The story starts out with a lower class family where their trade is artistic work. The father is blinded by an accident and the son is off on his apprenticeship, trying to learn to support his family. The story centers around Greit, who is a daughter in the family mentioned above. She is sent off to work as a maid for a famous painter. She must do as she is told and she must provide for her family.
In this book, we see a lot of patriarchal beliefs. It is a positive view, only knowing how far we have come from this. While there is still room to grow, we do not have the sore placement that we used to have in society. When it is spoken about being a maid, there is some sort of condescending nature behind it. The people in the town do not say anything to Greit because they know ‘her place’. When Greit interacts with the other women, they act as if she is a nuisance while being there, as if she is not doing all of the work they would’ve had to do.
We could later point out that the women are acting this way because maybe they feel threatened because they know of the lust that their husbands hold. Although this could be a valid idea, it would be a patriarchal take as well. Women fighting over men. Women being “catty.” Women being evil. These are all ideas that women have tried to get away from in recent years because it truly isn’t the case, but it is a conversation needed at points.
I agree that a lot of the conflict between women in the novel is caused by feeling threatened; in a time when women relied so heavily on their husbands, the constant feeling of insecurity and powerlessness would be overwhelming, and definitely causes some of the tension between Griet, Tanneke, and Catharina.