"The Girl With The Pearl Earring" by Tracy Chevalier

The book "The girl with the pearl earring" by Tracy Chevalier is a historical fiction book about a girl and her journey of joining a family as a work girl. Griet is a hard-working girl who had to leave home because of her families' poverty struggle. She moves into a home where there are many obstacles such as, 6 children. Throughout her stay she becomes part of a wider circle of the family but only one person accepts her for who she is, the master. The master understands her love for art and for that he lets her admire his paintings, which no one is allowed to do. This causes a jealous and unenthusiastic household. But one day, Griet has to step in to be the 'object' of the painting and this decides her future forever. Throughout the story, we follow the path of Griet, and we are always aware of how her family and her perseveres with the idea of her new job.  

One way in which Griet shows perseverance is when she reflects back on her old life and compares it to her new. "I had walked along that street all my life, but had never been so aware they my back was to my home." This quotation carefully show the reflection and feelings in which Griet has. We can tell by her 'reflection tense' that she is feeling guilty of the way she is acting and that she s acting in a selfish way. We can infer that she is being mesmerised by the thought of the money of her new family but she isn't thinking about her actual family. This makes her believe she is becoming unaware of her feelings for her real family and she is feeling ignorance and regret. 'My back' shows a very strong piece of her body that symbolises how she is feeling, 'back-stabbing', ignorance and regret. It shows perseverance because it makes us realise how Griet has to become loyal to one family but not to the other, in order for everyone to benefit.

Another way in which Griet perseveres with her new life is by respecting her parents' wishes. “I felt as if my parents had pushed me into the street, that a deal had been made and I was being passed into the hands of a man. At least he is a good man, I thought, even if his hands are not as clean as they could be.” This quotation is very intriguing because not only does it tell us about her perseverance but also her previous attitude. Her previous attitude shows that she felt useless to her parents and that they were denying her happiness for money. But then as the story progresses and as the quote suggests, Griet looks at the positive and just tries to please her family. The quote above suggests that Greit puts her parents happiness and well being before her own. It shows that she perseveres with her struggles in order to befit even if it may hurt her along the way.

Lastly, we learn how Griet's family perseveres with the 'new Griet' and the new girl that she has become.  “You know I don’t listen to market gossip,” she began,“but it is hard not to hear it when my daughter’s name is mentioned.” This shows us as readers that Griet's mother, especially, is finding it hard to adapt to her new daughter's lifestyle. With Griet in a 'rich household', we can infer that her mother seems jealous and just wants her daughter back. It seems as if Griet hasn't go time for her mother and therefore, her mother is learning about her through other people. We feel sympathy for the mother because it just seems as if Griet id disowning her mother and is taking her for granted.

In conclusion, 'The girl with the pearl earring' really shows the feelings of others and how they persevere with the new Griet. It shows a connection that has been transformed just because of a reason to get out of poverty. The book teaches us that there are many ways to persevere with things, but along the way you may upset people. In this case, this was Griet and each different one of her family members took the intuition differently.