Girl With a Pearl Earring Griet's decision to marry Pieter is a sane and sensible one. Before that, she was living in a fantasy world. Do you agree?.
Girl With a Pearl Earring, written by Tracy Chevalier, is a novel that follows the life-changing experiences of sixteen-year-old Griet, particularly accentuated over the two years of her serving as a maid for the Delft painter Vermeer. While Griet lives apart from her family, she struggles to deal with reality, yearnings of love and an escape from poverty. Not her desire but marrying Pieter the son is a sane and sensible decision, instead of fooling herself in her own fantasy world. .
A maid, being madly in love with her master was strictly unacceptable and unrealistic at that period of time. Griet is in love with Vermeer, however her being aware of the social class difference and her position in the household, she can only fantasize about it. "I wanted him to think of me, not the painting." .
Griet realistically has one choice- to marry Pieter. Griet is not completely satisfied with her situation- she still is disgusted by the smell of meat. "I crushed lavender and hid it under my chemise to mask the smell of meat" (pg. 239) however her family is very dependent on the money Griet earns and being married to a butcher solves the concern of going hungry. Therefore even though she may not fulfill her complete desires, she makes a sensible choice to marry Pieter. In fact, being married to Pieter ends up being the better option than fantasizing about Vermeer. .
