on their lawn, the men smoking cigars and talking quietly, the women waving palm-leaf fans, with the fireflies all around, in a peaceful world” [emphasis added]. Charley would love to live that world “with the First World War still twenty years off, and World War II over torty years in the future.”

Charley wants to book two tickets at the counter, one for his wife Louisa. But since the currency he possesses doesn’t work there, he has to return. Later, however, he can’t find the third level in spite of repeated searches. All people who know him, including his psychiatrist-friend Sam Weiner and his wife Louisa, think he is an escapist chasing a delusion.

Is Charley an escapist? This is a question that I have faced year after year from students when I teach this story in grade 12.

Charley is more a romantic than an escapist. That’s my answer. But all the guide books and online material describe him as an escapist, my students tell me. I tell them to analyse Charley’s character with the details given in the story.

First of all, an escapist is a person who wants to run away from his present reality because it is unacceptable for whatever reason. Is Charley running away from anything? He has no complaints about his workplace. In fact, he doesn’t abandon his work in order to look for the third level; he goes during lunch break. He loves his wife very much. If he has no issues with both, his work and his home, then what is he escaping from?

“The stress of modern life,” his psychiatrist-friend Sam suggests. “The insecurities, fear, war, worry and the rest of it.” Charley is amused, “Well, who doesn’t want to escape all those?”

Now, wanting to live without insecurity, fear, war, worry… is that escapism? I ask my students. If you are running away from the reality, you may be an escapist. But if you merely find an alternative and wish to go there and live in that other world, how can you be labelled an escapist?

Have you heard of the Romantic poets? I ask my students. They hated cities and their noise and stress. They wanted to live in some peaceful “bower” enjoying a relaxed life that is lived out in intimate connection with nature and its vital forces. “Nature never did betray / The heart that loved her,” Wordsworth would counsel us. Nature was his teacher, healer, God. As beauty was to Keats. As the human spirit was to Shelley. They were all Romantic poets. They were all fascinated with the past and the exotic. With the simple rustic life.

Were they escapists?

Well, that’s a matter of interpretation.

I interpret Charley as a Romantic who wants to connect better with people and nature. That is far from escapism for me. That is a search for deeper meaning. 

Illustration by Copilot Designer 

x

Comments

  1. I think they did a similar story on The Twilight Zone. It sounds like this story is of a similar vintage as that TV show.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have a friend who loves to read from that time period.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not unexpected. The old world charm fascinates some.

      Delete
  3. Hari Om
    I might differ on this; romanticism equates more to idealism. Wishing to be somewhere else that is quieter and safer is escapist - and we are all entitled to that from time to time, particulrly under stress. It might otherwise be termed respitism... YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You've given me food for thought. But apart from the idealism part, well... There's nothing in the story to suggest that Charley is trying to shirk responsibilities. If seeking pleasure over pain is escapism, then everyone is an escapist!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Whispers of the Self

Book Review Title: The Journey of the Soul Author: Dhanya Ramachandran Publisher: Sahitya Publications, Kozhikode, 2025 Pages: 64 “I n the whispers of the wind, I hear a gentle voice.” Dhanya Ramachandran’s poems are generally gentle voices like the whispers of the wind. The above line is from the poem ‘Seek’. There is some quest in most of the poems. As the title of the anthology suggests, most of the poems are inward journeys of the poet, searching for something or offering consolations to the self. Darkness and shadows come and go, especially in the initial poems, like a motif. “In the darkness, shadows dance and play.” That’s how ‘Echoes of Agony’ begins. There are haunting memories, regrets, and sorrow in that poem. And a longing for solace. “Tears dry, but scars remain.” Shadows are genial too occasionally. “Shadows sway to the wind’s soft sigh / As we stroll hand in hand beneath the sky…” (‘Moonlit Serenade’) The serenity of love is rare, however, in the collecti...

The Little Girl

The Little Girl is a short story by Katherine Mansfield given in the class 9 English course of NCERT. Maggie gave an assignment to her students based on the story and one of her students, Athena Baby Sabu, presented a brilliant job. She converted the story into a delightful comic strip. Mansfield tells the story of Kezia who is the eponymous little girl. Kezia is scared of her father who wields a lot of control on the entire family. She is punished severely for an unwitting mistake which makes her even more scared of her father. Her grandmother is fond of her and is her emotional succour. The grandmother is away from home one day with Kezia's mother who is hospitalised. Kezia gets her usual nightmare and is terrified. There is no one at home to console her except her father from whom she does not expect any consolation. But the father rises to the occasion and lets the little girl sleep beside him that night. She rests her head on her father's chest and can feel his heart...

Jatayu: The Winged Warrior

Image by Gemini AI Jatayu is a vulture in Valmiki Ramayana. The choice of a vulture for a very noble mission on behalf of Rama is powerful poetic and moral decision. Vultures are scavengers, associated with death and decay. Yet Valmiki assigns to it one of the noblest tasks of sacrificing itself in defence of Sita. Your true worth lies in what you do, in your character, and not in your caste or even species. [In some versions, Jatayu is an eagle.] Jatayu is given a noble funeral after his death. Rama treats Jatayu like a noble kshatriya who sacrificed his life fighting for dharma against an evil force like Ravana. “You are blessed, O Jatayu!” Rama tells the dying bird. “Even in your last moments, you upheld dharma. You fought to save a woman in distress. Your sacrifice will not go in vain.” Jatayu sacrificed himself to save Sita from Ravana. He flew up into the clouds to stop Ravana’s flight with Sita. Jatayu was a friend of Dasharatha, Rama’s father. Now Rama calls him equal to ...

Golden Deer: Illusions

Illustration by Copilot Designer Maricha is the demon who changed his appearance as the golden deer that attracted Sita’s attention. He doesn’t want to do it but is forced by Ravana to play the role. Maricha warns Ravana of calamitous consequences if he dares to do any harm to Sita. Rama is very powerful, in the first place. Secondly, he is very virtuous. Thirdly, he doesn’t do us any harm. Rama doesn’t even bother about us though we do immense harm to the sages in Dandakaranya where Rama too lives with Sita and Lakshmana. In spite of being an exceptionally learned and intellectually gifted person, Ravana fails to understand Maricha’s counsel. Ravana is a Brahmin by birth and was well-versed in the four Vedas and the six Vedangas. He has a deep understanding of scriptures and rituals. An ardent devotee of Lord Shiva, Ravana composed the Shiva Tandava Stotram, a complex and powerful hymn in praise of Shiva. He had won many boons from Lord Shiva through intense tapas (penance). Ye...

Hanuman: Zenith of Devotion

Illustration by Google Gemini When you conquer certain heights, you won’t descend; you will spread your wings and fly. This is one of my favourite quotes from Richard Bach. I have used that quote again and again in my classes to underscore the importance of pursuing excellence. Hanuman of the Ramayana illustrates the quote best. He met divinity; nothing less would satisfy him ever. The divine is a personal experience, I think. It is an experience that transforms you. Once you have encountered the divine, nothing less will ever satisfy you. Hanuman’s devotion to Rama is because of this. Hanuman meets Rama in the forest. His heart senses that he is in the presence of the embodiment of dharma, love, and cosmic order. One of Hanuman’s first utterances after encountering Rama is: “You are Narayana Himself, Lord Vishnu, the refuge of all virtues. When You dwell in this world, what is left for the righteous to strive for?” Experiencing the divinity is conquering the highest peak from ...