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
Daisy spends most weekends at The Clothes Hound since Melanie never lets her be home alone, though never offers a good reason why. Daisy spends her days there sorting clothing at a back table and watching customers come and go. Street people often come in to use the restroom, since they know Melanie will let them in as long as she knows them. One of these people is a man named George, whom Daisy finds unsettling, but Melanie seems to like. Ada, an older, “angular” woman who wears black leather biker gear and no makeup, also comes in often. She never buys anything, but Melanie always gives her a box of clothing which she takes “for charity.” Daisy notices that Ada never drives the same car twice; they’re always different.
Once again, Melanie’s refusal to let Daisy be home alone and Ada and George’s constant and mysterious presence suggests that something is occurring below the surface, even if Daisy does not truly suspect it yet. The secrecy surrounding Daisy’s life with Neil and Melanie creates and interesting parallel with the secrecy covering everything in Gilead, suggesting that as evil as Gilead and its enforced ignorance may seem, such things often occur in the “normal” outside world as well, whether or not they happen for good reason.
Themes
Pearl Girls often come to the store as well. As Gilead’s missionaries, the young women in long silvery dresses try to entice homeless or vulnerable people to join their country. Many people hate them, but Melanie is always kind and accepts their brochures. They always carry brochures about Baby Nicole too, demanding her return to Gilead. But Baby Nicole is as much an icon of Canada’s anti-Gilead protests as she is an icon for Gilead. Daisy wrote a paper in middle school arguing that Canada ought to just give Nicole back and stop treating her like “a football” so everyone could just settle down. This enraged her teacher, which was Daisy’s intent.
Daisy’s feeling that Baby Nicole is handled like a football again suggests that, by treating Nicole as an icon and a symbol rather than a human being, both Gilead and the anti-Gilead movement dehumanize her. This is reiterated by the fact that, 15 years after Baby Nicole is smuggled out of Gilead, both parties still call her Baby Nicole rather than simply Nicole, who is a mere human being and would now be a teenager.
Themes
Melanie always promises the Pearl Girls that she will keep a little stack of brochures in the store and gives the old ones back to them each time they visit. Daisy asks Melanie why she does this rather than tell them that they’re evil, since their family are atheists, anyway, and anyone (especially women) who could participate in such a regime must be monsters. After Melanie gives a non-answer, Daisy decides she’ll tell them herself, but Melanie sharply warns her to never go near them.
Daisy’s opinion that any woman who participates in Gilead is a monster is a direct condemnation of characters such as Lydia or Agnes, and embodies the over-simplified view that the story tries to combat, suggesting instead that the individuals within an evil regime are not always themselves evil by necessity, but possibly swept up in greater events beyond their control.
Themes
