"Strangers would think I was calm Only my mother would note the tightness along my jaw, the widening of my already wide eyes.".
Fairly reserved and quiet natured, however more so on the outside. She doesn't commonly outwardly express her emotions. However did get into trouble a lot, and was frequently corrected by Maria Thins for speaking when she shouldn't. Maria thins saying "you"re learning" when she hesitated from asking her something, rather than just saying it without thinking. .
Constantly trying to desperately carve a place for herself in the chaotic household, where she faces regular discrimination. Even Tanneke despite being a maid herself, treated Griet as far less of a person than her "That's family business, not for the likes of you". Thought she was part of the family, and Griet wasn't. .
She is more practical than a lot of the characters, notably her family. Has a painters mind set. "I always stopped the game, too inclined to see things as they were to be able to think up things that were not" - in regard to Frans and Agnes.
"March was an unpredictable month warm days raised hopes until ice and grey skies shut over the town again. March was the month I was born." This was perhaps significant of her unpredictable nature?.
"You keep your thoughts to yourself here" - Maria Thins. Treated with no respect, on her first day is put into place about her position in the household. .
Griet was always treated worse than anyone else in the household, notably receiving less respect that fellow maid, Tanneke. "When it was so cold, any errand was given to the least important member of the house", being Griet.
Griet was never proud of the fact that she was a maid, and it's clear that had her family not been stricken with poverty, she wouldn't by any chance have willingly become a maid for a job. In regards to Tanneke's proud comment on being a maid since she was 14, Griet quoted "I would not have said such a thing with pride".