The Writer As Explorer

Chevalier portrays Griet as a people pleaser. She seeks to meet the standards of her parents, she does what she is told and nothing more, and carries tensity at all times. First burdened by her household expectations and duties and then again in an unfamiliar environment. Her emotions are comparable with those of college students with stressful home lives. The both of them seek to find a place of peace. Griet is unable to find peace in the midst of her responsibilities.
In addition to practical responsibilities, she is responsible for the emotions of her family. Exemplified by her indebtedness to her family, she is inherently obligated to provide for her family under her father’s conditions. As the eldest and as a member of a society in which women are expected to do as they are told. As a household provider, she is sometimes overlooked as a daughter. As a result, she craves the attention of Johannes and embellishes it. “I did not know how we would treat me in his own house, whether or not he would pay attention to the vegetables I chopped in his kitchen. No gentleman had ever taken such an interest in me before.” I find these lines compelling because they display both Greit’s desire to be noticed and her loose definition male interest. I am interested to see how she progresses as I continue reading.