Victorine and Griet are two narrators from the books Paris Red and Girl With the Pearl Earring. In a fascinating sense, Griet and Victorine have become a foil in the sense that they are observant, unreliable narrators and artists at heart.
Griet begins her story by explaining every molecule in her life. From the color wheel that is the vegetables for the stew to the sheets that have even the slightest bit of dirt. She has created this fully developed setting of this story which immediately immerses us into her life. On page four, she starts off her imagery strongly by stating, “The woman’s face was like an oval serving plate, flashing at times, dull at others.” In creating this simile, the readers have an immediate idea of who this woman she described is, finicky, haughty, and pretty. Victorine has a similar gift with identifying the different hues and how the sun brings color to everything in her bedroom. One example of her use of imagery is on page 14, where she states, “In the early morning light, things still have not regained their color: not the box of candles, not the dark maroon paint someone used on one wall, not the dirty white of the other walls, not my blue dress or Nise’s brown one– not even my green boots.” At this moment, the readers are transported into her realm and see the not-yet colors of the wee morning.
An important thing that most first-person narrators have are their unreliability. In Griet’s introduction with her soon-to-be boss, she proves that she is unreliable when Vinnier asks, “And do you spend much time setting out the vegetables before you make the soup?” to which Griet immediately responds, “‘Oh no, sir’ I replied, confused. I did not want him to think I was idle.” Yet her sister gives away that Griet is lying by staring Griet down until she admits to us that she lied. Victorine is just as unreliable as Griet, perhaps more. When Victorine first speaks about Denise, she says on page 16 that she is like a sister to her. Yet on page 32, when she is feeding Manet cherries she explains, “And if we had gone on sitting there much longer I would have kissed him. I would have kissed him and would have not cared if Nise was beside us or not.” except we know that is not true because soon she feels a wave of guilt rush over her and looks back at her “sister.”
To compare Griet and Victorine would not be much of a stretch, as they are quite similar to each other. They have similar poor backgrounds, and their artistic descriptions of color are similar. Even in these first few pages of their books, they seem to already have an artist hidden in them.
I think it is so important that you mentioned the fact of an unreliable narrator. Looking back at the reading I can see where she is unreliable and I didn’t even catch it until now.
This is an interesting way to view Griet as an unreliable narrator. I would not think to see her that way, instead I think she shows her cleverness and ability to save herself by any means possible.