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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the first means of recognition in Flatland?

2. What is irregularity considered in Flatland?

3. What happens to Equilateral children of Isosceles Triangles?

4. What does A. Square blame for the inhabitants' inability to discern North in the normal way?

5. Who is the editor, in reality, who wrote the Preface?

Short Essay Questions

1. What appears to be the reasoning behind the need for the preface of this novel?

2. What is Hoffman's belief about the relatability of the characters in the novel?

3. What does Hoffman mean when he calls the novel timeless in the Introduction?

4. What is the author's primary defense against the idea that those in Flatland should recognize thickness, and infer a dimension?

5. In Chapter 1, what does A. Square compare sight in Flatland to in the three dimensional world, Spaceland, and what is the comparison?

6. Explain why square and triangular homes are not allowed. In addition, explain why government buildings are allowed to be triangular.

7. What occurred when individuals began to question where light came from?

8. Explain the basic process of evolution, as described in Chapter 3.

9. Discuss at least two ways the inhabitants of Flatland attempt to alter natural evolution.

10. Summarize A. Square's example of how to imagine how inhabitants of Flatland see one another.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In Flatland, children are often punished as a result of their parent's wishes. Choose one of the following, and discuss what happens to these children in the novel. Is such treatment justified? Why or why not? Does modern society punish the children as a result of parental wishes? How?

1.) Young shapes are surgically altered to create more sides.

2.) Children who fail exams are shunned in society.

3.) Irregular children are used as specimens in schools.

Essay Topic 2

In the Preface, the author defends his positions that height is immeasurable in Flatland, that his writing of women is just, and that his position on the upper class of Victorian society is valid. Choose one of these positions, and either support or argue against Abbott's positions. Be sure to include both Abbott's original position on the subject, as well as your own analysis of Abbott's position.

Essay Topic 3

In Flatland, only the upper class have rights to certain privileges. Discuss at least two examples of such privileges. Do you think the upper class in modern society has more privileges than the lower classes? Why?

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