We are grateful to Hester Lewellen and Pam McKee (Baldwin Wallace College) whose own Study Guide provided many of these questions.

Transcription

1 æ Study Questions. We are grateful to Hester Lewellen and Pam McKee (Baldwin Wallace College) whose own Study Guide provided many of these questions. 1. Of the Nature of Flatland a. What appearance do Flatlanders present to one another? b. Are there shadows in Flatland? 2. Of the Climates and Houses in Flatland a. What are the four points of the compass in Flatland? b. What method(s) are used to determine which way is north? c. Describe houses in Flatland. What kinds of houses is forbidden? d. How was speculation about the origin of light discouraged? e. Why would a male in rude health have trouble giving the North side of the way? 3. Concerning the Inhabitants of Flatland a. What is the maximum length or breadth of an inhabitant of Flatland? b. If you intersected Flatland at your waist. What would be the length of the crosssection? c. What does the number of sides of a polygon represent? d. Why is the aristocracy pleased when an Equilateral emerges from his serfborn ancestors? What happens to such offspring? e. Why have all previous rebellions by the isosceles triangles failed? f. Is there Darwinian evolution in Flatland? g. What ordinance of nature keeps the superior numbers of isosceles triangles from overcoming the circles? 4. Concerning the Women a. What is the danger in colliding with women? How is this danger minimized? b. What is meant by saying that a person is one-dimensional? c. Why don t women object to their status in Flatland? d. Describe the laws governing women. e. What is the appearance of a Flatland woman viewed end-on? f. What are the providential arrangements for suppressing redundant population? 5. Of Our Methods in Recognizing One Another a. What properties do residents of three dimensional space have to help them discern configurations? b. How do Flatlanders recognize one another? c. Why is recognition by voice not reliable? d. How do Flatlanders measure angles? e. What mishap occurred to one of the Square s ancestors? 1

2 f. What is the Alphabet of angles? 6. Of Recognition by Sight a. Explain the process of sight recognition. b. Why is feeling discouraged by the upper classes? c. What happens to members of the polygonal class who fail the Leaving Examination at the University? d. Who have been the leaders of the past Tumults and Seditions? 7. Concerning Irregular Figures a. What does irregularity represent? b. Why is irregularity incompatible with the safety of the state? c. What is the nature of art in Flatland? d. What does the Square propose be done with irregular figures? e. How is the entire social system dependent on regularity? 8. Of the Ancient Practice of Painting a. Who was Chromatistes? b. How did color change life in Flatlander? c. Who remained colorless? Why? 9. Of the Universal Color Bill a. What problems did color bring to Flatland? b. Whose idea was the painting of women and priests? c. How was it proposed that women and priests be painted? Why was this a proposal of no little cunning? 10. Of the Suppression of the Chromatic Sedition a. Who was Pantocyclus? b. Why did the Color Revolt fail? c. For what purpose is the use of color still permitted? d. Why did most Flatlanders (initially) support the Color Revolt? e. What is the Flatland Constitution? 11. Concerning Our Priests a. Who are the priests? What is their shape? b. What is the average perimeter of a priest? c. What is the Circular Neo-Therapeutic Gymnasium? d. How many sides does the Chief Circle have? 12. Of the Doctrine of Our Priests a. Explain the adage, Configuration makes the man. b. What document is required of a Woman have before she is allowed to marry? Why? c. What commandment of Flatland corresponds to the Biblical, Honour thy father and thy mother? 2

3 d. What is meant by nature versus nurture? What aspect of Flatland is described by this phrase? e. What did the Square find troubling about the doctrine that conduct is caused by configuration? f. Why does the Square feel that the authorities should reconsider the regulations of female education? g. What is eugenics? Where is it advocated in Flatland? h. How does the language of women differ from that of men? i. What does the Square think about female education in Flatland? j. What is circular reasoning? 13. How I Had a Vision of Lineland a. Why were the inhabitants of Lineland neighbors till death did them part? b. Describe courtship in Lineland. c. How are marriages consummated in Lineland? d. Why must each man have two wives? e. How is the balance of sexes maintained in Lineland? 14. How I Vainly Tried to Ex-plain the Nature of Flatland a. How does the King determine the length of one of his subjects? b. How does the King of Lineland take the census? What data does he collect? c. Why can t the King understand the concept of left and right? How does A Square illustrate right and left? d. How did A Square try to explain the nature of Flatland? What was the result? 15. Concerning a Stranger from Spaceland a. What troubling question did the Square s grandson ask? b. Describe the figure that appeared to A Square and his wife. c. Suppose that the visitor had been a cube rather than a sphere. How would he have appeared to A Square? d. How is time kept in Flatland? e. Why didn t the Sphere want to deliver his message when the Square s wife was present? 16. How the Stranger Vainly Endeavored to Reveal to Me In Words the Mysteries of Spaceland a. How does the Sphere try to explain the third dimension? b. What does the Sphere say that shows that he is a supernatural being? c. What demonstration does the Sphere give to try to convince the Square that he is not simply a circle? d. What is the method of analogy? e. How does the Square respond to the Sphere s efforts? 3

4 f. A Flatland female isn t actually a line segment. What is she? 17. How the Sphere, Having in Vain Tried Words, Resorted to Deeds a. What does the Sphere do to demonstrate the existence of a third dimension? b. Why does the Sphere say, Listen, no stranger must witness what you have witnessed? c. What is meant by the phrase suits the phenomena? 18. How I Came to Spaceland and What I Saw There a. What is the Square s reaction to being taken into space? b. Find three words in the text that have the prefix omni. Cite two more such words and tell what they mean. c. Why does the Sphere say that omnividence doesn t make a person a God? d. What qualities does he say make one more divine? What is the Square s reaction? e. What is the purpose of the meeting of the Grand Council? f. Why is A Square s brother imprisoned? g. How frequently have beings from Spaceland visited Flatland? 19. How, Though the Sphere Shewd Me Other Mysteries of Spaceland, I Still Desired More; and What Came of It a. How does the Sphere construct a cube? How does the cube appear to the Square? b. What request by the Square makes the Sphere angry? c. How does the Sphere demonstrate his dimensional prejudice? 20. How the Sphere Encouraged Me in a Vision a. What is the significance of the phrase Upward, yet not northward? b. What is solipsism? What character is solipsistic? c. What object is created when a cube moves in the fourth dimension? 21. How I Tried to Teach the Theory of Three Dimensions to My Grandson and With What Success a. Why does A Square choose his grandson as his first disciple? b. What does A Square mean when he says that the boy took in the situation with an acuteness for which I was quite unprepared? c. Give an example of a famous person convicted of heresy. 22. How I Then Tried to Diffuse the Theory of Three Dimensions a. Why did the Square have difficulty in drawing diagrams for his treatise, Through Flatland to Thoughtland? b. What happened at the meeting of the Local Speculative Society? c. Did the Square make any converts to the gospel of three dimensions? d. What the Square s punishment? According to the law, what should the punishment have been? e. Who is Prometheus? In what way does the Square compare to Prometheus? 4

5 f. Who is the Sphinx? What does the Square compare to the riddle of the Sphinx? 23. What is satire? Cite evidence that Flatland is/(is not) a satire. 24. What are some spaceland words that would not apply or have a different meaning in Flatland? 25. Why do you think that Abbott chose geometrical figures as the inhabitants of Flatland? 26. What is meant by the phrase Victorian England? Who was Victoria? 27. Are there any similarities between Flatland and the United States? 28. What does Abbott mean when he calls Flatland a romance of many dimensions? 29. Study the cover. How many dimensions is the author inviting us to consider? 30. A crown is 1 8 of a pound. In 1884, an average teacher made 100 pounds per year. Suppose that an average teacher now makes $ What must the current cost of Flatland be in order that the relative cost be the same? 31. Find two entirely different ways that each of the following words is used in Flatland. (Use a search engine to find occurences of these words.) a. angularity b. prospect c. tact 32. What do we mean when we say that a person is one-dimensional? 33. Can you find a pentagon with five equal sides, but not all its angles equal? 34. Can you find a pentagon with five equal angles, but not all its sides equal? 35. Give examples of non-spatial dimensions, including two from Flatland. 36. What does the Square believe will condemn the Circles to ultimate failure? 37. What is the source of the epigraphs in Flatland? 38. What are the author s two main purposes? 39. Cite evidence that the Sphere is a supernatural being. 40. Why did the Sphere choose the Square as a disciple? 41. At the time of the publication of the First Edition of Flatland, where is the Square? 42. What great American novel appeared in the same year as Flatland? 43. Why did the author choose the name A Square? 44. Why does the Square call spaceland the happy region of three dimensions? 45. Consider the following well-known quote by J. B. S. Haldane, Now my own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose. Tell how this statement applies to Lineland, Flatland, and Spaceland. 46. Why do you think Flatland was written for readers in Spaceland rather than Flatland? 47. Construct a Flatland alphabet. 5