The novel Girl with a Pearl Earring which was written by Tracy Chevalier is an inspirational feature that easily passes for the one of the best of a kind in the world for all time. This story is aimed at instilling the notion and principle of hard work, perseverance, humility, patience, beauty from within, understanding amongst many others. The character is a sixteen year old who goes through what many people do not go through in more years compared to the years that the character, sixteen year old Greet had lived Work Cited
(Chevalier, 6). All these values would come in handy for people in their formative years of life such as the youth and young adults. This novel is an eye-opener of how children ought to behave even when the tides of life go against their best wishes. It is sad to note that the character, at the tender and delicate of sixteen her father who was the breadwinner lost his sense of eyesight.
Thus, it was upon Griet to make ends meet for her family and siblings. When she offered to take a job as a maid in a painter’s home, was a sign of diligence and dignity. Instead of going to the streets to engage in other immoral behaviours and trades, she sought work as a maid, which is an honourable way of earning a living. The character persevered even when matters were difficult to her and the wife of her master directed jealousy and anger towards her, even then she persevered since she understood the situation that existed at her home.
At the face of all these hardships and unfair treatment by the wife and the children of the master; the painter, she never complained neither did she plot any revenge nor an ill act against her tormentors. Instead, she did her best to please her employers and never exhibited acts that could make the painter suspect that there was any sign of ill-treatment from his family. At the very end, the book highlights that the character found favour with her master the painter and he made her his assistant. Because the master grew to like the character Griet, he made a paint in her honour which went a long way to be liked by one of the wealthy clients, Van Rujiven. After some time, the wealthy client ordered the painter to make paint in her image and honour.
All these events highlight the ideologies of humility under the face of danger, diligence under the servitude of the master regardless of the circumstance and patience. At the end of all the difficulties that people may face in their lives, there are glimpses of hope. Gauging from the humble beginnings of the sixteen year old character as the maid of the house up to the level where one of the richest clients noticed her, shows that regardless of where a person starts in the race of life, perseverance is the key. This is inspirational because Griet did not allow the bad energy and negative attitude of her detractors to put her down.
The narrative structure is articulate since it is progressive in nature it is a representation and a culmination of the proverbial adage, of grass to grace. From the beginning of the story, the author starts with a fairly sad introduction including the fact that Griet’s father lost his eyesight due to an explosive accident. As much as this was sad, I believe that it resonates well in terms of relevance with people, especially young adults. As much as there are challenges in their lives, the book gives them an insight and guidance of how to act even in the face of such trials. Young adults and the members of club readers would enjoy the novel because it represents a situation that is akin to theirs. In principle, it discusses how the tidings of life can be changed to favour with the right kind of patience, dignity and perseverance (Johnson, 3). At the height of mistreatment by the tormentors; the wife of the master/painter and her children, she maintains a cool, and later on good things follow her. Intuitively, the young adults would also be encouraged to follow in her footsteps regardless of their situation because there is hope at the tail end of their situation.
The characters are very articulate in their roles, in the sense that each person represents the role in which he or she ought to play. The rich client is well represented by the fact that he indulges in luxuries; having paintings s where he is situated next to beautiful girls. Just as expected, a scandal is in the offing because rich people attract attention whether good or bad publicity. The main character Griet is subtle and tender which shows that softness, tenderness, humility, perseverance are good enough qualities that could propel a person to success. Aesthetically, this novel is proper since it stresses on the beauty that transcends the social status-this was a deep skin beauty (Vermeer, 1). It is a representation that a woman or a person can attract the right attention regardless of the social, financial or economic status if they preserve their dignity. All these features discussed above would interest the young adult readers because this story is relevant to them. Griet was fairly young when all these things happened to her, and thus, the young readers can resonate well with her experiences and strive to get better.
Work Cited
Chevalier, Tracy. Girl with a pearl earring. Lions Gate Home Entertainment, 2004.
Johnson, Micah K., et al. "Inferring illumination direction estimated from disparate sources in paintings: An investigation into Jan Vermeer's Girl with a pearl earring." Electronic Imaging 2008. International Society for Optics and Photonics, 2008.
Vermeer, Johannes. Girl with the pearl earring. Art. com, 2005.
