Yeah, that's a lot to take in. But we aren't done talking about Bill's horrible life just yet! We get to talk about his family again! Here's a typical house in Flatland
Take in mind this is A Squares house, so this isn't Bill's family. But Bill probably lived in a very similar setup. Now, what about his actual family members again? There are a few things from the book that gives insight as to what Bill's home life would look like.
"In the house of the Working Man or respectable Tradesman (That's Bill's house!) - where the wife is allowed to turn her back upon her husband, while pursuing her household avocations - there are at least intervals of quiet, when the wife is neither seen nor heard, except for the humming sound of the continuous Peace-cry." (A-Square)
Unlike many families of the upper class, Bill's father would have probably been much calmer in terms of authority over his wife. As to what else has gone on in his family, it's hard to say. One thing I would like to mention is a direct quote from Alex Hirsh.
"If you think Stan had a bad relationship with his family, Bill's is worse." 2015
Thank you Alex for making literally everything as broad as possible and making my job just that much harder. That quote means a lot. In what way is his family worse? Well, we probably won't ever know specifically. But if what I'm all saying has some truth behind it, then we can assume his family life before becoming a demon was awful.
Schooling is a phase of Bill's life that would have had to happen. A square has a grandson who, during the book, teaches him math. It's actually what leads to A square questioning the world of Flatland, but that's not important right now. So by deductive reasoning, it's safe to assume that Bill was taught some things by his parents, or most likely by his father. However, it's very very very likely Bill went to school. Because that's where he'd go to learn a very special skill, the skill to feel another.
Yeah, sounds weird, but it's really not. Remember, people in Flatland can only see straight lines and they only can recognize a shape by feeling them.
"Let not my Reader however suppose that "feeling" is with us the tedious process that it would be with you, or that we find it necessary to feel right round all the sides of every individual before we determine the class to which he belongs. Long practice and training, begun in the schools and continued in the experience of daily life, enable us to discriminate at once by the sense of touch, between the angles of an equal-sided Triangle, Square, and Pentagon."
They feel each other when they approach new people or just, in general, to know what shape they are before they discriminate. And no, they do not feel each other with hands or legs, as they do not have limbs. It's hard to explain just how they do it... Pretty sure they have thin-looking hairs around their shape that do the feeling? Think about it like a cat's whiskers perhaps. They don't explain it well. Either way, it's not that important.
What is important is that Bill would have gone to school to learn what Flatland is and its history (where he'd likely learn the truth about his family and Flatland), and how to feel another. And if you're curious how that's done, it's done by chaining up criminals or isosceles to something in a classroom for all the little children to gather around and practice on! :)
Yeah, morbid, I know. This is just another way Bill can end up feeling guilty for being himself. Especially if the person being chained down is an isosceles triangle. Either way, the important thing to take out of this is that Bill has gone to school, and that's probably where he learned the truth. And with that knowledge of the truth and knowledge of the hierarchy in Flatland, would he have his own opinions in Flatland and himself like I've mentioned before.
By the way, feeling each other all the time sounds kinda awkward for us. But in Flatland, it is completely normal. Remember, they can't feel more than shape, so physical touch to us is different. They simply walk up and say "may I please feel you?" Or "allow me to feel you?" It's like a way of saying hello or shaking hands. Flatlanders can't deny the request either.
Chances are Bill wouldn't have many other triangle friends. After all, an equilateral triangle birth is rare. So he may not have fit in at school. Now, that's not to say he didn't have other shaped friends, but due to the nature of Flatland, those friendships probably weakened greatly after the students learned about the hierarchy. That more sides are better. Bill would have had the least amount of sides in his school unless there was another equilateral triangle. He may have been a loner and possibly bullied (not including discrimination outside school by adults). However, this is all speculation. I can't confirm any of this.
But, I did mention there was another form of recognition. This is something I don't think anyone's ever really touched on even though it explains something massive about Bill. And this form of recognition is hearing.
"The first means of recognition is the sense of hearing; which with us is far more highly developed than with you, and which enables us not only to distinguish by the voice our personal friends, but even to discriminate between different classes, at least so far as concerns the three lowest orders, the Equilateral, the Square, and the Pentagon"
Alright, you're probably once again either concerned, disgusted, or angry from even more forms of discrimination. You're also probably wondering how in the world you can discriminate by voice. So much so that you can tell what class a person is in by voice.
Think of it like this, the higher up in the scale of class you go, the better hearing the shapes will have to discriminate easier. While everyone in Flatland has much more advanced hearing than we do, higher-sided shapes have more advanced hearing. They discriminate by voice. However, less-sided shapes have a more developed voice so that others can easily tell the shape.
"Amongst our lowest orders, the vocal organs are developed to a degree more than correspondent with those of hearing, so that an Isosceles can easily feign the voice of a Polygon, and, with some training, that of a Circle himself."
How the heck does this relate to Bill? Well, think about it. What's one of the most iconic things about Bill? His voice. If his voice was more developed, it would make sense. It sounds like something we humans would need a computer to edit our voice. And we would know that Triangles would have some of the more developed voices so the higher shapes could easily tell he was a triangle. It could sound like Bill's voice. It would explain his fun quirk, wouldn't it?
In case you need a reminder or some examples of Bill's voice, here's a cool video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDVeAj6qgGw
So what happens next? What's in between? Well, the truth is, I don't know. There isn't anything said or found that explains his life from childhood to adulthood except the few things about his family life and what we can deduct from what we know about a normal Flatlanders life. Did he ever get married and have children as Flatland society wants him to? My hunch says no. I do think it's technically possible for his parents to maybe try and arrange marriages for him, but knowing who Bill is and his opinion on himself and Flatland, I don't think he ever would have gone through it. I just don't see him going through that without a fight at least. Even in the show, he is definitely shown to be resistant to authority. I doubt that was much different in Flatland as I've said.
Lets review:
- Bill is from the 2nd dimension, a world filled with different kinds of shapes and lines known as Flatland.
- Bill as an equilateral triangle is part of one of the lowest classes in society and is thus mistreated. Flatland has a social hierarchy that has triangles at the bottom, squares next, then pentagons, etc. Circles are at the top of society. At the very bottom (not considered part of society) are irregular triangles and irregular shapes, and the women who are straight lines.
- Unlike equal-sided shapes (every child has one more side than his father), Irregular triangles over many generations of careful breeding can have equilateral triangle sons.
- Bill Cipher, an equilateral triangle, comes from a line of ancestors (the isosceles) who have been oppressed all their lives for generations. Those same ancestors main purpose in society is to eventually give birth to Bill.
- Because of laws in Flatland, Bill would have been forcefully taken away from his birth parents and then adopted by a new family. He'd be forbidden to ever know or meet his birth parents.
- It's likely when growing up, Bill's ego, personality, mental health, and ideology were affected by living in Flatland.
- Bill would have gone to school and then would have started to learn about the hard truth of flatland.
- Bill Cipher's voice is echoey and loud because of Flatland. This is how Flatlanders can discriminate against triangles without being able to see shapes.