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54 pages 1 hour read

Edwin A. Abbott

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1884

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Essay Topics

1.

Choose one aspect of Victorian life that Flatland is critiquing and write an essay in which you explore the novel’s use of the satiric mode. To what extent does it use humor? To what extent does it use harsh criticism or invective? Does it offer any correctives for the problem, and if so, are they effective?

2.

Write an essay in which you argue that Flatland is a utopian or a dystopian narrative. In other words, do any of the worlds it presents—Flatland, Lineland, or Pointland—strike you as desirable or ideal? Are any of them particularly dark, frightening, or undesirable? Support your answer with textual evidence.

3.

When Flatland was published, many readers were outraged at its representation of women; however, in the years since, most scholars have come to believe that the novel was critiquing misogynistic attitudes rather than endorsing them. How do you interpret the text’s depiction of gender roles? Given what you know about the satiric mode, do you see this depiction as satirical, or was Edwin A. Abbott offering his personal opinion? Use textual evidence to defend your position.

4.

Write an epilogue to the novel written from the perspective of a minor character (the King of Lineland, the Square’s wife, his brother, his Hexagonal grandson, etc.). How would these characters describe their respective worlds, personal histories, social situations, or political alignments? How would these narratives differ from or maintain similarities to the Square’s narrative?

5.

Abbott includes quotes from Shakespearean plays on the original title page, the preface to the second edition, and on the pages that divide the two main parts of the novel. Choose one and analyze it in the larger context: What relationship does the quote have to Flatland? How does its inclusion shape your reading of the text?

6.

Scholars have frequently pointed out that Flatland could fall into many different literary categories: It could be a travelogue, an adventure story, a mathematical textbook, a utopian fable, or a fantastical fairy tale (and, of course, its subtitle calls it a “romance”). Which is the primary literary category into which you would put Flatland, and why?

7.

Analyze the novel’s representation of religious experiences. Think about how it depicts things like miracles, martyrdom, and revelations from above. On the whole, does the text see religion as something positive or something negative (or both)? Use evidence to defend your position.

8.

Compare/contrast Flatland to another of Abbott’s works. How does something like The Kernel and the Husk or one of his “theological romances” develop or diverge from the themes and ideas presented in Flatland?

9.

In an imaginative essay, explore what might have happened if the Colour Revolt had been successful. How would it have changed the social structures of Flatland? Would it have made things better or worse (or a little of both)?

10.

The novel explores sameness and difference as social issues in a number of ways. Does Flatland ultimately argue that uniformity is preferable to individuality? In the world of this text, what is at stake when one goes against the grain in terms of physical appearance, beliefs, and behavior?

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