Theme Of Women In Flatland

Women have fought for ages in order to be able to gain the same rights and freedoms as men for years dating all the way back to the 1700s. Then, leading up to the 1800’s the Victorian era began when women were assigned their position in society of cleaning the house, taking care of the children, and keeping to themselves and the household running. This can be seen as a direct correlation between women and how they are portrayed in the book Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott. The women in this novella are seen as the lowest class of society and have little to no intelligence. They are meant to stay at home and keep things in order while the men go out and work and live in the flatland. They are one-dimensional and not even seen in the same dimensions

Women were seen as a great danger to society because of their shape, or lack thereof. As stated earlier, women are a straight line in Flatland and are seen as one-dimensional. This means that they do not appear the same as other shapes within Flatland and are considered almost invisible. As a side note, if another shape pierces one another or if a line, a woman, were to pierce another shape in Flatland, they would be split and pass for the two-dimensional world. Thus, since a woman is a line and considered almost invisible, they have to announce their presence around others, men specifically, in order to make sure they are not in the way and potentially harming someone else. They call the noise the women have to make a “peace cry” to let others know where they are. They were even taught a whole different language from the men in Flatland which excluded them even further. They are also not allowed to enter through the same door in their house as the men do, meaning that within their home there is an entirely separate door made for the women. This door is located on the opposite side of the house and is much smaller than the one the men are able to use. Along with the household, when men have people over, the women are not allowed to be around since the men feel that women are not allowed to hear any of the information,

First, the women would be entitled to being an actual shape and joining the second dimension as everyone else is, instead of being straight like they would then obtain angles, sides, and more respect. By gaining more sides the women would then be able to move up in the Flatland hierarchy and gain more power in society as well. When the women have girls as their children and as many generations continue, they will then be able to start gaining more sides and move up on the social ladder. There would then even be a chance one day in their future if they gained enough sides to hold more power in the community and even become more of a circular shape. This would then allow them to be among the highest on the social ladder and be classified as the highest class right below the priestly class of circles. This could pertain to a new work life for the women and give them more opportunities to be in charge of Flatland and hold more power on certain legislative decisions. Their work life would also change from very young as being seen as more intelligent within their community they would be allowed more opportunities to join the workforce and work alongside and maybe even above the men. They would be able to be taught from a young age how to identify other shapes within their community by sight, feeling, and hearing. This would also showcase from a very young