Girl With a Pearl Earring

A bildungsroman is a novel that chronicles the education and maturation of a person from adolescence into adulthood. The process is begun by a disruption to the security of the protagonist’s childhood and involves a loss of innocence through a series of experiences of disillusionment. Explain how Girl with a Pearl Earring is Griet’s bildungsroman. 

Trace the references to Griet’s “wide eyes” throughout the novel and analyze what they suggest about her position as both subject—who looks at—and object—who is looked at. 

Analyze the symbolism of the many references to knives—from kitchen knife to palette knife to butcher knife—taking into account knives both as utilitarian tools and as symbolic of violence and the unpredictable power that accompanies it.