The Handmaid's Tale, #2
The Testaments
by Margaret Atwood
Contents
16
Overview
Agnes endures teasing at school, then seeks the truth about her origins from Zilla, who confirms Tabitha was not her birth mother and that the biological mother was likely turned into a Handmaid. Reeling, Agnes grows obsessed with the household Handmaid, Ofkyle, and secretly searches her room while her hatred for Paula intensifies.
The revelation reshapes Agnes’s identity and heightens her isolation, steering her toward covert curiosity and quiet rebellion.
Summary
At school, Agnes works on embroidered handkerchiefs for the Aunts but pricks her finger, prompting classmates’ period jokes and a reprimand from Aunt Vidala. Aunt Estée tends the wound and gently urges cheerfulness, while Agnes silently wrestles with confusion about mothers and what truly defines one.
Back home, Agnes confronts Zilla with Shunammite’s rumor. Zilla confirms that Tabitha was not Agnes’s birth mother and frames motherhood as love rather than biology. Pressed further, Zilla explains that Agnes’s birth mother was likely taken to the Rachel and Leah Centre and turned into a Handmaid, her name erased and fate unknown.
The confirmation devastates Agnes, who clings to the stigmatizing belief that Handmaids were once “sluts,” yet imagines that her birth mother loved her because she tried to flee with her. Agnes’s resentment toward her stepmother Paula hardens, noting Paula’s quiet removal of Tabitha’s traces from the house.
Fixated on the household Handmaid, Ofkyle, Agnes secretly watches her departures and sneaks into Ofkyle’s room to search for clues, fantasizing that Ofkyle might be her real mother. She finds nothing personal—only regulated garments and an empty suitcase—intensifying her sense of loss and isolation.
Who Appears
- AgnesNarrator; confirms Tabitha isn’t her birth mother, fixates on Ofkyle, and secretly searches the Handmaid’s room.
- ZillaMartha; gently confirms the rumor and explains Agnes’s birth mother was likely turned into a Handmaid.
- OfkyleHousehold Handmaid; subject of Agnes’s fascination and secret room searches, offering no clues to her past.
- PaulaStepmother; subtly removes Tabitha’s items, deepening Agnes’s resentment.
- Aunt EstéeTeacher; tends Agnes’s pricked finger and preaches cheerfulness and caring duties.
- Aunt VidalaStrict teacher; halts teasing in class and is associated with punitive discipline.
- ShunammiteClassmate; spreads the rumor about Agnes’s origins that triggers the confrontation.
- GabrielaClassmate; mocks Agnes about getting her period.
- TabithaDeceased adoptive mother; remembered through a painting Paula banishes from view.
- BeckaClassmate; mentioned among girls who have begun menstruating.