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Flatland, Section 8 summary

Section 8 of 22 · Part 1: This World · 4 min to read the section

In Section 8, the narrator contrasts Flatland’s present visual dullness with an ancient age when Chromatistes introduces painting and almost everyone adopts it. Colour makes recognition easier and creates public beauty, but Women and Priests remain unpainted because the argument linking sides with colours does not fit them.

What happens

  1. The narrator calls present life artistically dull because every visible scene appears as a line with varying brightness.
  2. According to tradition, Chromatistes discovers simple colours, paints his household and himself, and gains easier recognition and respectful treatment.
  3. Painting spreads through different ranks until, within two generations, only Women and Priests remain unpainted.
  4. Supporters connect different sides with different colours, but Women and Priests reject this reasoning because they claim no sides.
  5. The narrator celebrates colourful gatherings and military displays, recounts a Circle’s artistic response, and credits the era with lasting poetic richness.

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In this section

Chromatistes

Quick check

Which two classes remain unpainted after the fashion spreads throughout Flatland?

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