Flatland: Metaphors 2 key examples

By describing the lower-class Triangular soldier as a "wedge," A Square gives it almost three-dimensional qualities. Although he has little respect for shapes with three interior angles in general, he acknowledges that Triangles in the right roles can be multifaceted and forceful. He goes into this in more detail in the previous chapter, but this passage emphasizes his idea that the “point” of a Triangle—while limiting its social mobility—does have its uses. The more “pointed” a Triangle is, the lower its social class and the more dangerous it is as a military or violent force. Triangles may not be intellectual giants, but their wedge-shaped bodies, broad at one end and pointed at the other, still have some capacity to exert force.

They certainly have more of it than female shapes do. The metaphor describing a "Female" as a “needle” here suggests that they are both dangerous and powerless. This comparison underscores the perception of women in Flatland as more delicate yet more insidious than other shapes. Women in Flatland are universally considered to be lesser beings, as they don’t have any interior angles. They are almost invisible and have even less social influence than Triangles do. However, the “needle” metaphor also implies that women, though much less visible in every sense, are just as dangerous as Triangles. A Triangle is more dangerous the more “pointed” it is, and women in Flatland are nothing to A Square but two connected points.

The metaphor Abbot uses here basically conveys the idea that a society that wants to rigidly enforce its rules and class standards will necessarily always suppress creativity. The metaphorical comparison A Square makes reveals that he has mixed feelings about banning the use of color for Flatland’s citizens. He calls the period of time before the “Colour Revolt” the "glorious childhood of Art in Flatland." This idea of “childhood” points to a sense of innocence he feels the time of color had, and to his nostalgia for its creativity and beauty.

However, the metaphor then extends to depict this “childhood” as being stunted, one that "never ripened into manhood, nor even reached the blossom of youth." This sad comparison likens the “era of color” to a fruit whose flower withered before it could grow and ripen. Through this “stunting,” A Square is musing on the stagnation and dullness of his society in his present day. Flatland abolished the use of color because the Circles were worried it was allowing shapes to pretend to belong to classes higher than their own. Although A Square doesn’t think pretending to be a different polygon is right—he actually uses the words "immoral, licentious, anarchical, [and] unscientific" to describe the times of color—he also thinks the loss of color was “aesthetically” tragic for Flatland.