Long crimson gowns and winged white headdresses have become a universal symbol of women’s oppression
THEY STOOD in a line outside the Capitol while senators considered a health-care bill that would restrict family-planning services. They reappeared in Washington to watch over the confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh, a controversial Supreme Court justice. In Ohio’s statehouse they sat, heads bowed, as lawmakers discussed banning a common abortion procedure. Each time the protest was silent. Their long crimson gowns and winged white headdresses made the point.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” imagines that the American government has been overthrown by the Sons of Jacob, a fundamentalist Christian group. They murder the president and members of Congress—“they blamed it on the Islamic fanatics”—suspend the constitution and declare the Republic of Gilead. In this totalitarian state, men and women have strict roles.
The new book leaps ahead of the TV series, which itself extended the drama of “The Handmaid’s Tale” far beyond Ms Atwood’s original novel. Set more than 15 years later, “The Testaments” has three main characters: Aunt Lydia, one of the architects of Gilead’s policies towards women; Agnes Jemima, Offred’s first daughter, who is still in Gilead; and Daisy, Offred’s second daughter, who, like her mother, has made it to the safety of Canada. The narrative alternates between their accounts.
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