Slaughterhouse-Five and Flatland

Following in the footsteps of many science-fiction authors that came before them, both Kurt Vonnegut and Edwin A. Abbott employ the use of other dimensional creatures in order to teach the reader a lesson about society. In Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Abbott’s Flatland, the authors provide the reader with hope that maybe ignorance and immorality can be abolished and that it is possible for a society to exist without these concepts, before ultimately disillusioning the reader and showing them that it is impossible for a society to exist without this, even in other dimensions. In Flatland this is shown through the sphere who, even as the prophet of the third dimension, cannot comprehend the concept of a fourth dimension. In Slaughterhouse-Five this is shown through the Tralfamadorians who, even as supremely intelligent fourth-dimensional creatures, cannot understand the idea of morality, and are more ignorant than any human being has ever been. By showing how creatures can have such a high level of ignorance and such little morality, the authors are trying to teach a lesson to the human race; ignorance and immorality will never stop occurring, as they are the inevitable fate of mankind. In the novel Flatland, Edwin A. Abbot gives the reader a glimpse into the eyes of a two-dimensional creature who must learn a lesson about the third dimension. A three-dimensional sphere ascends from space and attempts to teach the two-dimensional square the “Gospel of the Third Dimension.” The square does not believe the sphere when he speaks of the third dimension, and even attacks him. It is only when the sphere thrusts the square into the realms of the third dimension that he finally believes in its existence. The square, like many humans, does not believe without seeing. He cannot understand anything that is not blatantly put before him. By these means, the sphere is made to appear as a God to citizens of the two-dimension Flatland. As the square says, “omnividence, is the attribute of God alone.” (Abbott 66) Even though the sphere is a prophet who is given the task of bringing the idea of the third dimension to Flatland, without being able to concretely show them its existence, he himself only understands what is plainly in front of his face. When the square brings up the idea of the fourth dimension the sphere ignorantly claims, “There is no such land. The idea of it is utterly inconceivable.” (Abbott 71) When the sphere makes this statement, the reader’s hopes of achieving greater knowledge, and their original perceptions of the sphere are shattered. The reader realizes that even this God-like, omniscient being is incapable of understanding anything beyond the obvious, and that there really is no hope for the human race to ever understand anything beyond what is already known, without some sort of divine or other-worldly intervention. Abbott is clearly showing here that the ignorance all creatures are innately ignorant and incapable of understanding beyond what is spoon-fed to them. In his novel Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut introduces the fourth-dimensional Tralfamadorians, a race which knows everything, yet can do nothing about it. They view time as though it has happened, will happen, and always will happen. The future has already happened, as well as the past, so nothing can be done to change this. As they say, “All time is time. It does not change. It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations. It simply is. Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I’ve said before, bugs in amber.” (Vonnegut 109) Tralfamadorians are thus all knowing and can see what will occur, what has happened, and know everything that will ever occur. Yet despite their apparent omniscience and supreme knowledge, the Tralfamadorians are still blind to the concept of morality, and infinitely ignorant of the world’s situation. In their society morality does not exist, for it is pointless and the act of being moral cannot change anything. Decisions cannot be made, for moments are structured as they are and do not and never will change. (Parshall) As the Tralfamadorians say, “Only on Earth is there any talk of free will.” (Vonnegut 109) The Tralfamadorians understand all of the shortcomings of the human race and their own race, yet they do nothing to change them. This shows that not only does their society lack the concept of morality, but as a whole it is also far more ignorant than any human could ever be. When anything that the Tralfamadorians do not want to occur happens, they just view a different moment. “Ignore the awful times, and concentrate on the good ones.” (Vonnegut 150) As Parshall accurately puts it, “the novel captures this contrast between human commitment and Tralfamadorian detachment.” (Parshall 50) Humans ignorantly attempt to change the future, with no success, while Tralfamadorians do not attempt it and ultimately achieve the same result. What happens happens, and no matter what anyone does to change it, the same result that will and always has occurred will occur. Vonnegut is showing that even the most intelligent creatures, who have the ability to travel through and view time at will, still suffer from the same ignorance and lack of morality as the human race, who have so few abilities in comparison. Abbott and Vonnegut, in Flatland and Slaughterhouse-Five respectively, are trying to convey a message to mankind about the human race. They are trying to express that the ignorance and immorality of mankind is inevitable, as even invented new dimensional beings cannot overcome these shortcomings and obstacles. The inevitability of these traits is displayed in modern society in many ways. One current and extremely relevant example, is the situation surrounding the recent creation of the first ever two-dimensional material. Before this day, the concept of an object actually only having two dimensions has remained mainly hypothetical, and in the math world, involving lines and line segments. But in the actual human world having two dimensions was not deemed possible since all items must have some sort of height in order to truly exist. In the 21st century, materials can now be created that are simply one atom thick, thus making them truly only part of the second dimension. (Brooks) Only now that two dimensional objects have been officially discovered and brought before the human race, is it possible for anyone to conceive or to believe in materials and items that can exist in merely two dimensions. Unlike the discovery of two dimensional materials, the discovery of four dimension materials or even the fourth dimension has not occurred yet. This shows the ignorance or the human race, as most still do not believe such a dimension could ever exist, being that no true evidence can stand for its existence. The inevitability of human immorality is still displayed today because wars have not ceased to exist and poverty and crime are still occurring. Despite the billions and trillions of deaths that have occurred as a result of wars, they still continue to exist, and as Vonnegut and Abbott so accept, wars will never cease to occur, for the human race will never truly grasp the concept of morality. In the works Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, and Flatland by Edwin A. Abbott, the authors employ the use of other dimensional characters in order to show the true inevitability of human immorality and ignorance. Even creatures that hold unbounded knowledge and new concepts, foreign to humans, find it impossible to see beyond the realms of what they can concretely see, thus showing that a race as pitiful as the human race will never be able to perceive beyond what they can see with their own eyes. Vonnegut and Abbott wish for humans to attempt a change, but do not hold high hopes, and believe that it is impossible for the world and mankind to ever truly change and become free of ignorance and immorality. So it goes.