Summary:
As time has passed, Griet is becoming more comfortable around her master than when she started to work at the house. One day while cleaning she saw a small box and she curious about it since she did not know what it was. But she did not know that her master was leaning in the door checking what he was doing, when he saw the curiosity in her face, he asked her if she wanted to look in it and explained her that it was a camera obscura. When she looked in it she was amazed by what she since she did not expect to see anything interesting in it.When Griet was buying the meat for the family, Pieter, the butcher's son told her that the plague was was in the quarter where her family lived and that a quarantine has not been set yet. She went to the house where she worked and asked for permission to go see her family but it was denied. Catharina did not let her go so she could not bring the plague back with her, then she was not permitted to go visit her house on Sundays until the plague was gone. Another day, she went to buy the meat as she does it daily, and Pieter, the son, told her that her family was good but that Agnes, her sister, was very ill. On Sunday, she went to see her brother, Frans who did not know anything about the plague then they went to church and prayed for their family. The master had finish his painting, and it was sold to van Ruijven. When she went to the Meat Hall that morning she found out that the quarantine had been lifted so she quickly went to visit her family. At the end of that summer, her sister died. She started to visit every Sunday again as she has done it before but it was not the same, Agnes' absence was noticeable. Pieter, the son had showed interest in Griet but she did not return it back. One Sunday, when Griet was returning from visiting her parents, she found out that Catharina was in labor. She had a baby boy who they named Franciscus. They were going to do a birth feast to Franciscus. The maids had 10 days to prepared for it which consisted of cleaning and cooking. It was a hard job, and even though they assigned two more maids to help them, Griet was exhausted. During the feast, van Ruijven told her master that he should paint Griet and this made him frown. After the feast, the house was back to normal. One year has already passed since Griet started working on the house. It was 1665, and Griet was going to turn 17. Griet had been assisting her master by buying stuff for him and helping him while he painted, but no one knew about it. After Franciscus birth, they had to hire a nurse to help Catharina take care of the child. The nurse had to sleep with Tanneke, but she was not too happy about it. One day she went to talk to Catharina and complain about it so Griet's master gave the idea that Griet should sleep in the attic and Tanneke in what was Griet's room. Catharina was surprised by this because the maids were not allowed in there. But Griet knew that he did it on purpose because that way she could help him without the people in the house noticing it. But this changed one day when Maria thins found out about it, but she did not say anything.
Quote:
"He placed his hand over mine. The shock of his touch made me drop the muller, which rolled off the table and fell on the floor" (Chevalier 103).
Reaction:
When I read this quote, curiosity comes in. I wonder if something is going to happen between Griet and her master now that she is spending so much time with him. Not only this but the way she reacted when he touched her made me wonder if she feels something for him. The problem is that if she does this can bring trouble for her and she could be fired. This is the worst thing that can happen because her father cant work and support the family. Also Catharina already hates her, by knowing this her anger will just grow more. This quote just bring a lot of questions to my head and persuades me to keep reading the book to find out what is really happening and understand more what is going on between Griet and her master.
Girl with a Pearl Earring (Pgs 1-58)
Summary:
This book is in the first person. The narrator is Griet, a 16 years old girl that had to go to work in order to help her family. At the beginning of the book, the setting is in Griet's house when Catharena and her husband went to see her to see if she could work for them. During those pages we are told that Griet's father is blind because where he used to work an explosion occurred and he was the lucky one that is still alive while the others died. After their visit, Griet was informed that she was going to go to their house the next day. It was hard for her because she had never left her house before until now and more to a house of people that had different beliefs than her. When she got there she met the children, Johannes, Cornelia, Aleydis, Maertge and Lisbeth. Quite of a big family and another was on the way. She was received by Maria, the grandmother, mother of Catharena. Ironically, but the mother was so much different than the daughter. Tanneke, one of the other maids showed Griet where herr room was and told her all the tasks she was assigned to do. One of her tasks was to clean the studio, but she had to be careful because she could not move anything out of its place. In the days she was working in the house, she had not seen Catharena's husband, until one day that she was cleaning the studio and he was watching her. When Griet went to visit her family on Sunday, she told everything about her job, and she was starting to feel weird in her house because she has already accustomed to the house she worked in. Later in the week, Tanneke told Griet that the family barely have money to pay her, she was surprised because the lifestyle they live din does not show that. Also that Catharena keeps having babies because she wants to fill the house with babies since she cannot have all the servants she wants. They barely have money because her husband only paints like 3 paintings in a year and it does not give them a lot of money.
Quote:
"She had the manner of someone used to looking after those less able than she—of looking after Catharina. I understood now why I had been brought to her rather than her daughter" (Chevalier 18).
Reaction:
By reading this quote I can hypothesize that not everyone is going to be nice to Griet. This is a new way of life for her since she has not worked anywhere before. Since the beginning of the book Catharina did not seem as a nice person when they went to see Griet when they were looking for a maid. But not everyone at the house was mean to her, even the daughters of Catharina were being nice to but she still needed to watch out because you never know what is going to happen next. even if Catharena is bad and rude to Griet, she has to do her best to try to keep her job because she is working in that house in order to help her family.
