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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happened when Griet began to obsess about the plague?

2. What is the name of the item that reversed the image of a painting into a mirror?

3. Who told Vermeer that he should paint Griet?

4. At first, Vermeer told Griet the clouds were ____________.

5. Griet knew that ________ was going to be trouble for her.

Short Essay Questions

1. What did Griet think about the camera obscura?

2. Describe Griet's first visit home after she began to work for the Vermeers.

3. How did Griet feel after cleaning out the studio?

4. What role did competition play in Griet's time at the Vermeer home?

5. What was Griet's first impression of the Vermeer family?

6. How did Griet's idea of Vermeer's art differ from Catharina's?

7. What role does the theme of life and death play in Girl with a Pearl Earring?

8. What did Vermeer and Catharina often fight about?

9. Why did Griet need to keep her involvement with Vermeer's paintings a secret?

10. How did Griet's arrival at the Vermeer home go?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What role does dissatisfaction play in the lives of the main characters in the novel? How and why is Griet dissatisfied? How does she show this?

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast Griet's mother and Catharina. In what ways do they treat Griet the same? In what ways are the alike in terms of goals for their families?

Essay Topic 3

Describe the role that one specific art piece in Girl with a Pearl Earring plays in the novel. For example, you may choose to describe the role of the crucifix painting that is disturbing to Griet.

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