Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Edwin A. Abbotts Flatland :: Abbott Flatland Essays
Flatland          We are brought up thinking that everyone shares our views and          that they are correct and the only right way of seeing things. In          Flatland, a novel by Edwin A. Abbott, two men from different          dimensions argue about which one of their societies is right and          more superior. They accomplish nothing because each is so closed-          minded to the fact that what they have known all their lives may          be wrong. This is the case when it comes to homosexuality in          today's world or anything that involves looking, acting, and          thinking differently than us.               A. Square and the Monarch of Lineland are closed-minded to          the possibility ofthere being other worlds or multiple ways to          seeing things different from their own. Outside Lineland all was          nonexistent according to the Monarch. When A. Square tried to          explain to him that the universe was made up of more than just          straight lines and points, the Monarch called these suggestions          "impossible" and "inconceivable" (P. 46). A. Square shared his          ideas with the Monarch because in his words he had "to open up to          him some glimpses of the truth" (P. 47). Neither man could begin          to accept the possibility that his world and his beliefs could       be in any way inferior to those ofthe other. Yet the two men       state their case for what seemed to be a long while. During the       course ofthe conversation,          the Monarch called the Square and his ideas "uneducated,"          "irrational," and "audacious" (P. 51). The Monarch thinks if A.          Square "had a particle of sense, [he] would listen to reason" (P.          51). Upon listening to the opinion that Flatland is lacking so          much as compared to Lineland, A. Square strikes back, saying,          "you think yourself the perfection of existence, while you are in          reality the most imperfect and imbecile" (P. 5I). A. Square          continues, claiming, "I am the completion of your incomplete          self" (P. 51). Neither the Monarch nor A. Square could be swayed          to the other one's way of thinking.
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