Flatland · Chapter
X: Of the Suppression of the Chromatic Sedition explained
The three-year agitation for the Universal Colour Bill nearly leads to anarchy, with the Isosceles Triangles defeating the Polygons and domestic strife causing the deaths of twenty-three Circles.
What happens
The three-year agitation for the Universal Colour Bill nearly leads to anarchy, with the Isosceles Triangles defeating the Polygons and domestic strife causing the deaths of twenty-three Circles. The tide turns when a low-type Isosceles fraudulently marries a noble Polygon's daughter, who commits suicide upon discovering the deception. This scandal turns women against the Colour Bill. The Circles, led by Pantocyclus, feign concession, then orchestrate a massacre of the Isosceles rebels, purge the lower orders, and permanently abolish colour, leaving its manufacture a closely guarded secret.
Themes in this chapter
Social Hierarchy and Class
The suppression of the Colour Bill is fundamentally about preserving class distinctions; the Circles fear that universal colour would erase the visual markers of social rank, leading to chaos and degradation of the lower orders.
Power and Control
The Circles use deception, manipulation of women's fears, and violent suppression to maintain their power, demonstrating how ruling classes control society through both ideology and force.
Conformity and Deviance
The Colour Bill represents deviance from the established order; its suppression reinforces conformity, with severe penalties for even uttering colour-related words, except by the elite.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator (A Square)
The narrator recounts the suppression of the Chromatic Sedition, noting he has not been privileged to attend the esoteric classes where colour is still used.
- The Circles
The Circles, led by Pantocyclus, orchestrate the suppression of the Colour Bill agitation, using deception and violence to restore order and abolish colour.
- Chromatistes
Chromatistes is the leader of the Sedition; he is invited to the center of the hall to receive submission but is later transfixed by Isosceles Convicts on the Chief Circle's signal.
- The Isosceles
The Isosceles are the main agitators for the Colour Bill; they are ultimately massacred by one another's angles after being leaderless and attacked by invisible women and convicts.
- Many of the Highest Circles
Many of the highest Circles are mentioned as having fallen prey to conjugal fury during the triennial agitation, with twenty-three Circles perishing in domestic discord.
Key passages
“It is recorded that during that triennial agitation no less than twenty-three Circles perished in domestic discord.”
Twenty-three Circles died in family conflicts over the Colour Bill during the three-year upheaval.
Highlights the personal cost of political strife among the ruling class.
“The unhappy girl committed suicide on discovering the fraud to which she had been subjected.”
The deceived bride killed herself when she learned of the Isosceles's trick.
This event triggers the shift in women's attitudes, leading to the suppression of the rebellion.
“In half an hour not one of that vast multitude was living; and the fragments of seven score thousand of the criminal class slain by one another's angles attested the triumph of Order.”
Within thirty minutes, the entire Isosceles force of 140,000 was dead, killed by each other's sharp angles, proving the victory of the established order.
Describes the brutal efficiency of the massacre and the theme of self-destruction among the lower classes.