Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

The protagonist and first-person narrator of the novel, the Square is a respectable member of Flatland’s professional class. He is married and has at least four sons and two hexagonal grandchildren. He works as a mathematician and describes geometry as his favorite pastime; he also frequently tutors his grandchildren on mathematical subjects. While he and his wife get along well and enjoy spending leisure time together, he takes great pains to protect her from the realities of the world and believes she is as unreasonably emotional as all women in Flatland. He is intellectually curious, enthusiastically debating with and asking questions of all the people he meets throughout the novel; however, he is also easily upset when people cannot explain themselves clearly, try to prove him wrong, or otherwise behave illogically. For example, he becomes very angry with the King of Lineland, who he believes is actively engaging in self-deception. He even becomes frustrated with his grandson, a precocious scholar, who argues that some kind of three-dimensional shape must exist; rather than consider the idea seriously, he becomes “ruffled” and sends the boy to bed (53).

After his visit to Spaceland, the Square’s