The Handmaid's Tale, #2
The Testaments
by Margaret Atwood
Contents
39
Overview
Agnes confronts her fear of books and reunites with Becka, now Aunt Immortelle, who outlines Supplicant training and the path to becoming an Aunt. Becka offers to help Agnes learn to read and to petition Aunt Lydia for Agnes to stay, underscoring Lydia’s formidable influence within Ardua Hall.
Summary
Agnes, alone in Ardua Hall, overcomes fear and picks up a book, surprised when nothing terrible happens. She recognizes the marks as meaningful but cannot read them.
Becka enters, now renamed Aunt Immortelle and serving as a Supplicant. Agnes breaks down over her forced engagement to an important man and admits she cannot go through with it. Becka relates how she avoided marriage by declaring a calling and beginning Aunt training.
Becka explains the Supplicant trial: domestic labor and learning to read, which she says is harder than cleaning toilets. She demonstrates by reading from the Ardua Hall Rule Book and promises to help Agnes learn if Agnes is allowed to stay.
Becka proposes asking Aunt Lydia to let Agnes live with her in the dormitory. She warns Agnes never to criticize Aunt Lydia, describing Lydia as the scariest Aunt because she truly sees people and demands they become better, a quality Agnes finds both frightening and compelling.
Who Appears
- Agnes (later Aunt Victoria)Narrator; fears marriage, picks up a book, and seeks refuge and training at Ardua Hall.
- Becka (Aunt Immortelle)Now a Supplicant; explains training, reads from the Rule Book, and offers to help Agnes and petition Aunt Lydia.
- Aunt LydiaAbsent but pivotal; may decide Agnes’s lodging. Seen as terrifying for seeing people clearly and demanding better.
- Aunt VidalaMentioned as punitive; contrasted with Aunt Lydia regarding motives for enforcing rules.