She knows she will have to do terrible things to ensure her survival but she has accepted this in order to climb her way to the top, just as she pulled herself up from a low-class childhood to become a judge. This quote depicts Lydia’s decision to ultimately fight for her survival in the newly-formed Gilead. I needed to work the angles, once I could find out what the angles were. “I needed to revert to the mulish underclass child, the determined drudge, the brainy overachiever, the strategic ladder-climber who’d got me to the social perch from which I’d just been deposed. She notes that women of Aunt Lydia’s generation had to live through this stark contrast and adapt, in a way that the next generation did not. They grew up only knowing Gilead’s strict regime, and could not have fathomed the freedoms and rights enjoyed by women previously. This quote shows that looking back, Agnes sees that her and other Gileadean children never knew about the way life used to be for women. They had a ruthlessness about that that we lacked”.

I’m afraid we did not fully appreciate the extent to which those of Aunt Lydia’s generation had been harden in the fire. “But it’s difficult to be grateful for the absence of an unknown quantity. It wasn’t until she went to work and was rounded up by guards that she realized she had misjudged how severe the situation had become and was now caught in it.

Despite hearing daily how badly things were going, and even seeing the government shut down, she believed things would get better and the issues would resolved. This quote details how Lydia waited too long before attempting to leave the US. “You don’t believe the sky is falling until a chunk of it falls on you.” Lydia We are thankful for their contributions and encourage you to make your own.

These notes were contributed by members of the GradeSaver community.

Atwood the testaments