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Third Thoughts Four Levels and Question Answers | Mero Solution

Third Thoughts Four Levels and Question Answers 

Third Thoughts Four Levels and Question Answers

Four Levels of Third Thought
                                       - E.V Lucas  (1868-1838)

1.LITERAL COMPREHENSION :
This is a simple short humorous story about the unstable state of human mind. The writer    presents the story of his friend who considered himself as a failure in business, is guided by strange thoughts when he happens to sell a particular drawing at -high price. Previously he used to think that it was his destiny to buy in the dearest markets and to sell in the cheapest.

One day he bought a water color drawing from a curiosity shop which was supposed to have been an imitation of Turner. He bought it only for ten shillings. However, he was able to sell it at fifty pounds without any bargaining since it was proved to be original painting of Turner. After he made the unexpected profit of 49 pounds and ten shillings, he became elated and his soul started bargaining with himself. It was a tremendous achievement in his life. Hence in excitement, he remembered the dealer from whom he had bought the drawing. He wanted to share his happiness by giving the dealer 50% of the profit since he had behaved him very well. He wrote a note about the incident but not having a stamp, he could not post the latter.

He woke up quite early next morning and began to think over his life's errors. He suddenly felt that he was going to make another mistake in his life by giving 50% of his profit to the dealer. He found himself very idealistic and concluded that a businessman like him shouldn't be impractical so as to lose the profit. In the evening, he thought of giving 10 pound and went to sleep but he couldn't sleep that night. He reasoned that receiving such unexpected money might give the dealer a wrong idea of his customers. He may expect more money in the future. Anyway he was a nice old man So, he decided to send him at least 5 pounds.

Next morning, he thought on his decision. He argued that he shouldn't share his fortune with the dealer. It might displease the goddess of business. He shouldn't have foolish impulses and absurd feelings. Finally he decided to send just one pound to the dealer with a brief note of compliment.

Putting the note and the cheque into his pocket, he went to the club for lunch. There he played bridge and lost all the money he had. He was glad that he hadn't posted the letter. Finally he realized that buying and selling are a perfectly straight forward matter between dealer and customer. The dealer asks as much money as he thinks he can extort and the customer, having paid it, is under no obligation whatever to the dealer.

2.INTERPRETATION :
This beautiful story seems to have supported the argument that buying and selling are Straight forward matter between the seller and buyer that there is no space for emotion in business. It might have stated that profit oriented motive is forceful in business but the humorous presentation of the character suggests us that we shouldn't be greedy and should implement our first thought. Third thoughts make us action less. Being human, we should try to bring happiness on others' face.

3.CRITICAL THINKING :
This interesting story has tried to show the real ethics of business. But there are some instances which seem unreliable.
i) Does a businessman really purchase goods in dearest market and sell in the cheapest?
ii) How can't a dealer identify the quality of the products he sells?
iii) Is anyone ready to share his profit in business?

4.ASSIMILATION :
After reading this story I remembered an event that I experienced four year ago. I had bought a watch from the market at rs 300. One of my friend liked it. He was ready to pay rs 1500 for it even he knew that I had bought it at rs 300. But as a friend I gave it to him at rs 500. Thus, I had got rs.200 as a profit.
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Question Answers of Third Thoughts

Q.1. Do you agree with the Narrator in "Third Thoughts" that 'buying and selling are perfectly straight forward matter between dealer and customer' ?

ANSWER : Yes I agree with the narrator in "Third Thoughts" that 'buying and selling are perfectly straight forward matter between dealer and customer'. The dealer asks as much as be can extort, and the customer, having paid it, is under no obligation whatever to the dealer. There is no space for emotion in business. There is no need to share profit to anyone.

Q.2. In the story "Third Thoughts" Buying and selling are perfectly straight forward matter between dealer and customer. The dealer asks as much as he thinks he can extort and the customer, having paid it, is under no obligation whatever to the dealer. "
i) Does this describe prevailing commercial practices in England?
ii) In Nepal?
iii) Can this story be interpreted as a criticism of these practices ?
iv) Would the world be a better place without them? Please explain and document your answer.

ANSWER : The Story "Third Thoughts" by E.V Lucas is a simple humorous story about unstable state of human mind. In this story "Buying and selling are perfectly straight forward matter between dealer and customer. The dealer asks as much as he thinks he can extort and the customer having paid it, is under obligation whatever to the dealer." is presented. The human elements like sense of responsibility, morality and all human emotions do not have any role to play within the business. There is no question of kindness and rudeness rather buying and selling are even going on process between customers and sellers. Both buyer and seller can do their best to sell in dearest price and to buy cheapest one. This is true concept occurs in business. In business, profit oriented motive is forceful. Without profit no one sells anything and without some consideration no one becomes ready to buy anything.

i) Does this describe prevailing commercial practices in England?
Yes the above statement describes prevailing commercial practices in England. Buying and selling are ever going process between customers and sellers. Both buyer and sellers can do their best to sell in dearest price and to buy in cheapest price. Seller always expects to take more money as much as possible from the customer and buyer always intends to buy in a lowest price. There is no space for human emotions in the world of business in England even all over the world. Their main aim is to gain maximum profit and become successful businessman in the Competitive market. Therefore this practices exist in the England.

ii) In Nepal?
The practices of business in England is also followed in Nepal. In business, gaining maximum profit is the number one aim of the every businessman. To attain businessman's aim or goal, the businessman or seller always expects to take more money as much as possible from the customer. And, on the other hand, buyer always intends to buy in a lowest price.

iii) Can this story be interpreted as a criticism of these practices ?
Yes, this story can be interpreted as a criticism of these practices. This story supports the argument that buying and selling are straight forward matter between the seller and buyer and there is no space for emotions in business. It also states that profit oriented motive is forceful in business but the humorous presentation of the story suggest us that we should not be greedy that we think only about profit for short run. Being human we should try to bring happiness on other's face. We should understand the emotion of buyer as a seller or dealer.

iv) Would the world be a better place without them?
No, the world wouldn't be a better place without them (buyer and seller), because without buyer and without seller, there is impossible to run the business. Both are equally important in their own place. If there is no buyer, seller could not sell his products and similarly, if there no seller in the market buyers couldn't buy the products which they want. It leads to the in appropriate place for the goods or the products that the company produces in order to gain profit. Buying and selling are ever going process between customers and sellers. Without them, we can't imagine business. Business is very important thing in the world. Business is important for economic development. Every country has diverse natural resources. Business must be directed towards proper and efficient utilization of resources. It also helps to satisfy the needs of human beings. Also business helps to provide job to people. Business is the source of revenue generation. It pays taxes, royalties, fees, custom duties, and other things which help to generate government revenue. Therefore business is very important and to run the business buyer and seller is most important.

Q.3. "The point of this narrative resides," the narrator says in the story Third Thoughts, "In bargaining with my own soul." Document and Explain this statement.

ANSWER : In this story "Third Thoughts", One day the narrator bought a water color drawing from a curiosity shop which was supposed to have been an imitation of Turner. He bought it only for ten shillings. However, he was able to sell it at fifty pounds without any bargaining since it was proved to be original painting of Turner. After he made the unexpected profit of 49 pounds and ten shillings, he became elated and his soul started bargaining with himself. It was a tremendous achievement in his life. Hence in excitement, he remembered the dealer from whom he had bought the drawing. He wanted to send 50% of the profit to the dealer but later he decided to send him 10 pounds only . But again he destroyed his decision and made new decision that he wanted to send him 5 pounds. Again he destroyed his new decision and decided to send 1 pounds only.At last he sent him nothing.

It shows that there is no end of human thoughts or consideration and reconsideration when one's mind is taken over by selfish thoughts. Instead of reasoning with others, we reason with our ownself and try to convince ourselves that what we are doing is justified as if someone from within ourselves is lurking from behind and telling us that what we are doing is not fair. Therefore, the narrator  admitted that the point of this narrative lies not in bargaining with collectors but in bargaining with his own soul. In this this statement embodies the true spirit of 'Third Thoughts' to a great extents.

Q.4. Why does the narrator of the short story "Third Thought" close his monologue saying, 'Buying Selling are a perfectly straight forward matter between dealer and customer? Document and Explain this statement.

ANSWER : The story "Third Thoughts" by E.V Lucas is a simple humorous story about unstable state of human mind. In this story, the narrator close his monologue saying, 'Buying and selling are a perfectly straight forward matter between dealer and  customer.' Because the dealer asks as much as he thinks he can extort and the customer, having paid it, is under no obligation whatever to the dealer. The human elements like sense of responsibility, morality and all human emotions do not have any role to play within the word of business. There is no question of kindness and rudeness rather buying and selling are ever going process between customers and sellers. Between two parties, there is dealing to some limit of payment and goods. If seller doesn't satisfy with the buyer's price, he doesn't sell his products and if buyer doesn't get satisfied with the seller's price he doesn't buy rather he goes another shop. Both buyer and seller can do their best to sell on dearest price and to buy in cheapest one. This is true concept occurs in business. In business, profit oriented motive is forceful. This motive is very practical process of doing business through which one leads to the success. Without profit no one sells anything and without some consideration no one becomes ready to buy anything. It shows the real principle of business.
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  1. Yes i like the post.This post help me a lot.It help me easy to understand the lesson.

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