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Work #1102 · Mid

The Bluest Eye

Toni Morrison
1970 · English
Novel · African-American literature / Black-feminist literature

Morrison's 1970 debut — the destruction of Pecola Breedlove by internalised white-supremacist beauty standards

Attribute Fingerprint

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

Attribute The Bluest Eye (Mid)
Time · Extent Finite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom Non-Deterministic
Time · Traversability Non-Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Finite
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 Partial
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Passive
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency None
Observer · Moral Authority Experience
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Infinite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Variable
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Variable
Information · Personal Conservation Variable
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

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

Time

The Bluest Eye

The 1940-41 narrative time; the 1970 publication moment of post-Civil-Rights Black literature.

Space

The Bluest Eye

Lorain, Ohio — Morrison's own native setting.

Matter

The Bluest Eye

The embodied Pecola whose destruction the novel traces.

Observer

The Bluest Eye

Claudia MacTeer as adult narrator looking back at the year of Pecola.

Energy

The Bluest Eye

The destructive energies of internalised white-supremacist standards.

Information

The Bluest Eye

The "Dick and Jane" narrative scaffolding against the lived Black-girl reality.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

The Bluest Eye

The Bluest Eye has been variously assessed — universally canonical, sometimes contested (or banned in school districts) for its frank treatment of incest and racialised violence.