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Chapter 18
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’s classmates revile her once again, since their Handmaid’s death was a sign of ill-fortune. Agnes reflects that their school has two religions: one taught by the Aunts about God and women’s place in society, the other comprised of the superstitions and songs that the girls share amongst themselves. Some of those songs are made into games about hanging Handmaids on the Wall, and one of them lists off the many crimes a Handmaid could commit in order of severity, though kissing is regarded as more severe than murder, which Agnes finds strange. The older girls have their own superstitions, though theirs are serious rhymes to help them remember the unwritten rules of society and shame. Agnes’s friends at school ignore her now, except for Becka, and at home everyone is preoccupied with the new baby. The universe feels unfair.
Once again, Agnes’s classmates’ derision towards her due to family events completely beyond her control demonstrate the manner in which prejudices are passed down from one generation to the next. This prejudice is reiterated by the songs and games the girls make up about hanging Handmaids and so forth. The fact that kissing, and thus adultery, is regarded as a more severe crime than murder demonstrates how woefully misaligned Gilead’s morality has become. Adultery’s place as the ultimate sin suggests that everything in Gilead revolves around controlling women and keeping them confined to the bounds of marriage.
Themes
