LITERATURE: Flatland – Power

Many layers of this story, in fact, explaining layers of life, planes, dimensions.  There’s the obvious lessons of dimensioning geometric figures.  There’s the even more obvious statement on society and the oppression of women and the lower classes.  What’s interesting is that Abbott reveals human nature in this simplest and most basic form.  As Square tries to learn the concept of a third dimension, he must be shown and see it with his own eyes before he will accept and understand the idea.  His initial response was anger; later, it becomes open to all possibilities even beyond the third dimension he has seen.  In doing so, he has elevated the Spacelander first to a god, then to just a stepping stone in the patterns of life that may expand to many, many dimensions.

I: My Lord, your own wisdom has taught me to aspire to One even more great, more beautiful, and more closely approximate to Perfection than yourself.  As you yourself, superior to all Flatland forms, combine many Circles in One, so doubtless there is One above you who combines many Spheres in One Supreme Existence, surpassing even the Solid of Spaceland. (p. 70)

Square will be persecuted for his knowledge, something that the Circles have known about but suppressed to protect their on authority.  Sound familiar?

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