In the interpretation of the arcade, the style evaluation becomes of prime importance. Through it, we need never have any doubt whether a script belongs to a plotter or to an architect, to a thief or a technical genius, to a confidence man or a persevering founder of great enterprises who develops his plans quietly and privately. The more arched the arcade, the more prominent become its artistic qualities; the flatter it is, the more it reminds us of a lid to cover up something. Flat arcades have been identified in the script of hypocrites and intriguers; they are very easily overlooked or mistaken for garlands--a serious error. As for the angle connective link, for instance, in German script, tests brought forth the following statements: "To me the most unnatural and brutal gesture;" "You have to be well on your toes;" "Like steel girders;" "A feeling of safety and certainty;" "Of stability;" "A military, cool feeling;" "Capable of overcoming any resistance;" "I feel as though I have a task and must not fail;" "Attack and aggression’: "Hardy, curt, precise, like a saber." These are highly contradictory statements, and indeed, angle writers have to reconcile within themselves very contradictory tendencies. Unlike the garland or arcade, the angle is not one but two movements, and the abrupt gestures that alone produce an angle are without grace, flexibility, or the spirit of reconciliation; rather, the angle reminds us of a "hard task in which we must not fail," and "attack and aggression" at least against the beauty and freedom of movement. The movements that produce an angle are of necessity slow, pedantic (thorough, clumsy, difficult, and definitely unspontaneous). To illustrate, a garland or arcade i may be made with two movements; to write an angle we need three movements: we start with an upward stroke and stop abruptly; the next move is downward until another abrupt stop; then we move up again. The comparison with a military march or a precision watch is inescapable. The resemblance to a military march brings "discipline" to mind. We therefore conceive of angle writers as people who are willing to submit themselves to a rigid discipline, and who are prepared to impose such a discipline on their environment. They are reliable, firm, steadfast, and imperturbable, but they are also dull, heavy, brutal, not to be stopped. "Hardy, curt, precise . . ." interprets the angle writer also as unyielding, uncompromising, intolerant, cold, pitilessly logical. Principles are more important to him than individual considerations, the method often more important than the result; his aim is reason, not ‘humaneness,’ not practicality or feasibility. As a letter connection the angle is circumstantial, a geometrical drawing or technical structure, rather than a connecting link. It reaches "heights" and "depths." An angle can rarely be "microscopic"; a certain minimum height is indispensable to produce an angle, whereas a garland and even an arcade may be "stretched and flattened" almost to a thread. We therefore conceive the angle writer as capable of abstract thinking, (Albert Einstein) technologic discoveries, philosophic interpretation, but also of sophistry and cunning. The angle writer cannot relax, unbend; he must be active to feel well; without the right occupation, he becomes querulous. Small wonder that some angle writers are considered cranky, unconciliatory and even humorless, awkward, and restless. In the beginning of this chapter, it was stated that connecting strokes give great insight into the writer’s social life. The ‘space’ the writer uses equally sheds light in this area.

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