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Chapter 20
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Testaments, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Religious Totalitarianism and Hypocrisy
Gender Roles
Truth, Knowledge, and Power
Shame, Fear, and Repression
Choice
Summary
Analysis
Daisy sits in Ada’s car, trying to wrap her head around the thought of Neil and Melanie being dead. Ada steps out of the car, takes a wrench, and smashes her phone to pieces, claiming it’s a cautionary measure. It reminds Daisy of something a drug dealer would do. Daisy wants to get out of the car and go to the police, and Ada gives her that choice, though warns her that she’d wind up in foster care at best, and advises her not to go home, above all else. The cops will be useless, Ada suggests. Daisy decides to stay and asks Ada if she’s a cop, but Ada says that the less Daisy knows, the better.
Significantly, Ada recognizes the need to preserve Daisy’s ability to choose for herself, even if that choice could potentially get Daisy killed. Ada’s allowance for Daisy to decide for herself, even if there is only one reasonable choice, suggests that the ability to choose and exercise personal autonomy is critically important. This is especially true for women, since that choice and autonomy have been threatened so often throughout history.
Themes
They arrive at a Quaker church and enter. Daisy sees rows of cots inside with women lying in some of them, as well as armchairs and other women scattered about. Ada explains that this is SanctuCare, an organization for Gilead refugees. Ada leaves Daisy sitting at a table with some tea while she runs an errand and asks her not to move. Daisy watches as another group of Gilead women arrive and are received by the SanctuCare workers, who comfort them and advise them to “be strong.” Being strong puts a lot of pressure on a person.
The fact that a Quaker church, a Christian denomination, is offering care to Gilead refugees and thus working in active opposition to Gilead’s theocracy suggests that the novel is not criticizing Christianity as a whole or religion at large, but its integration into government and the abuse of religious teachings to uphold a tyrannical and oppressive system.
Themes
Ada returns with a bag of clothes, relieved that Daisy is still where she left her, and tells her to change into something she’d never wear otherwise, adding orange sunglasses and red lipstick. Daisy briefly wonders if she is being abducted but realizes she has nowhere else to go even if she is. Ada sees her changed appearance and remarks that their “secret” is safe for the time being, and Daisy wonders what that secret is.
For Daisy, still kept in the dark about the events surrounding her, rescue and abduction seem nearly the same thing and cause a lot of worry and stress in either case. This again suggests that concealing knowledge and keeping secrets help no one—honesty would be better for all individuals involved.
Themes
