57 Griet prefers to accept this situation, since in fact her master and mistress have the
biggest control of authority in the house. As a maid, she cannot rebel against her master and mistress. Third, Griet applies the third category called self defense
mechanism such as pressure and denial. She shows her defense to Cornelia when she disturbs Griet again and again. Griet feels under pressure and she wants to
show her denial by slapping Cornelia. Furthermore, by handling up several tasks as a maid, Griet is able to satisfy her physiological needs.
b. Working in the Attic to Grind and Mix Colors
Because of her carefulness, smartness and sense of art, she has a sole responsibility to clean her master’s painting studio. Moreover, she is asked by her
master to help him grind and mix colors in the attic. Griet learns many things about colors. By helping the master in the studio Griet’s talent becomes better.
She learns that there is more than one color in one thing. Through her conversation with Vermeer, it can be seen that she finds out there are some blue,
yellow, and grey on the color of clouds. The cloud’s color is not only white. ‘What color are those clouds?’ ‘Why, white sir.’ He raised his eyebrows
slightly. ‘Are they?’ I glanced at them. ‘And grey. Perhaps it will snow.’ ‘Come Griet, you can do better than that. Think of your vegetables.’ ‘My
vegetables sir?’ He moved his head slightly. I was annoying him again. My jaw tightened. ‘Think of how you separated the whites. Your turnips and
your onions-are they the same white?’ Suddenly I understood. ‘No. the turnips has green in it, the onion yellow.’ ‘Exactly. Now, what color do you
see in the clouds?’ ‘There is some blue in them.’ I said after studying them for a few minutes. ‘And yellow as well. And there is some green’ I became
so excited I actually pointed Chevalier 107-108.
Recognizing Griet’s talents, Vermeer asks Griet to help him grind and mix colors. Griet has to cover it from everyone in the house except Maria Thins.
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58 Chatarina, the daughter, even Tanneke, the other maid can be jealous if they know
this. By seeing her master grinding and mixing colors she can learn it fast. Vermeer only gives her suggestion if she finds some difficulty in doing her job in
the attic. Griet tries to memorize what the steps are, and how to mix colors by herself. With her talent, she can help Vermeer finish his painting faster than
before. His master and Maria Thins are pleased with her jobs. From Vermeer she learns how to wash substances to get rid of the impurities and to bring out the true
color. She uses a series of shell as shallow bowls, rinses and rerinses colors. Sometimes she does it thirty times, to get out the chalk, sand or gravel. It is long
and tedious work, but very satisfying for her to see the color grows cleaner with each wash, closer to what is needed Chevalier 115. She loves her extra works
even more, though she has to wake up early in the morning and to sleep late in finishing her tasks.
I come to love grinding the things he bought from the apothecary- bones, white lead, madder, massicot- to see how bright and pure I could get the
colors. I learned that the finer the materials were ground, the deeper the color. From rough, dull grains madder became a fine bright red powder and,
mixed with linseed oil, a sparkling paint. Making it and the other color was magical Chevalier 116.
Based on Braund, Linder, and Asimov’s theory, Griet uses the second
category of adjustment to face the problem. She accepts the duties and the extra tasks given by her master. Griet takes a high consequence and helps her master
grind and mix colors. She does all of the tasks because she does not want to lose her job as a maid in Vermeer’s house. She wants to struggle for her better life and
to keep her family survive. In line with Maslow’s theory in Goble’s The Third Force, Griet also fulfills her esteem needs and self-actualizing needs. By grinding
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59 and mixing colors she can fulfill her desire in art competence, and gets personal
worth from her master. She has desire to achieve a good mixture of colors and to please Vermeer. Griet also wants to show her talent in arts and painting. Besides,
she fulfills her self-actualizing needs by improving her potency and getting compliment from Vermeer.
One day, when they are working together in the kitchen, Tanneke feels suspicious of Griet. She recognizes that there is a slash of red dust in Griet’s
apron. She considers that it is not blood as Griet says. Tanneke becomes so jealous and angry because she knows that it is their master’s mixture of colors.
Tanneke gives Griet a hard and angry look, but behind she has a desire to tell this case to her beloved mistress, Chatarina. She has a wish to punish Griet, but she
has had no enough evidence, so that she says nothing about Griet’s attic work to Chatarina or the girls or anyone. She becomes much harder to Griet.
‘What’s that there? Are you bleeding?’ I looked down. A slash of red dust crossed my stomach like a streak on a
window pane. For a moment I thought of the aprons of Pieter the father and son.
Tanneke leaned closer. ‘That’s not blood. It looks like powder. How did that get there?’ I gazed at the streak. Madder, I thought. I ground this a few
weeks ago. Cornelia had been waiting for this mischief. I did not make up an answer fast enough. As I hesitated, Tanneke’s
suspicious grew. ‘Have you been in the master’s thing? She said in an accusing tone. She had, after all, modeled for him and knew what he kept in
the studio. ‘No, it was-‘I stopped Chevalier 120.
Her father also becomes suspicious when he smells linseed oil in Griet.
‘You smell of linseed oil Chevalier 183’. Griet tries to do some adjustment in dealing the problems. In line with Braun, Linder and Asimov’s theory 478, Griet
solves the problems by lying and keeping her attic’s work from others. She keeps
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60 her secret and tries covering it with other evidence. Furthermore, when she feels
under pressure of the situation, she chooses to meet the butcher’s son. Pieter is her escape and her reminder that there is another world she can join Chevalier 152.
Griet thinks that Pieter can save her from the troublesome situations in Vermeer’s house; even she just meets and shares some stories with him. In this situation,
Griet applies the third category of adjustment. It is about defense mechanism such as pressure and denial. This defense is important to reduce stress and under
pressure feeling dealing with the situation. Griet shows her defense by looking for someone who can save and protect her. Based on Maslow theory, Griet also
fulfills her safety needs. Safety needs emerge after physiological needs are fulfilled. These needs emerge because of the needs to feel secure, stable,
independent, protected, free from fear, and anxiety. A person needs to be safe from anything that is considered harmful Goble 38.
Through her actions in overcoming her problem when she works in the attic to grind and mix colors, Griet applies some theories of adjustment by Braund,
Linder and Asimov 478. First, she applies acceptance to the situation. She accepts the duties and the extra tasks given by her master. Griet takes a high
consequence and helps her master grind and mix the colors. She does all of the tasks because she does not want to lose her job as a maid in Vermeer’s house.
Second, Griet applies problem solving. She solves the problems by lying and keeping her attic’s work from others. She keeps her secret and tries covering it
with other evidence. Third, Griet applies self-defense mechanism such as pressure and denial. Griet shows her defense by looking for someone who can save and
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61 protect her. Moreover, by working in the attic to grind and to mix colors, Griet
gains her esteem, self-actualizing, and safety needs.
c. Being a Model of Painting
