Flatland is a strange novel that might be said to belong to several genres, including satire, science fiction, and social commentary. It’s most often thought of as a work of satire, as Abbot uses the analogy of “Flatland” itself to represent Victorian Britain. Satire is a genre of literature that uses irony, analogy, and exaggeration to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices. It’s usually employed in the context of the author’s contemporary politics or other topical issues. Flatland uses the allegory of a highly striated and mathematical world to critique the rigid and unyielding structures of Victorian society. Through the absurdities of A Square’s two-dimensional world and the resistance of his companions to learning about anything beyond their ken, Abbott satirizes the hierarchical rigidity and gender biases of his own time. The novel's portrayal of the societal structure of Flatland—with its strict class divisions based on geometric shapes—satirizes the harsh social stratification and strict gender roles of England in Abbott’s time.
Like many satirical novels, Flatland is also a work of social commentary. When A Square describes the particularities of Flatland, he is also allegorically reflecting on the contemporary issues of Abbott's time, especially Britain’s rigid class system and the marginalization of women. The novel’s depiction of Flatland society—where one's social status is determined by the number of internal angles or sides one has—mirrors the inequalities and prejudices of Victorian society. Through its portrayal of Flatland's social structure, Abbott critiques these societal injustices, encouraging readers to examine and question the justice of the rules of his social world.
Because of its fantastical setting in a two-dimensional world, Flatland is also a Science Fiction novel. Science Fiction typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts that speculate on ways that the author’s contemporary society could develop, or ways other worlds could work. Flatland not only introduces a fantastical world of its own to the reader, but also explores concepts of dimensions beyond the original two-dimensional world of its narrator. A Square introduces readers to worlds like Spaceland (his view of their own world of three dimensions), Pointland (zero dimensions), and Lineland (one dimension). Abbott blends together fantasy and mathematics as he describes A Square’s linear existence, bringing together familiar concepts like geometric shapes with bizarre new ones that the reader must imaginatively incorporate.
