Themes
What was a main topic in this book?
The vision of young women
What year was this book banned?
2020
What is The Testaments about?
The Testaments takes place over 15 years later into the future after The Handmaid’s Tale. It follows Aunt Lydia’s story and also includes two new characters and their perspectives, Agnes and Daisy. Agnes is an upper class girl living in the scrutinizing Gilead, while Daisy is a young girl living in Canada, where the Gilead is being protested against and dissected. Aunt Lydia is secretly spear-heading Gilead’s downfall by gathering damning intel on the government. Agnes becomes an Aunt to avoid a life of abuse and neglect from Commander Judd, the man she is supposed to marry after attending marriage preparatory school. Daisy leads a life connected to Gilead by her adoptive and biological parents. She is pulled into MayDay, the secret rebellion movement against Gilead, and travels there to be an inside agent as an Aunt, where she also coincidentally begins to work alongside Anges. The three of them overcome multiple obstacles, hardships, and major sacrifices along the way, but inevitably they bring down Gilead with the incriminating documents that they managed to smuggle into Canada. In the epilogue that is set way into the future, it is said that Agnes and Daisy are long-lost half sisters, and Offred is their mysterious handmaid mother that escaped Gilead.
What is one symbol that is seen in The Testaments?
The handmaid doll that is seen in the beginning of the book is a symbol for the oppression of women. The doll has a pregnant stomach and wears the staple red dress and white hat. The pregnant stomach symbolizes the sole role that women play in the novel of breeding, while the white hat that covers the doll's face represents the motive of women not being heard.
What aspects of the Testaments align to today’s society?
Margaret Atwood confirmed in an interview that all the scenes written in The Testaments, like in The Handmaid’s Tale, are based on real events that have happened somewhere in the real world.
How did the theme of religion influence Gilead’s regime?
Gilead believes that their regime is fueled by God himself. All violence, oppression, and ruthlessness is justified in their eyes because they believe that this is what is spiritually correct and how it is meant to be. Since the scenes in The Testaments are based on historically accurate events, the horrid happenings in the series that are encouraged by religion can be taken as a warning from Atwood.
What was the reason that this book was banned?
The Testaments has been challenged for a multitude of reasons. The book is compiled and based off of real historical events that have happened in various places in the world, which also leads to one of the most famous controversies, it’s threatening tone to today's society. The book imbues many important modern issues regarding women. It challenges the stereotypical picture of women today and pushes women to fight oppression.
Why was Offred important in the second books?
At the end it was seen that she managed to get away, but she was pregnant and had a kid who was believed to be Baby Nicole who was half sisters with Agnes who was taken from Offred when she became a handmaid.
Gilead can be seen as a symbol or an allusion to today's government. They align in many ways including discrimination, sexism, classism, and repression of women. While Gilead is very radical compared to the United State government, Gilead also started out in subtle movements and instances, which we found out in our read of The Handmaid’s Tale.
What is one of the aligning events seen in The Testaments and in the Real World?
The the book, Aunt Lydia, one of the women who helped to design Gilead because of outside force, advocates for a separate “women’s sphere”, where some women or the “Aunts” can oversee and upbring the women in roles such as handmaidens, while ultimately the men will still be in charge. While this isn’t necessarily positive, it relates to women in the nineteenth century that would lean into their authority over domestic matters such as cooking, cleaning, and housework. Both situations were dominated by men, but the women chose to find solace where to could to keep a shred of autonomy in their life.
How does Gender roles play as a theme in The Testaments?
The book's purpose relies solely on the pretense of gender roles. Women have been totally exiled and deprived of their rights, while also stripped of their confidence and self-esteem. Because of the teachings, the women in Gilead self worth are very low. They were taught that they are inferior to men in every way, which they came to accept. Only when these teachings were slowly challenged and questioned, were some of the new generation, Agnes and Nicole, able to become a part of the rebellion and make a real difference in taking down the government.
Who challenged this book?
It is not specific on who challenged this book or what age group this book would be affected by, but the challenges come from the books intense graphics.
What was interesting about Daisy/Jade/Nicole?
She was wanted in Gilead because she was the one who they looked up to as "baby Nicole". They found her because she had a tattoo of God and Love in the shape of a cross.
What was the significance of the tattoo that Jade had?
It was the symbol that the pearl girls were looking for to take her to Gilead. It is also where Aunt Lydia hid a message to give back to the Mayday group.
How does this book compare to the Roe v. Wade controversial standings?
This book shows that women had little rights when it came to their bodies and that if they fell pregnant they could do nothing to terminate as well as they could not take contraceptives as it was a sin and they would be punished for it.
What are some of the themes discussed in class seen in The Testament?
In our first discussion of The Color Purple and in our third discussion of The Handmaid’s Tale, we talked about the roles of women and the trial and tribulations women face in society. Repression is a major theme found in The Testaments that were also incorporated into The Color Purple and The Handmaid’s Tale. Because of repression in Gilead, Agnes’ sexuality and personality are repressed by shame and fear to force her and all women into a submissive stance in society under men.
How did the themes of this book compare to the Handmaid's tale?
The Testaments focuses on three different point of views throughout their lives in Gilead which shows less of the violence that was experienced in the Handmaid's tale. We saw how the different lives that were lead had different experiences growing up in separate classes.