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Edwin Abbotts Flatland is an absurd, satirical, comedic novel that
describes the inhabitants and the inhabitants lifestyles in a
two-dimensional world. He begins the novel describing the caste system and
each particular caste in the flatland. The lowest caste is that of the
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isosceles triangles. The isosceles triangle caste includes soldiers and the
lowest class of workmen. Isosceles triangles are those that have two equal
sides and an unequal base. The next caste level is that of the equilateral
triangles and they make up the middle class. Next come the squares and
pentagons, which are the professional men and gentlemen. Next above these are
the Nobility. The Nobility include six-sided figures and up, rising in number
until they reach the title of polygonal, which means many-sided. When the
sides become so numerous that the figure cannot be distinguished from a
circle, it becomes part of the Circular caste, also known as the priestly
order. All of these castes include the men. The women, however, are set apart
on their own and are considered to be even lower than the isosceles. The
women are straight lines. (However, I think that the novel sort of
contradicts itself here because it explains that women have a front end and a
back end, which would make them line segments, NOT lines. The reason being
that lines go on forever, segments do not.)
Next, the author begins to explain how easily the figures can go from one
caste to another. Its easy to make this transition for all castes excepting
the isosceles triangles. All other regular polygons have three or more equal
sides. When a polygon has a child, it is known that the child has one more
side than those of his father. Meaning, when an equilateral triangle has a
son, the son will have four equal sides thus making him a square. This
continues through the generations until the family has reached the Priestly
Order. It is difficult for the isosceles triangles to move from caste to
caste because of its irregularity. However, as his intelligence grows, the
isosceles triangles two equal sides have been known to shrink and his
unequal base to grow, thus making him closer to an equilateral triangle. It
is a rarity, but an equilateral offspring can be born to isosceles parents.
(Again, I think the book contradicts itself. Its probably just a mistake,
but the book says parents NOT father implying that BOTH parents are
isosceles triangles, but if all females are lines, they cannot be isosceles
triangles.)
The women of flatland are dangerous to men. They are but straight lines.
Sure, you can see them fine from side view, but when looking at them straight
on, they are but a point. For those of us in the three-dimensional land, its
like laying a needle on a table and looking at it straight on with our eyes
at the tables level. All we would see is a point. The women are almost
invisible to the men when looking at them from the front. If the men are not
careful, running into the almost invisible women could lead to their demise.
Thats why its a law that in public, the women must continuously move their
backs so that the men can see them. Also, the women and men have separate
entrances into their homes. The men enter the home on the west side and the
women enter the home on the east side. Otherwise, the men could be in danger
around the women. The women also
have very short memories. Their heads are so tiny that they cannot store very
much information. The women are also very passionate. In a heated moment, a
woman could execute her husband and her children. Because of her short
memory, moments later she might ask what happened to her family.
Next, the author describes the ods of telling the castes apart.
Because flatland is two-dimensional, everything that can be seen is seen as a
line. There are three ods that the flatlanders use to tell each other
apart. The first od is hearing. The figures sense of hearing is far more
developed than that of the three-dimensional people. It allows the figures to
discriminate between the equilateral, square, and pentagon castes. The second
method, feeling, is used mainly by the women and lower-castes. The feeling
method is simply what it states. The figures feel each other to determine
what type of figure the others are. However, this od is dangerous because
one wrong move can seriously injure or even kill a figure. The isosceles
triangles have very sharp vertices and we already know about the dangers of
the women. The third and most sophisticated od is that of sight. Now,
its been stated before that when a figure is seen, it is seen as a straight
line. However, with the presence of fog, the figures are able to tell the
difference between other figures. With fog, the front of the figure is clear
and sharp while the other sides are much dimmer and fall back into the fog.
The deeper the sides are into the fog, the dimmer they are. This od of
sight is only used by the upper castes and it is taught in a university.
Next, the author goes on to talk about irregular figures. Irregular
figures are those polygons whose sides are not all equal. Most irregular
figures are executed because their fellow flatlanders see them as useless in
their society. Soon, we learn about the practice of painting. The figures
begin to paint themselves in order to tell each other apart. The other three
methods are thrown out of the window. At first, it is all castes excluding
the women and circles that paint each of their sides in order to distinguish
themselves from the other castes. Lines and circles obviously do not have
sides, so they remain pure as the others paint themselves. However, very
soon, the women and circles begin painting themselves as well. They paint
their front halves red and their back halves green. This causes problems
because when the priests are seen, they appear to be a line- half red, half
green. The women are also half red, half green lines. Other figures begin to
confuse the lines with the circles and things become chaotic. The author goes
on to describe the color problems and how it becomes such a problem that it
even causes a war which ends with the complete annihilation of all isosceles
triangles. Afterwards, the use of color is completely abolished. Summing up
the first book, the author describes the priests (circles) and exactly how
they reach the status of priest order.
The second book of the novel simply describes the main characters (who
is a square) introduction to the worlds of one dimension (lineland) and three
dimensions (the land of the solids). He is introduced to lineland through a
dream. In his dream, he tries to convince the King of the lineland that there
is a world outside his own and that another dimension does exist. The king is
reluctant to believe the squares story and after much debate, the lines
begin to attack the square. The square then wakes up, realizing it was only a
dream. Soon though, the tables are turned on the square when a sphere from
the solid world visits him. The sphere tries to convince the square, as the
square himself did to the king of lineland, that there is yet another
dimension. The square himself is reluctant to believe the sphere. After much
debate, the square is convinced that the sphere is nothing but a magician or
devil of some sort and attempts to kill him but to no avail. The sphere
continues to argue and again, the square tries to kill the sphere. Again, his
attempt is in vain. Once the sphere realizes that the square cannot be
convinced otherwise, he takes the square with him to the land of the solids
and shows him. Finally, the square sees what the sphere has been trying to
explain the whole time. Upon returning home, the square begins to tell his
grandsons about the land of the solids, hoping that they will understand.
Afterwards, the word of the land of the solids begins to spread.
Obviously this novel is out there. Its completely absurd. However, it is
a very funny novel thats also educational. The personification of
two-dimensional shapes throughout the novel makes the novel interesting. The
reader really has to use his or her imagination. In summation, this novel is
about two-dimensional figures that live in their two-dimensional world just
like people. They are ist, they discriminate, they kill, they reproduce,
they are born, and they die. It kind of makes you think about the
two-dimensional drawings that we see everyday. When we draw a square on a
piece of paper, its just a figure. When we bisect a triangle, its just a
figure. When we draw a circle on a piece of paper and then rip the paper in
half, were not hurting the circle, were just tearing the paper…right?
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