| Literal Comprehension

“Third Thoughts” is a story by E. V. Lucas. Once the writer’s friend was visiting New York and bought a painting thinking that it was by the famous painter Turner. He got it at a cheap price (10 shillings) because the seller was also confused about whether the painting was original or not. With that very painting, he travels to London and sold it for a heavy profit (50 pounds).

He got so much excited about that great profit and thought to share the profit with the seller in New York. At first, he decided to share straight fifty percent of his profit and wrote a letter but without a stamp. Again at about 3 AM in the morning, he thought he was giving away so much money and decided to transfer ten pounds only.

His mind didn’t stop running and couldn’t sleep well that night. Again, he cut the previous amount in half and decided to send five pounds only. Now he started to think like a real businessman and appreciates himself as he was the only one to know the real value of that painting.

Thought continuously, if he had known it, he wouldn’t have sold me at such a cheap price. So now, he felt like he should not give him a single percent of that profit. Still, he decided to send him only a pound. But the next morning, he went outside and spent all his money on gambling.

Finally, he concluded that buying and selling is a straightforward matter. Everyone in this matter tries to get a lump of benefit. Because now he doesn’t have a single penny from that profit to distribute or enjoy later, he satisfies his soul by delivering a thought-provoking statement – the buyer once paid for the goods has no obligation to the dealer.

| Interpretation

In this story, the writer is trying to say that everyone is dealing with a business, and nothing matters in business than profit. It is clearly shown that the writer’s friend is a businessman who deals with buying and selling goods for profit, and his mind is occupied with selfishness.

Of course, one needs to consider profit in business, but being so much greedy is not good for the long term.

Also, we can understand human psychology from this story regarding profit sharing. No one loves to give away free money to random people, and not to the one who sells products to us.

Thus, the main theme of this story is that the human mind is uncontrollable and we do whatever it commands us. We use common sense, but we don’t even have the sense to understand how this bastard brain is playing with us.

| Critical Thinking

The story shows that the constantly changing nature of the human mind seems to be full of humor and satire. And it also teaches us not to be the puppet of our own minds.

Still, it is about the matter of criticizing the story, I have a handful of questions for the writer. How could a salesman doesn’t know about the quality and originality of their products? It is a shame for those salespeople who can’t figure out the specifications of their product.

How could one person think about sharing the profit with the dealer from where he bought the product to resale? It would still sound good if profit is shared between two partners, but thinking about giving back money to the shop owners from where he purchased the product sounds unusual.

Last but not the least, if the writer’s friend still wants to share a profit, how could he end up losing all his money and not even saving for himself? He is such a defective businessman in the industry!

| Assimilation

After reading this story, I realized that we should always know the full specs of our product if we ever going to sell it. Otherwise, we might lose a huge amount of profit.

Similarly, we should never make false promises to ourselves, because it not only makes us feel guilty but also lowers our inner self-esteem.

If we believe ourselves to become genuine businessmen and professional marketers, we should always follow the path of successful market leaders, but not push ourselves to become broke once again.