Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, by Edwin A. Abbot, is a fictional story that tells of life in two dimensions through the eyes of A. Square, the narrator. Then the square begins to experience other dimensions through thoughts and dreams such as Lineland, a land of one dimension, and Pointland, a land of zero dimensions. He cannot, however, conceptualize three dimensions. Finally, after a stranger brings him into three dimensions and back and the square attempts to teach everyone else in his community about three dimensions he finds himself in jail. In this story Abbot is telling us to be content with what we have, and not to strive for perfection.
In the story, there is a huge issue with colors. Paint is invented, and not long after this most shapes in Flatland had themselves painted. Because they no longer had to feel the perimeter of other shapes or use sight recognition these methods slowly died out.
President Lyndon B. Johnson and Rev. Dr. Martin Lu...
Martin Luther King, Jr.
a new dawnAlso because of the way they were painted women (the lowest class in this society) were often confused with Priests (the highest class). For obvious reasons this was a problem. If everyone had just been content with what they had, with the way that they were living with before paints, then none of this would have happened. All of the inhabitants of Flatland would be much happier. Eventually the shapes in Flatland were no longer painted.
This section of the story can be thought of as an allegory. The paint would represent a huge change in a society that turns out to be for the worse. The citizens of Flatland would represent the citizens of a society all of which are affected by this change. This is bad for the people of this land; because there is not always a...