The Handmaid's Tale, #2
The Testaments
by Margaret Atwood
Contents
10
Overview
Daisy attends an anti-Gilead protest that turns volatile as counter-protesters clash with students and police move in. Ada pulls Daisy to safety. That night, news footage heightens Neil and Melanie’s alarm, prompting urgent plans to relocate, signaling that Daisy’s exposure has raised the stakes and forced swift action.
Summary
Daisy arrives downtown at a tightly packed anti-Gilead protest near the Legislature. Speakers recount atrocities—forced labor in the Colonies, death marches, missing babies—and invoke Baby Nicole as a symbol. Daisy’s school group chants alongside activists, surrounded by rival signage and mood swings.
Counter-protesters appear, including Pearl Girls with hostile slogans. Tensions spike as eggs are thrown. Masked agitators smash windows, and riot police surge in, striking people with batons. Daisy’s initial exhilaration flips to fear; the crowd compresses and panics, and Daisy is jostled and winded.
Ada suddenly finds Daisy, drags her through the crush, and gets her to a side street away from the chaos. Daisy later watches the televised footage, recognizing the sensation of being in a riot.
At home, Daisy expects anger but finds anxiety. Neil asks why she went; Daisy cites standing up against injustice. In private, Melanie and Neil debate next steps. After Daisy returns with water, she overhears them: Melanie insists they must move immediately and call Ada for a van, while Neil protests the lack of a fallback.
The chapter closes with the household on edge—Daisy’s public exposure has triggered urgent, covert contingency planning, and Neil deflects Daisy’s questions by sending her to do homework.
Who Appears
- DaisyTeen narrator who attends a protest, is caught in violence, rescued by Ada, and later sees herself on the news.
- AdaGravel-voiced ally who locates Daisy in the riot and extracts her to safety.
- MelanieDaisy’s guardian; alarmed by the exposure and pushes for an immediate, covert move.
- NeilDaisy’s guardian; anxious but cautious, resists moving without a prepared fallback.