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Becka / Aunt Immortelle
Commander Judd is the leader of the Eyes and one of the Sons of Jacob, the original men who initiated the coup that gave rise to Gilead. As one of the most powerful men in Gilead, Judd both cooperates with and stands in opposition to Aunt Lydia, and the two share a very close—though tense and complex—relationship as they maintain their balance of power. It is Judd who orders Lydia’s initial arrest and torture and coerces her into helping him establish the social structures and rules that govern women in Gilead. However, Lydia’s power and influence gradually grow to the point that she represents a legitimate threat to him, and the two take up an uneasy truce as a result. As Lydia is well aware, Judd is also a pedophile and murderer who marries “child brides” and then surreptitiously kills them when they grow too old for his tastes. Although Judd technically outranks Lydia because he is a man, he is reliant on both her intel and her manipulative powers to achieve many of his aims, which increases their interdependence on each other even though they ultimately oppose each other’s aims. When Agnes is of marriageable age—around 12—Judd becomes engaged to her until Lydia rescues her by making her an Aunt. Although Judd works to uncover the plot against Gilead, he does not realize that Lydia is its orchestrator until is too late, and he presumably dies during Gilead’s fall from power.
Commander Judd Quotes in The Testaments
The The Testaments quotes below are all either spoken by Commander Judd or refer to Commander Judd. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 40
Quotes
“Perhaps one day you will be able to help me as you yourself have been helped. Good should be repaid with good. That is one of our rules of thumb, here at Ardua Hall.”
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Chapter 44
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Aunt Beatrice ordered in pizza for lunch, which we had with ice cream from the freezer. I said I was surprised that they were eating junk food: wasn’t Gilead against it, especially for women?
“It’s part of our tests as Pearl Girls,” said Aunt Dove. “We’re supposed to sample the fleshpot temptations of the outside world in order to understand them, and then reject them in our hearts.” She took another bite of pizza.
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Chapter 46
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The Angel’s real crime was not [smuggling] the lemons, however: he’d been accused of taking bribes from Mayday and aiding several Handmaids in their successful flight across our various borders. But the Commanders did not want this fact publicized: it would give people ideas. The official line is that there were no corrupt Angels and certainly no fleeing Handmaids; for why would one renounce God’s kingdom to plunge into the flaming pit?
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Chapter 68
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I had a flashback, not for the first time. In my brown sackcloth robe I raised the gun, aimed, shot. A bullet, or no bullet?
A bullet.
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Commander Judd Quotes in The Testaments
The The Testaments quotes below are all either spoken by Commander Judd or refer to Commander Judd. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 40
Quotes
“Perhaps one day you will be able to help me as you yourself have been helped. Good should be repaid with good. That is one of our rules of thumb, here at Ardua Hall.”
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 44
Quotes
Aunt Beatrice ordered in pizza for lunch, which we had with ice cream from the freezer. I said I was surprised that they were eating junk food: wasn’t Gilead against it, especially for women?
“It’s part of our tests as Pearl Girls,” said Aunt Dove. “We’re supposed to sample the fleshpot temptations of the outside world in order to understand them, and then reject them in our hearts.” She took another bite of pizza.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 46
Quotes
The Angel’s real crime was not [smuggling] the lemons, however: he’d been accused of taking bribes from Mayday and aiding several Handmaids in their successful flight across our various borders. But the Commanders did not want this fact publicized: it would give people ideas. The official line is that there were no corrupt Angels and certainly no fleeing Handmaids; for why would one renounce God’s kingdom to plunge into the flaming pit?
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Page Number and Citation:
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Chapter 68
Quotes
I had a flashback, not for the first time. In my brown sackcloth robe I raised the gun, aimed, shot. A bullet, or no bullet?
A bullet.
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Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
