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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 religion were the Vermeers?

2. How did Griet perceive her own vanity?

3. What did Catharina want Johannes to do for the family to get more money?

4. Who watched Griet with a smirk as she almost touched the pearls sitting out in the studio?

5. Who told Vermeer that he should paint Griet?

Short Essay Questions

1. Was Vermeer protective of Griet?

2. What connection did Griet and Vermeer have immediately?

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

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

5. How did the plague affect Griet?

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

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

8. What did the splitting of the tile symbolize?

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

10. How did Griet feel caught between two men?

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

What is Griet's first impression of the Vermeers? How does the couple live up to Griet's expectation? How does Griet's first impression differ from the reader's? What are the reasons for these differences?

Essay Topic 3

What are the main differences between Griet's family's home and the Vermeers' home? What are the main differences between the members of the two families?

(see the answer keys)

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