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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.