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116 pages 3 hours read

The Testaments

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019

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Part 19Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 19: “Study”

Chapter 52 Summary: “The Ardua Hall Holograph”

Aunt Lydia is furtively writing in her memoir when Aunt Vidala suddenly appears. Aunt Lydia hides her memoir. Aunt Vidala wishes to discuss an important matter. At the Schlafly Cafe, Aunt Vidala says that she is concerned about the new Pearl, Jade and mentions that her tattoo seems like an attempt to manipulate them. She suspects Jade’s a Mayday spy and wants to interrogate her.

Concerned, Aunt Lydia asks Commander Judd for an emergency meeting at his home. Shunammite opens the door for her, which is strange, as door opening is a task for Marthas. Shunammite looks very sickly. She has lasted longer than most of Commander Judd’s Wives and did manage to get pregnant, though it had been an Unbaby.

Shunammite tells Aunt Lydia she’s not supposed to say she’s sick and the Commander won’t give her permission to go to the Ardua Hall clinic. Aunt Lydia assures Shunammite that she will obtain the Commander’s permission, for which Shunammite tearfully thanks her.

Commander Judd is waiting in his study, which Aunt Lydia has visited before, sometimes without his presence, as he leaves important documents there. There are many books on the shelves, like all Commanders’ studies. Commander Judd favors biographical histories of dictators, as well as vintage pornography.

Aunt Lydia reports that Aunt Vidala suspects Jade of being an infiltrator and wishes to interrogate her. There must be an order from the Eyes protecting Jade until they reveal her as Baby Nicole. Aunt Lydia says that Aunt Vidala cannot know the girl’s identity and that she is no longer fully reliable. Commander Judd asks for an explanation, but Aunt Lydia replies that he will have to simply trust her for the moment. She adds that Shunammite should go to Ardua Hall for medical treatment. Commander Judd, after a pause, says that it would be preferable for Shunammite to be in Aunt Lydia’s care “in case she might develop a fatal illness” (316).

Aunt Lydia then tells her reader that she has reached a critical juncture. She can continue her plan to use Nicole to send out her packet of information, which would mean the end of Gilead and her own demise if she is discovered, or she can hand the girl over to Commander Judd, which would mean Nicole’s certain death, though Aunt Lydia would reap a great deal of power that could be used to nullify Aunt Vidala. 

Part 19 Analysis

Aunt Lydia tries to calmly dissuade Aunt Vidala from interrogating Jade, which she is all too eager to do. Aunt Vidala calls Aunt Lydia on her perceived hypocrisy, when Aunt Lydia claims to prefer more subtle methods of investigation: “‘You didn’t prefer them in the early days,’ said Vidala. ‘You were all for the primary colours. You didn’t used to mind a little blood’” (314). Aunt Vidala is telling Aunt Lydia that she is not better, not loftier, that all the Founder Aunts have gotten their hands dirty. Aunt Lydia has never relished the infliction of pain in the way Aunt Vidala does.

Aunt Lydia takes the problem to Commander Judd, knowing that she needs an order of protection from the Eyes so that she can shield Nicole from Aunt Vidala. Their meeting takes place in his study, that mysterious world where only the Commanders of the household can venture. Besides books and information, Commander Judd’s study also features another illicit object, a saucy 19th-century painting of a nude young girl with fairy wings: “That’s what Judd likes—young girls who can be viewed as not fully human, with a naughty core to them. That excuses his treatment of them” (315). Dehumanizing women is at the core of Gilead, especially for men like Commander Judd, who has used his position to supply himself with young Wives. With divorce not an option, he simply disposes of his Wives when he tires of them.

Alone with her memoir again, Aunt Lydia weighs her options, now that her plan is coming to a head: “I have two choices: I can proceed with my risky and even reckless plan, attempt to transfer my packet of explosives by means of young Nicole, and, if successful, give both Judd and Gilead the first shove over the cliff” (317). She knows this could also mean her own death, should she be discovered. At this point, Aunt Lydia is still not fully sure which path she will choose, though time is running out for her to decide.

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