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Griet’s Growth During a Hard Time Each of the women in this novel treats Griet differently, so she reacts differently to them. She does what she has to do in order to survive in the Vermeer household, and in the process she learns a lot about living. In the book, Girl With a Pearl Earring, by Tracy Chevalier, Griet enters into many new relationships with different women, and in each she learns something, and she grows as a person. Griet has a house enemy, Cornelia, a young, red headed daughter of the Vermeers. On the very first day Griet arrives, Cornelia is sassy to her and Griet responds by slapping her. Griet questions the little girl, “Cornelia, are you going to help me carry the water? If not, go back up to your sisters…If she had sulked or shouted, I would know I had mastered her. Instead she laughed. I reached over and slapped her” (Chevalier 22). Griet wants to show from the beginning that she is in control and that the children will not walk all over her just because she is a maid. From that point on Cornelia wants revenge against Griet. She does everything in her power to frame Griet with doing numerous things, such as stealing. When Catharina finds her comb missing and Griet is accused, she