Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier

Characters
Real	Fictional
Johannes Vermeer Catharina – wife Eleven children including: Cornelia – most unpredictable Maertge – oldest, same age as Agnes Maria Thins – Catharina’s mother Antonie van Leeuwenhoek – Father of Microbiology, (According to Bill Bryson in A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003), it is a rumor that he invented the camera obscura.) Pieter van Ruijven – Vermeer’s patron.  (No evidence to support portrayal as a predator.) Maria - wife	Griet Mother and Father Frans – brother, age 13 Agnes – sister, age 10, died during plague Pieter – butcher Pieter – son, married Griet Tanneke – Vermeer’s maid Griet and Pieter’s sons: Frans and Jan

For Discussion:

NOTE:  Page numbers are from paperback edition of the novel.

1. Griet always kept her hair completely covered.  Why?  When Vermeer saw her hair, Griet thought, “Now that he had seen my hair…I could be freer…It no longer mattered what I did and did not do” (page 196).  Why was keeping her hair concealed so important to her.
2. Griet was 16 at the beginning of the novel and 18 when it ended.  Did her portrayal seem appropriate to her age?
3. On page 53 when Griet was at the market with Maertge and she saw Agnes, she ignored Agnes because she had, “…two families not, and they must not mix.”   Why?
4. Frans told Griet that at the beginning of his apprenticeship he almost ran away, “…because he could not face the strangeness day after day” (page 27).   When Griet, Protestant, moved in with the Vermeer’s who were Catholic, she thought, “It was a curious feeling, having to be aware of it myself” (page 31).   Have you ever been in a similar situation where you felt out of place?  How did you deal with it?
5. Discuss Cornelia and why she was so mean to Griet.   Cornelia threw a pot into the river when Griet was getting water (pages 22-23), was mean to her about Agnes’ death (page 75), and broke the tile painted by Griet’s father (page 97).
6. After the incident where Cornelia tried to set Griet up to take blame for stealing Catharina’s comb and was found out, people’s attitude toward Griet changed: Catharina was afraid of her, Maria Thins seemed to treat her with respect, and Tanneke was nicer toward her.  Why did their attitudes change?
7. Did you like the ending when Griet slapped Cornelia on her way out of the house with the earrings Vermeer instructed Catharina to give her after he died? (page 232)
8. Given the context of the times, were you surprised that Vermeer was so unconcerned about what would happen to Griet after he painted her wearing Catharina’s earrings?
9. Did you find Griet’s artistic ability realistic?  On page 5 she sorted the vegetables for the soup by color because certain colors “fight when they are side by side…”  Also, on page 132, Griet saw a problem with Vermeer’s painting before he did.
10. In the book, van Leeuwenhoek was credited with inventing the camera obscure and van Ruijven was portrayed as a predator, both of which are inaccurate.  How much license can an author take when writing historical fiction?
11. When Vermeer and Griet were discussing the meaning of a painting, Vermeer said, “It’s not the painting that is Catholic or Protestant…but the people who look at it, and what they expect to see” (pages 140-1).  Can we say the same thing about books – can two different people read the same book differently?  How can we keep an open mind so that our predetermined expectations do not influence how we see art or read a book?
12. What books have you read that helped you see something in a different way or helped you better understand someone else’s point of view?
13. After reading this book, will you view art differently?

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