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Chapter 53
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 and Becka struggle to train Jade in the right ways to behave. She is constantly loud and belligerent, complaining about the food or speaking ill of the place. Jade says that someday she wants to shave her head, just to see what it’s like, which disturbs both Becka and Agnes because “a woman’s hair is her glory.”
Becka and Agnes’s discomfort at the thought of a woman shaving her head demonstrates how entrenched Gilead’s gender norms are in their own psyches, as well has how little Jade regards such societal expectations, highlighting the divide between their respective worlds.
Themes
