The Handmaid's Tale, #2
The Testaments
by Margaret Atwood
Contents
6
Overview
Aunt Lydia contemplates mortality and reputation, then uses a spring feast to reinforce obedience and the Baby Nicole myth. She notes rival Aunts’ maneuverings, visits Ardua Hall’s secret archives, and resumes her hidden memoir. She frames her writing as a defense of her life, recalling her pre-Gilead judgeship and arrest.
Summary
Aunt Lydia prepares for bed and assesses her aging body and public image, weighing possible ends—from honored relic to executed monster. She asserts a remaining freedom: to choose how and when to act, and whom to bring down, hinting at a calculated endgame.
At the Spring Equinox supper, Aunt Lydia leads prayers and a crafted motto, invoking Baby Nicole to stoke loyalty and fear. She uses ritual—the dyed eggs and hymn—to reinforce obedience, while privately savoring Baby Nicole’s political usefulness.
During the hymn, Aunt Lydia reflects on the beauty that persists in Gilead despite repression. Afterward, she watches Aunt Elizabeth, Aunt Helena, and Aunt Vidala for signs of rivalry, noting small acts that reveal shifting alliances and potential threats.
That night, Aunt Lydia makes her customary walk to the Hildegard Library. She passes through the Reading Room and the guarded Bloodlines Genealogical Archives, emphasizing their role in preventing incest and consolidating Ardua Hall’s power through secret knowledge.
In a hidden nook within the Forbidden World Literature section, she retrieves her manuscript concealed inside Cardinal Newman’s Apologia. She names it a defense of her life and recalls her prior identity as a family court judge who believed herself virtuous, ending with the turning point: the day she was arrested.
Who Appears
- Aunt LydiaNarrator; reflects on power, mortality, and strategy; leads Equinox rites; monitors rival Aunts; safeguards archives; hides her secret manuscript.
- Aunt VidalaRival Aunt; watchful and unsettled during the feast, signaling possible intrigue against Lydia or others.
- Aunt ElizabethRival Aunt; takes an extra egg, revealing entitlement and positioning within internal power dynamics.
- Aunt HelenaRival Aunt; ostentatiously self-denying, courting moral superiority to influence perceptions.
- Baby NicoleSymbolic missing child; invoked in prayers to galvanize loyalty and justify vigilance against enemies.
- SupplicantsYoung trainees; sing the hymn and study, embodying the indoctrination Lydia orchestrates.
- Night LibrarianGuardian of the Hildegard Library; present during Lydia’s nocturnal visit to restricted collections.