Flatland
by Edwin A. Abbott
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Flatland: Metaphors 2 key examples

Definition of Metaphor

A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition

Key Examples in Flatland

Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—A Wedge, A Needle:

As he tries to explain how different female shapes are from male polygons, A Square employs a metaphor to delineate the differences. In doing so, he explains that Triangular soldiers are “wedges” and women are "needles":

For if a Soldier is a wedge, a Woman is a needle; being, so to speak, all point, at least at the two extremities.

Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Childhood of Art:

Although he later acknowledges it was probably inevitable, A Square laments the loss of art and color in Flatland due to the needs of its social hierarchy. He does so through a gardening metaphor:

Immoral, licentious, anarchical, unscientific—call them by what names you will—yet, from an aesthetic point of view, those ancient days of the Colour Revolt were the glorious childhood of Art in Flatland—a childhood, alas, that never ripened into manhood, nor even reached the blossom of youth.

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