Flatland: A Romance in Many Dimensions By Edwin A. Abbott Intro: “The novel “Flatland” is an imaginative, delightful novel about the inhabitants of a two dimensional world. A. Square, the narrator of the tale, journeys through lands of no dimension, one dimension, and three dimensions, and learns not only the differences in terms of geometry and mathematics, but also of the social order and the class hierarchy. Through his journey, A. Square becomes convinced of other, yet undiscovered dimensions, but when he attempts to teach his countrymen of such concepts, he is imprisoned. First published in 1884, “Flatland” still holds a charming place in literature, both as an instructional guide to dimensional spaces as well as a barbed, harsh, satiric narrative of the social structure of Victorian society.” BookRags.com (2007) Task: As you read through the novel, “Flatland,” you will need to complete the outline below. The outline is designed to help you make notes as you read, recognize the main themes of the story, recognize the main characters and their significance in the story, and develop a study guide for the final quiz and project. You should not fill out the outline on your iPads, please use notebook paper. You will be using the outline as a journal and it can be used on the weekly quizzes. At the end of the book, we will take a test on Flatland. I.
Chapter Abstracts A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Intro 1.
Year novel was published 2.
Edwin Abbott was headmaster in what field 3.
Novel explains dimensional space and what other topic (theme) Chapter 1: Of the Nature of Flatland 1.
Who is the main character? 2.
Describe Flatland 3.
Explain the appearance of Flatland inhabitants to each other 4.
Why are changes in projection and retraction not discernible? Chapter 2: Of the Climate and Houses of Flatland 1.
Explain compass directions 2.
How do they discern north and south? 3.
Describe the houses of Flatland 4.
Why are square houses outlawed? Chapter 3: Concerning the Inhabitants of Flatland 1.
Explain women and soldiers 2.
Who makes up the middle class, professionals, nobility, and priests? 3.
Explain the social classes and ability to change social class 4.
What happens to those who rebel? Chapter 4: Concerning the Woman 1.
Explain the women of Flatland 2.
What rules apply to the women of Flatland and why? 3.
How are women viewed in Flatland? Chapter 5: Of Our Methods of Recognizing One Another 1.
How are lower classes distinguishable? 2.
Describe their method of feeling and the dangers 3.
Explain their concept of angles G.
H.
Chapter 6: Of Recognition by Sight 1.
Explain how fog helps in judging distance 2.
What happens to the irregular shapes? 3.
Who recognizes shapes by sight? Chapter 7: Concerning Irregular Figures 1.
Society revolves around shapes being ___________________. How are irregular shapes viewed? I.
J.
K.
2.
What happens to irregular shapes? 3.
What does A. Square believe about society’s rules for irregular shapes? Chapter 8: Of the Ancient Practice of Painting 1.
Who is Chromatistes? What are they known for? 2.
Why did circles fight the movement toward colorization? 3.
Which group particularly accepted the Color Revolt? Chapter 9: Of the Universal Color Bill 1.
As color increased, _____________________ decreased 2.
What was the Universal Color Bill? 3.
What did the leaders of the revolution suggest about circles and women? 4.
Why did women highly support the bill? Chapter 10: Of the Suppression of the Chromatic Condition 1.
What significant event happened three years into the revolt? 2.
This event led men and women to suddenly see a negative side to colorization. Explain what happened. 3.
L.
Who won the war that broke out? What was abolished? Chapter 11: Concerning Our Priests 1.
Who rules Flatland? 2.
What are circles in Flatland? 3.
As the sides of circles increase, _____________________ decreases. 4.
What do some circles have done to their children that may be fatal? M.
Chapter 12: Of the Doctrines of Our Priests 1.
What is the focus of all circles? 2.
To some, an irregular configuration is the reason for ___________________________. 3.
Why do many circles choose irregular wives? 4.
Women are uneducated in Flatland. They are considered ____________________ rather than ___________________. N.
O.
P.
Chapter 13: How I Had a Vision of Lineland 1.
Describe Lineland 2.
How does A. Square visit Lineland? 3.
What does the King of Lineland explain about marriages in Lineland? Chapter 14: How I Vainly Tried to Explain the Nature of Flatland 1.
What does A. Square try to explain to the King of Lineland? 2.
How do the inhabitants of Lineland determine distance? 3.
What makes A. Square awaken from his dream to Lineland? Chapter 15: Concerning a Stranger from Spaceland 1.
Why is A. Square frustrated with his grandson? 2.
Who is the surprise visitor for A. Square and his wife? His wife “feels” the visitor is a circle. 3.
What does the stranger say to A. Square about his grandson? Q.
Chapter 16: How the Stranger Vainly Endeavored to Reveal to Me in Words the Mysteries of Spaceland R.
1.
What does the stranger attempt to explain to A. Square? How? 2.
How does A. Square compare to the King of Lineland now? 3.
What does A. Square do to the stranger? Chapter 17: How the Sphere, Having in Vain Tried Words, Restored to Deeds 1.
What does the stranger do in response to A. Square’s attack? 2.
What does he remove from the cupboard? What is he trying to prove? 3.
What does the stranger finally resort to in order to convince A. Square of the 3rd dimension? S.
Chapter 18: How I Came to Spaceland and What I Saw There 1.
What does A. Square finally realize about the stranger? What is the stranger? 2.
How does Sphere respond to A. Square’s notion of being godlike? 3.
What is more valued in Spaceland than logic? 4.
Sphere and A. Square travel above a General Assembly meeting. What is the topic of discussion? 5.
Sphere drops into the meeting. What does the President order in response? T.
Chapter 19: How, Though the Sphere Showed Me Other Mysterious of Spaceland, I Still Desired More; and What Came of It 1.
Sphere continues to show A. Square shapes in Spaceland. What is A. Square allowed to do in order to understand their make-‐up? 2.
What happens when A. Square asks to be taken to the 4th dimension? 3.
What does Sphere do to A. Square in response to his request to be taken to the 4th dimension? U.
Chapter 20: How the Sphere Encouraged Me in a Vision 1.
What does A. Square do when he retires to bed? 2.
Where does Sphere take him in his dream? 3.
Who does A. Square meet in this dream? 4.
What does A. Square realize he needs to do? What is his reward? V.
Chapter 21: How I Tried to Teach the Theory of Three Dimensions to My Grandson, and with What Success 1.
What does A. Square attempt to teach his grandson? 2.
Why does his grandson laugh at his lesson? 3.
What does the boy do? W.
Chapter 22: How I Tried to Diffuse the Theory of Three Dimensions by Other Means, and of the Result 1.
What does A. Square attempt to write about? 2.
Instead of writing, what does A. Square begin doing that gets him arrested? 3.
What happens to A. Square? What does he realize about his writings now? II.
III.
IV.
Character Descriptions (Define each of the following main characters) A.
A. Square B.
Sphere C.
Women D.
Isosceles Triangles E.
Equilateral Triangles F.
Squares and Pentagons G.
Hexagons H.
Circles I.
The King of Lineland J.
The Creature of Pointland Objects/Places (Describe each object or place) A.
Flatland B.
Lineland C.
Spaceland D.
Pointland E.
Fourth Dimension F.
Victorian Aristocracy G.
Solid H.
Cube I.
Color Revolt J.
Irregular Themes of “Flatland” A.
B.
C.