Previous
Chapter 4
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
Tabitha is dying, but nobody tells Agnes. She finds out this information from Shunammite, a girl at school who claims to be her best friend. Becka also attends their school, though the other girls look down on her since her father is not a Commander, but only a highly regarded dentist. Aunt Vidala discourages close relationships, however, arguing that such relationships lead to whispering, planning, and rebellion. And while rebellious men turn into traitors, rebellious women turn into adulteresses, which is far worse and merits execution. Aunt Estée claims that this fearmongering is unnecessary.
Agnes’s peers’ prejudice towards Becka for not being a Commander’s daughter suggests that children absorb their parents’ classism even at a young age. Aunt Vidala, who gleefully embodies many of the worst aspects of Gilead, treats adultery as a far graver crime than treason, which suggests that Gilead’s chief concern is not national security, but repressing women and keeping them submissive, fearful, and obedient.
Themes
Shunammite’s family only has one Martha, as opposed to Agnes’s three. Even so, Shunammite is belligerent and headstrong, and sometimes bullies other girls, but Agnes does not have the wherewithal to stand up to her. When Shunammite tells Agnes that Tabitha is dying during lunch, Agnes does not believe her, and claims she only has a condition. Shunammite insists that one of the Marthas told her it was so.
Although Agnes comes from a privileged family, she is not the strongest, bravest, or prettiest of her peers. This characterizes Agnes as a largely average girl, which strongly contrasts with Lydia, whose is immensely powerful and cunning, and allows the narrative to explore events from both angles.
Themes
When Agnes gets home from school, she angrily confronts her Marthas and demands to know which one of them lied to Shunammite. Zilla apologizes and tells Agnes that they’d all assumed she knew that Tabitha was dying already, that her parents would’ve told her, though Commander Kyle is almost never home now. Tabitha dies two days later, and Agnes feels as if a piece of her has been ripped away. She hopes that angels will take Tabitha’s soul to heaven, like in their prayers, but some part of her doubts this.
Even within Agnes’s immediate family, withholding information seems to be the prevailing instinct, reiterating the manner in which Agnes, as a female, is kept ignorant and in the dark as much as possible. Her father’s absence even during her mother’s death suggests that Kyle did not care for his wife and has no interest in his daughter’s emotional well-being.
Themes
