A girl with a pearl earing

The main character is a young girl named Greit, and the story follows her as she is forced to mature as she becomes independent. It tracks Griet’s life-changing two years as she serves the Delft painter, Johannes Vermeer. Her life is lonesome, as she finds herself growing apart from her family while living as an outsider in Vermeer’s home. Plus, it doesn’t help that with the exception of the painter himself, the Vermeer family is not particularly fond of her; and as Maria Thins, Vermeer’s mother-in-law, says, "Never so much trouble with a maid before" (82).

Greit is suddenly thrown into a completely new setting, with new people and a foreign religion. She must struggle to find a way to make a place for herself in a chaotic Catholic household run by

The protagonist of the story appears to be the young maid Greit, but in actuality it could be argued that it is the painter Vermeer, though essentially he has a small role in the book. Throughout the tome, we get constant glimpses into the life of the famous artist. The author describes him by saying, " …his eyes gray like the sea. He had a long, angular face, and his expression was steady. He had no beard or moustache, and I was glad, for it gave him a clean appearance. He wore a black cloak over his shoulders, a white shirt, and a fine lace collar. His hat pressed into hair the red of brick washed by rain."(96). Yet, in reality we don’t actually know exactly what Vermeer looked like, but the author does such a good job of imagining his identity and life. Even though we also don’t know much about Vermeer’s life. The few facts we do know are from legal documents of marriages, births, sales, and debts. The author, Tracy Chevalier, uses the little known facts from these documents and makes them come alive. She didn’t make anything up out of the blue, she simply elaborated on the already known facts. It is true that the family lived in the house of Maria Thins in an area off the main Market Square known as Papists' Corner because of the concentration of Catholics living there. Only 20% of the population was Catholic; the rest were Protestant. Catholics were tolerated but barred from municipal functions and required to worship privately. All this vibrant historic verity is illustrated in the book.

The book was very well written and imaginative, while leaving readers very satisfied, although there was one part that left me puzzled. Nevertheless, readers depart with a heightened awareness of li

Some topics in this essay:
Maria Thins, Greit Vermeer’s, Maria Thins', Tracy Chevalier, Ruijven Vermeer, Protestant Catholics, Thins Vermeer’s, Johannes Vermeer, Papists' Corner, painter vermeer, maria thins, girl named, life 1600’s, tracy chevalier,