
I noticed an interesting connection between a book I have been reading for math, Flatland, and the aspects of the American Dream that we have been talking about in class. Flatland is a book about a two dimensional world where an aggressively enforced and restrictive caste system is put in place. Different people are different shapes (triangles, squares, pentagons, other polygons, and circles) and each shape represents a different caste. The isosceles triangles are the lowest, or "criminal" class, the equilateral triangles are the middle class, the squares are the upper middle class, and shapes with an increasing number of sides belong to an increasingly higher social class, until the shape has so many sides it is indiscernible from a circle and has reached the highest possible class. The catch is that, with the exception of isosceles triangles, the children of each shape gain one more side than their father had, so there is potential for upwards movement through classes by means of one's descendants. What I found interesting about this is that at one point in the book, all the shapes essentially have the option to abolish the caste system altogether, but because many of them "anticipated for their children a distinction they could not hope for themselves," meaning that their children would be born into a higher class, the majority ruled to keep the caste system in place. This is very similar to a concept we discussed in class relating to the American Dream, that some people live their lives in certain ways so as to give their children the opportunity to achieve the things they never could.