Flatland, Section 3 summary

What happens

1. The narrator ranks inhabitants by shape, from straight-line Women and narrow Triangles to the highest, nearly circular priestly class.
2. Male children generally gain a side beyond their fathers, but this rule excludes Isosceles families and sometimes Tradesmen.
3. Careful marriages and sustained intellectual development can produce an Equilateral child from Isosceles parents.
4. Officials certify such children, separate them from their families, and place them with childless Equilaterals.
5. The narrator praises a system in which increasing intelligence makes working-class figures less physically dangerous.
6. Rulers defeat rebellions by promoting, confining, or executing leaders and turning the remaining rebels against each other.

In this section

Quick check