Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Testaments, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Religious Totalitarianism and Hypocrisy
Gender Roles
Truth, Knowledge, and Power
Shame, Fear, and Repression
Choice
Summary
Analysis
Nine years before this writing, Aunt Lydia attends the unveiling ceremony of a large statue in her honor, though it is very rare for anyone to have a statue made of them while they are still alive. In the sculpture, a Handmaid and a Pearl Girl stand at her sides, and a taser hangs from her belt. The taser only reminds the real Lydia that she has failed in many of her efforts, since otherwise it would not have been a necessary tool. Now, nine years after its unveiling, the statue is spotted with moss and bird droppings.
Lydia’s introduction through the unveiling ceremony for her own statue immediately establishes her as a powerful, even mythic figure among her people. The taser on her belt suggests that she’s used forced and inflicted pain throughout her life, while the fact that she views the taser as a mark of failure suggests that she regrets such acts of force and would rather have achieved her aims without them.
Themes
Lydia writes from her inner sanctum in Ardua Hall’s library—one of the few libraries to survive the “enthusiastic book burnings” that have been sweeping the country. Lydia writes her manuscript away from prying eyes and surveillance cameras, and wonders if anyone will ever have the chance to read it.
Book burnings summon an image of the past—this practice was common under Nazi Germany, the Spanish Inquisition, and other oppressive regimes. By contrast, surveillance cameras are undeniably modern, suggesting that Gilead is a conflicting combination of old-world practices and beliefs with modern technology and power.
Themes
