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
Agnes practices reading and writing with approved Bible verses and hymns, transcribing them with metal nibs and ink or pencils. Writing materials are not easily available in Gilead since women are forbidden writing and few men have any need of it for their jobs. “What else would people be writing about?” As Agnes copies down verses and virtues, she wonders constantly about what she is transcribing and realizes that learning to read and write has not brought answers to her life, only more and more questions.
Gilead seems to fear literacy and creativity even amongst men, which suggests that literature naturally leads one to question their own presuppositions and beliefs, which would threaten an authoritarian religious rule. This is confirmed by the constant questions Agnes has about the virtues and scriptures she’s given to transcribe.
Themes
The months pass and Agnes learns not only to read, but to pass the other tests of obedience the Aunts dole out, such as washing the same toilet repeatedly even when it is perfectly clean. Even so, she passes her six-month trial and becomes a full Supplicant, which grants her access to Ardua Hall’s library and even the Reading Room, where Agnes is assigned a desk and work transcribing Lydia’s many sermons. Lydia often passes Agnes’s desk on her way to her own locked office, where the real secrets are kept. As months and years pass, Becka and Agnes continue to grow closer and share all of their life’s pains and fears with each other, including the events with Crystal and Dr. Grove. They come to see each other as sisters.
Agnes’s time in Ardua Hall gives her a newfound sense of agency—despite the emphasis on obedience, Agnes is given real work to do for the first time in her life—and the chance for education. Her growing relationship with Becka also provides her first experience of human warmth and intimacy from someone beyond her immediate family. This suggests that Ardua Hall, removed from the laws and strictures of Gilead, allows Agnes to become a fully realized individual.
Themes
