Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

The Square begins by emphasizing that the inhabitants of Flatland do not refer to it by that name, but he does so because it helps readers—who presumably live in a three-dimensional world he calls “Space”—understand what Flatland looks like (3). He compares Flatland to “a vast sheet of paper” covered with geographical shapes that can move back and forth on the paper’s surface but are never able to rise above or off of it (3). Nothing that exists in Flatland could be accurately described as solid, which, he says, can make it difficult for inhabitants to distinguish between one another. To illustrate this point, he instructs the reader to place a penny on the flat surface of a table and take note of how the penny’s shape changes as the observer gradually lowers their gaze so that it is now aligned with the edge of the table: The penny now appears as a straight line rather than a circle. He compares this to the experience of “Spaceland” sailors when they see a distant coast from far away and an entire island looks like a “grey unbroken line upon the water” (4). He also provides a diagram that illustrates how an equilateral Triangle—in Flatland, a Tradesman—gradually flattens into a line as the viewer’s gaze lowers (4).

Like the readers who live in Spaceland, the Flatlanders use a compass with the four points of North, South, East, and West. However, there are no heavenly bodies in Flatland, so the inhabitants determine direction by taking note of the “constant attraction to the South” they all experience (5). The rain also always comes from the North, and tree trunks can also serve as an indicator of direction. The pull to the South can be powerful enough that the sick and elderly—as well as “delicate Females”—struggle to walk northward (5).

Flatland houses have no windows and do not need them: The level of light is consistent at all times of day and comes from an unknown source. The Flatland Legislature has made investigations into the light source illegal after the stress of the mystery caused many inhabitants to be confined to mental institutions. Most Flatland houses are pentagonal, with the roof sides on the north and two separate doors for men and women. Square and triangular houses have been banned to prevent absent-minded people from running into their sharp points, with exceptions to the law against triangular structures being “fortifications, powder-magazines, barracks, and other state buildings” (6). Square houses were banned much later, and according to the Square, sometimes one can still find a square dwelling in “remote and backward agricultural [districts]” (6).

In this section, the Square describes the physical characteristics of Flatland’s various types of inhabitants. No fully grown adult Flatlander is longer or broader than twelve inches. Women are straight lines, soldiers and the lowest classes of workers are isosceles triangles, the middle classes are equilateral triangles, and professional men and gentlemen—the group to which the Square belongs—are squares or pentagons. The upper classes consist of the nobility, who are hexagons, and the priestly order, who are circles.

Of all these groups, the women, soldiers, and workmen have the fewest rights and receive very little respect. The Square goes so far as to say they should “hardly be said to deserve the name of human Figures, since they have not all their sides equal” (7). They are very unlikely to rise above their lowly class status, although it is possible for particularly successful soldiers or exceptionally skillful laborers to advance. These advancements happen through intermarriages and the production of offspring whose sides and angles are measured slightly differently—and importantly, are more even or regular—than those of their parents. The Square emphasizes the extreme joy that the entire society feels when a “True Equilateral Triangle” is born to Isosceles parents and describes the elaborate ritual by which the new triangle is “certified as Regular” (8). These equilateral births are what give the laboring classes hope and, fortunately for the aristocratic classes, keep potential rebellions in check.

When the professional, noble, and priestly classes reproduce, it is a “Law of Nature” that each male child will have one more side than his father: this ensures that the more privileged classes will continue to rise socially and will retain political and economic control of Flatland.

The Square ends this section by describing another law of nature that prevents sedition among the lower classes. According to this law, as these classes become more intelligent and virtuous, they will become less capable of doing physical harm and thus less capable of rising up against the polygons and circles. This is especially important in preventing military rebellions. Such incidents are not without precedent in Flatland: Indeed, there have been at least 120 rebellions and at least 235 minor outbreaks. The leaders of some failed movements are still confined in state hospitals, although some have also been executed.

The Square begins this section by emphasizing how intimidating Flatland women can be. As they are straight lines, he says, they can make themselves practically invisible at will; to illustrate this, he compares them to needles. To keep the women from inadvertently impaling other shapes, a law was passed that requires three things: all Flatland houses must keep a separate entrance for women; when in public, women must always keep up a “Peace-cry” to notify others of their location; and any woman experiencing an illness that causes her to move suddenly or involuntarily will be immediately killed. Additionally, some states prevent women from standing or walking in any public space without “moving their backs constantly from left to right so as to indicate their presence” and some even require women to be confined to their homes except during religious festivals (11). However, evidence has shown that increasing restrictions on women leads to a higher number of domestic murders.

The Square describes Flatland’s women as highly emotional, sometimes to the point of violence—especially in places that have more restrictions on their movement—and mentally and intellectually inferior to all the other classes of inhabitants. Despite their ability to easily kill others, intentionally or not, their bodies are still frail, and they are likely to inadvertently kill themselves when they impale someone else. Because all women are straight lines, it would be logical to assume that they are the same across all class divisions. However, the Square notes that there are class differences between them: For example, women in the circular rank have a more well-modulated back-and-forth undulation than equilateral women, and the latter are known to imitate the former out of jealousy. The military classes have higher incidences of domestic unrest, as soldiers are incapable of lying to their wives in order to comfort or pacify them. There is often domestic peace among the middling and professional classes because women are busy with chores and raising offspring. Women in the noble or priestly classes, who have little work to do, tend to constantly talk, although they have little to say.

The Square admits that the situation of Flatland’s women is dire and hopeless, as they have no chance of social advancement. Echoing the misogyny of his social environment, he says that the only thing making the women’s dire situation bearable is that they are mentally incapable of truly understanding it.

The Square acknowledges that readers in Spaceland, who benefit from things like shade, color, and an awareness of perspective, have an easier time distinguishing one person from another. The inhabitants of Flatland have three methods by which they can accomplish this. The first is their highly developed sense of hearing. While aristocrats are unlikely to have this skill, the lower classes use it not only to pick out individuals, but to determine that individual’s class status. The second method is physical touch. This is the main test of recognition among women and the lower classes and essentially functions as an introduction between people. When meeting, Flatlanders will ask permission to feel the person they are meeting or be felt by them. They begin honing their ability to distinguish by touch at a young age and even study it for years in school, as they need to be able not only to distinguish one another by touch but also to avoid accidental injuries in the process. One of the Square’s ancestors, a respectable workman who was suffering from rheumatism, sneezed while being felt by a polygon: this resulted in his imprisonment and the social “degradation” of their family for many years (16).

The Square emphasizes that although Flatlanders cannot see angles, they can infer them very accurately. He describes the “Law of Nature” by which “Irregular” Flatlanders’ acute angles widen with every generation until they are no longer serfs and become instead “Regular” (17). Those whose acute angles are exceptionally narrow are relegated to the “Criminal and Vagabond Classes”: these people sometimes have only half a degree or a single degree, are considered dangerous and socially harmful, and have no civil rights at all (17). They are controlled by the Board of Education which typically forces them to educate middle-class children until they are killed to make way for new Irregulars.

In this section, the Square addresses the third method by which Flatlanders distinguish one another: sight. He admits that this might appear inconsistent, as he previously stated that Flatlanders all appear to each other as straight lines. However, members of the upper classes are likely to use sight recognition aided by a natural phenomenon that he calls “Fog” (18). The Fog dominates Flatland for the entire year except for its warmest zones, making it easier to perceive the distance between objects, as well as the characteristics of objects themselves. The Square provides a diagram of an equilateral triangle and a pentagon to illustrate this process, emphasizing that sight recognition is especially useful when the upper classes need to discern who is in one of the lower orders. He highlights the nuance and difficulty that often accompanies sight recognition by using his father, a triangle, as an example: It might be difficult for him to tell whether his father is a triangle or a straight line (a woman).

He stops himself from going into more detail, claiming that this subject belongs to the most educated Flatlanders and that the universities need to justify their endowments by keeping these problems to themselves. This reluctance forms part of the novel’s consideration of The Unreliable Nature of Knowledge. Here, the Square suggests that certain forms of knowledge are the province of recognized experts, who alone have the power to say what is true and not true. The Square emphasizes how refined and rare a skill sight actually is and how many years it takes a scholar to hone their ability to see: indeed, he describes it as an art. Among the higher classes, feeling is considered impolite and offensive, which motivates them to develop their sight as much as possible. Conversely, among the lower classes, sight is “an unattainable luxury” available only to those who have access to education (22).

When children of the polygonal class fail their final university examinations, they are rejected both from their own class and from those below them. As a result, many leaders of rebellions have historically come from this group. This phenomenon reinforces the novel’s satirical consideration of The Radicalization of Marginalized Groups. A number of politicians have responded to this problem by suggesting that those who fail their final examinations should be automatically imprisoned for life or executed.