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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 is the name of the child who recognizes Griet from the painting?

2. Who placed the pearl earring into Griet's ear?

3. Catharina was willing to sell out the fidelity in her marriage for ___________.

4. What did Vermeer say about the role of religion in his paintings?

5. Who secretly handed Griet the pearl earrings?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why was Catharina suddenly wary of locking Griet in the studio with her jewelry?

2. Was Griet's mother a hypocrite for standing up to the paintings but not to selling out her daughter to marriage?

3. How did Catharina react to the finished portrait?

4. Why did Catharina seem to fear Griet?

5. How do the pearls show that Vermeer did not care about Griet?

6. What does Griet's hair symbolize?

7. When Griet visits the Vermeers ten years later, in what condition is the family?

8. How did Pieter become impatient with Griet?

9. Why did Griet keep her hair hidden?

10. What was most important to Vermeer?

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

Who are the victims in Girl with a Pearl Earring? How might both Griet and Catharina fit into this role?

Essay Topic 3

In what ways does Chevalier create and release tension in the reader?

(see the answer keys)

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