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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 editor's defense of the second objection?

2. How did the Legislature finally stop individuals from trying to find the source of light in Flatland?

3. Where are readers assumed to live?

4. What does the editor say is the second objection to the novel?

5. What happens to a man who "runs against" a woman?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Explain how sight recognition is used in upper classes, and why such a method cannot be used for the lower class.

3. What tools do inhabitants use to discern direction in Flatland?

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

5. What is the author's primary defense against the idea that A. Square hates women?

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

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

8. What are some of the characteristics of women in Chapter 5?

9. Name some features of the houses of Flatland.

10. What example does A. Square use to show his reasoning behind the need for regularity of shape?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

In Chapter 9, Abbott discusses the role of women in the near-passage of the Universal Color Bill. Discuss why women wanted the bill to pass, and why they would stand to benefit. Think of an event in history that women helped to shape, and compare the gains of the women in Flatland to the women in your example. Do the women stand to gain in the same ways? Do they differ? How?

(see the answer keys)

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