The Testaments

After her first arrival at Ardua Hall, Agnes asks Becka about libraries, that they are rooms full of books, such as the Hildegard Library that is accessible by the Aunts. Becka tells her that the dangerous books are in the Reading Room, which requires special permission. If an Aunt reads a Reading Room book without permission, there would be a Correction, a punishment meted out in one of the soundproof rooms in the cellar.

Agnes, now Aunt Victoria, finds the prospect of leaving Gilead as a Pearl Girl frightening. Becka explains that Gilead is not a large country and it has many countries bordering it. Agnes is anxious about whether she’ll pass her probation period at Ardua Hall. She finds the requirements of virtues difficult: “Obedience, subservience, docility: these were the virtues required” (291), and reading is even harder. She starts with primers, stories about children named Dick and Jane that someone has altered to suit Gilead, with Jane wearing long skirts. Next, Agnes reads Aunt Vidala’s book of rhymes in which girls disobey and terrible things happen to them.

Not all girls can stay at Ardua Hall. Becka describes Aunt Lily, who had received a Correction for talking back. After the Correction, Aunt Lily said that she was not suited to be an Aunt and did not want to marry. Aunt Elizabeth and Aunt Vidala thought she needed a stronger Correction, so she stayed alone in a cellar room for a month with only bread and water. After the Aunts released her, they decided that she would be married after all, but she disappeared. She was found in a rooftop cistern with stones in her pockets, but the Aunts lied at the funeral and said she had a brain aneurysm.

One day, Shunammite comes to visit Agnes. She is pleased to see Agnes, now Aunt Victoria, looking so well. Agnes realizes that Paula must have told everyone that she was a lunatic. Agnes is so amused to hear Shunammite refer to Paula so familiarly, as a fellow Wife. Shunammite worries that Agnes is angry because she “stole” her husband. 

Agnes can now read Bible verses, then practices reading songs. Agnes sings the hymns from a hymn book that Tabitha had sang to her at night, and Becka says that she was so lucky to have someone to sing to her. Agnes also learns to write by copying Biblical phrases, which she begins to question.

Agnes performs other tasks, such as painting the Jane picture books and helping in the kitchen. The Aunts supervise tasks such as toilet cleaning as a test to promote obedience, with a junior Aunt in charge.

Agnes passes her probation period and can now go into the Hildegard Library. At first, Agnes can only go into the outer room, but soon she receives a pass for the Reading Room. Her job is to make copies of Aunt Lydia’s speeches. Sometimes, Aunt Lydia passes by Agnes on the way to her to her private room. Becka and Agnes become very close, telling each other things that they had never told anyone. 

Agnes can finally read the Bible. Becka, who has already gained access to the Bible, tells Agnes that she needs to warn her before she begins, that the Aunts’ teachings were false. She directs her to the Concubine Cut into Twenty Pieces story. Agnes remembers Aunt Estée’s explanation that the concubine had sacrificed herself. As Agnes reads, the story is very different: The girl didn’t go willingly, and her master cut her up into pieces like a butchered animal. Agnes is distraught.

For the first time, Agnes begins to doubt the truthfulness of Gilead’s theology. Becka tells Agnes that she had felt the same and now believes that what Gilead says about God is not true; you can believe in God or in Gilead, but not both. Agnes fears she cannot believe in either. 

Three years after she reads the Bible story, Agnes finds a blue folder tucked into the usual silver folder with her daily assignment at the library. In it is an account of what had really happened to Paula’s first husband. There had been no illicit relationship between the Commander and the Handmaid. Paula and Commander Kyle had been having an affair, even before Tabitha had died. Paula had told the Handmaid that she would help her escape. After the girl ran, Paula killed her husband herself. She bribed and threatened her Martha to lie. Angels caught the Handmaid, since the maps and Mayday contacts Paula had given her were false. The Handmaid swore under interrogation that she knew nothing of the murder, but finally she broke and made a false confession. She was hanged.

Agnes feels overwhelmed by this information, that the Aunts had known what had happened and an innocent Handmaid has died for Paula’s crime. Agnes wonders why she has such dangerous information. She wonders if it is true, if someone is working to turn her against Gilead. She also wonders if this information is what had made Paula give in to Aunt Lydia and allow Agnes to stay in Ardua Hall. The mysterious folder is gone the next day.

Over the next two years, Agnes finds more secret folders tucked inside her work folder, describing evidence of many crimes. Agnes learns of Handmaids who are framed, plots by Commanders at the highest level, Wives who schemed against other Wives or who were innocent of charges that led to their hanging, and how commonly witnesses to crimes are lying; “Beneath its outer show of virtue and purity, Gilead was rotting” (308).

Commander Judd’s file is thick and disturbing, showing his pattern of disposing of his Wives. Agnes is thankful for the help she received to escape this fate and worries about Shunammite. Agnes wonders why she is receiving these files. She realizes that this is what Aunts do: they collect information, record it, and use it to achieve their goals. Agnes sees that if she becomes a full Aunt, this is what she will be, a powerful judge of wickedness and dispenser of punishment. Agnes finds the idea tempting.