Short Fiction · Chapter
Squaring the Circle explained
A philosophical discourse on the conflict between nature's curves and the city's straight lines introduces the tale of Sam Folwell, the last of the Kentucky feudists, who travels to New York City to kill his hereditary enemy, Cal Harkness.
What happens
A philosophical discourse on the conflict between nature's curves and the city's straight lines introduces the tale of Sam Folwell, the last of the Kentucky feudists, who travels to New York City to kill his hereditary enemy, Cal Harkness. Overwhelmed by the city's angular, dehumanizing geometry, Sam struggles to navigate its alien environment. When the two finally meet on a street corner, instead of violence, they shake hands, their feud dissolved by the city's transformative power.
Themes in this chapter
Nostalgia and the Passage of Time
Sam Folwell's journey from the natural, circular world of the Cumberlands to the angular, artificial city symbolizes the loss of a traditional way of life and the inevitability of change.
Humor and Irony
The story's central irony is that the city's dehumanizing geometry, which Sam initially resists, ultimately defuses the deadly feud, leading to an anticlimactic handshake instead of a violent confrontation.
Characters to notice
- Samuel Tansey
Sam Folwell, the last of the Folwell clan, arrives in New York to settle a generations-old feud with Cal Harkness.
- Andy Donovan
Cal Harkness, the last Harkness, works as an express wagon driver in New York and is the target of Sam's vengeance.
Key passages
“Nature moves in circles; Art in straight lines. The natural is rounded; the artificial is made up of angles.”
The natural world is characterized by curves and cycles, while human-made environments are defined by rigid, straight lines and sharp corners.
This opening statement establishes the story's central metaphor contrasting nature with urban artifice.
“The straight lines of its streets and architecture, the rectangularity of its laws and social customs, the undeviating pavements, the hard, severe, depressing, uncompromising rules of all its ways—even of its recreation and sports—coldly exhibit a sneering defiance of the curved line of Nature.”
The city's grid-like layout, strict regulations, and unyielding social norms openly reject the organic, fluid patterns found in nature.
This passage elaborates on how the city's geometry imposes a harsh, unnatural order on its inhabitants.
“He stopped short and wavered for a moment, being unarmed and sharply surprised. But the keen mountaineer’s eye of Sam Folwell had picked him out. There was a sudden spring, a ripple in the stream of passersby and the sound of Sam’s voice crying: “Howdy, Cal! I’m durned glad to see ye.” And in the angles of Broadway, Fifth Avenue and Twenty-third Street the Cumberland feudists shook hands.”
When Sam and Cal unexpectedly meet on a busy New York street, Sam, despite his initial surprise, greets Cal warmly and they shake hands, ending their long-standing feud in the heart of the city.
This climactic moment subverts the expected violence, showing the city's influence in transforming the feudists' relationship.