Flatland · Chapter
Of the Climate and Houses in Flatland explained
The Square describes the unique climate and geography of Flatland, including the constant southward attraction that serves as a compass, the rain from the north, and the pentagonal construction of houses mandated by law for safety.
What happens
The Square describes the unique climate and geography of Flatland, including the constant southward attraction that serves as a compass, the rain from the north, and the pentagonal construction of houses mandated by law for safety. He also touches on the forbidden investigation into the origin of light, which he alone now understands due to his knowledge of Spaceland.
Themes in this chapter
Knowledge and Ignorance
The Square laments that he alone knows the truth about light, while his countrymen mock him as mad, highlighting the conflict between revealed knowledge and societal ignorance.
Conformity and Deviance
The laws mandating pentagonal houses and forbidding triangular ones illustrate how society enforces conformity in architecture for safety, suppressing deviant forms.
Power and Control
The Legislature's prohibition of light investigations and taxation of square houses demonstrate the use of law and tax to control knowledge and physical structures.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator (A Square)
Describes the climate, houses, and his solitary knowledge of the true nature of light.
Key passages
“By a law of Nature with us, there is a constant attraction to the South; and, although in temperate climates this is very slight—so that even a woman in reasonable health can journey several furlongs northward without much difficulty—yet the hampering effect of the southward attraction is quite sufficient to serve as a compass in most parts of our earth.”
A natural southward pull acts as a compass, though it is weak enough in mild regions that even a healthy woman can walk north a short distance.
Describes the fundamental navigational principle of Flatland.
“I—alas, I alone in Flatland—know now only too well the true solution of this mysterious problem; but my knowledge cannot be made intelligible to a single one of my countrymen; and I am mocked at—I, the sole possessor of the truths of Space and of the theory of the introduction of Light from the world of three Dimensions—as if I were the maddest of the mad!”
The Square is the only one who understands that light comes from the third dimension, but his countrymen cannot grasp this and consider him insane.
Highlights the Square's isolation and the theme of knowledge versus ignorance.
“The most common form for the construction of a house is five-sided or pentagonal, as in the annexed Figure. The two Northern sides RO , OF , constitute the roof, and for the most part have no doors; on the East is a small door for the women; on the West a much larger one for the men; the South side or floor is usually doorless.”
Houses are typically pentagonal, with a roof on the north side, a small women's door on the east, a large men's door on the west, and no door on the south.
Describes the standard house layout and gendered entrances.