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Chapter 62
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 finds the clothing of the outside world disturbing and thinks that the underwear feels “slippery and depraved.” Although Nicole assures her that she is wearing women’s jeans, Agnes believes that all jeans are men’s clothing and that she is committing “gender treachery,” which is a capital offense in Gilead. They meet the man outside and climb into a pickup truck with him, and he drives them away into the falling darkness. Agnes falls asleep and dreams that Becka is there as well, sitting in the truck beside her.
Agnes’s disgust at wearing “modern” clothing is the opposite of Nicole’s reaction, and thus denotes that Agnes is leaving behind the world she understands, is comparatively comfortable in, and entering a world which is entirely foreign to her. Her reflection on “gender treachery” being a capital offense suggests that Gilead treats breaking its strict gender norms as an unforgivable crime.
Themes
