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Chapter 41
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
Nicole, now going by Jade as instructed, begins living on the streets with Garth, both wearing old ratty clothes like street people. Jade is secretly infatuated with Garth but does not know how to flirt. They start by panhandling outside of a bank. Jade is nervous and irritable and snaps at Garth over nothing, but Garth tells her to save her anger “for Gilead.” Jade knows she is being childish but feels like Garth draws it out of her.
Once again, Jade is depicted as childish, especially in comparison to Agnes or Becka, which seems to suggest that, having grown up in a much safer, freer environment, Jade was not forced to develop the caution and seriousness that Agnes and Becka always maintain.
Themes
As they are sitting on the sidewalk, two Pearl Girls approach and Garth warns Jade to stay silent. When they ask Jade if he is prostituting her and if she wants to come with them, where no one is homeless, Garth puts his arm over her protectively and angrily tells them off. Although Jade knows the Pearl Girls are evil, she’s touched by their kind demeanor. The Pearl Girls leave, confusing Jade since she’d assumed they’d take her right away, but Garth promises they’ll be back.
The brief gratitude that Jade feels for the Pearl Girls, despite knowing the oppression towards women they represent, suggests that young women such as Jade must be enticed into Gilead by the Pearl Girls’ gentleness and kind demeanors before they are able to realize what kind of society they’ve truly entered into.
Themes
