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Work #828 · Mid

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston
1937 · English (with Black Southern dialect)
African American novel · Harlem Renaissance / African American literature

Hurston's 1937 founding work of African American women's literature — Janie Crawford's search

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Their Eyes Were Watching God (Mid)
Time · Extent Infinite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Infinite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Infinite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Partial
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Both
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Theistic
Observer · Moral Authority Experience
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Their Eyes Were Watching God

The seasonal time of Florida and three marriages.

Space

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Eatonville, the muck of the Everglades.

Matter

Their Eyes Were Watching God

The Black female body and the hurricane.

Observer

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Janie telling her story to Phoeby.

Energy

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Energies of search and disaster.

Information

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Hurston's vernacular Black-Southern speech.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God: foundational for African American women's literature; rediscovered after long neglect to become central canon.