In the class-conscious, plague-stricken world
of 17th century Delft,
a young girl named Griet goes to work
as a maid in Vermeer’s household.
Soon she is entangled in the subtle, cutthroat rivalries
in the charged atmosphere of the painter’s household
when she becomes his assistant.
Under his tutelage, she awakens to the rich
and diverse possibilities of visual perception.
When this book first came out,
it crowded the museums with throngs of people
who wanted to see Vermeer paintings.
I felt a similar urge after I sat down with this book
and dived through the historical lens of Griet’s world
to learn gorgeous lessons on the art of seeing.
Chevalier deftly finds beauty
in the squalor, tragedy, and romance of ordinary life.
January 2002
INTRODUCTION
Unless you’re a natural born genius writer
(and 99.9% of writers are not), you learn writing as a craft.
Your tools are your words and the way you choose to use them
—
what tense your characters speak in,
what point-of-view you use to access your characters’ world,
how you structure your story,
and how you allow your characters to appear or not appear
(these examples apply primarily to fiction).
Here, I take a look at one of these tools,
that of limited perception,
and at how one author used it to create a successful fictional world.
(In case you’re wondering what limited perception is,
it’s when a character’s point-of-view
does not reveal everything the character perceives.)
Girl with a Pearl Earring,
by Tracy Chevalier,
has received much praise and acclaim
because of its dazzlingly real portrait
of a young girl named Griet and her world.
To synopsize, Griet lives in 17th century Delft,
and when her father becomes blind in a kiln accident,
she becomes a maid in the painter Vermeer’s household.
Although naïve, Griet is also extremely perceptive,
and must use all of her cleverness to maneuver around
the spitefulness of her mistress,
the advances of a patron,
and the attentions of a suitor.
In the meantime,
her fascination with Vermeer’s paintings
draws her closer to her master
in a subtly charged relationship.
Back to the
beginning
of the extended book review.
HOW DOES SHE DO IT?
How does Chevalier use limited perception to create Griet’s world?
First, she uses a pure first person voice for Griet.
By pure, I mean there is no other consciousness
besides the “I” voice in the book.
For example,
in J. D. Salinger’s classic
The Catcher in the Rye
there is a “you” as well as an “I.”
Because of this,
Holden Caulfield’s narrative feels like a conversation
—
he is telling his story to you, the audience.
Girl with a Pearl Earring,
in contrast, feels like memories being relived.
Griet is not conscious of an audience.
The first person makes you to see through Griet’s eyes
—
you are immersed in Griet’s visual observations,
her philosophy, and her perception of social strata.
You are, in fact, a voyeur.
This first person voice sets the stage of Chevalier’s book.
You only perceive what Griet perceives,
and with that, you take your first step into Griet’s world.
Second,
Chevalier keeps the voice of Griet consistent
as she moves from innocence to maturity
—
it is a recognizable combination of wariness and innocent naivete
from start to finish.
As a reader, you learn to recognize this voice so well
that when Griet mentions a “he,”
you automatically understand that “he” is the painter Vermeer,
and when time skips ahead 10 years,
you know it’s still her after the first sentence.
As a blind man relies on unchanged surroundings to help him navigate his way,
you begin to rely on Griet’s consistent voice
to show you the details of her world.
Third,
Chevalier never allows Griet to turn her perception inward.
Griet scrutinizes the people around her so carefully
that you almost don’t notice that her gaze never reaches herself,
except in a superficial way.
The other characters are described with the fullest of details
—
their appearance, their personalities, and their actions.
This is perhaps the source of Griet’s unique voice.
By leaving herself and her motivations unanalyzed,
she appears to be an innocent.
In addition,
the lack of inward perception allows you to focus
completely on the world crafted by Griet’s gaze.
The limited voice, its consistent sound,
and the focus outside of Griet
combine to create a shuttered, quiet world
where she serves as a nerve center for all kinds of sensory perception.
The three elements I have mentioned
serve as background to Griet’s gift
for observation and the rich details of Delft that she provides,
but they also help draw you into her world.
Back to the
beginning
of the extended book review.
HOW SHOULD YOU USE THIS METHOD?
Limited perception is a common technique
that you will notice in many works of fiction.
It comes in many flavors and can be customized
by allowing more than one character
to monopolize the reader’s perception.
The Lord of the Rings
uses limited omniscient, for example.
Think about how the story would change
if the reader learned more about Sauron’s and Gandalf’s stories.
Much of the mystery and suspense would be ruined.
By using the limited perspective,
Tolkien allows the appropriate amount of detail to come through.
With so many varieties of limited perception,
how do you know which one to use?
There are no hard and fast rules.
The important thing to think about
is whether or not the kind of limited perception
you use fits your story.
Limited perception using pure first person
is perfect for
Girl with a Pearl Earring
because the book focuses on the subject of seeing.
The reader’s perception
is limited by Griet’s gaze
and by her understanding of visual perception.
This perception expands as Griet learns more
about the art of seeing from Vermeer.
These multiple gazes complement the book’s themes,
allowing the reader to participate in the joys of seeing
from within Griet, and outside of Griet.
January 2002
Back to the
beginning
of the extended book review.
