Discussion Questions for The Testaments by Margaret
Atwood
1) Do you think The Handmaid’s Tale needed a sequel? Were
your questions answered by the end of the novel, or do you have even more?
2) Did The Testaments change your perception of Aunt Lydia?
Why or why not?
3) Even though Gilead seems to allude to having a lot of the
same technology as the rest of the world, unbabies, deaths during childbirth,
and other fatal/serious ailments seem to be the norm there. Why do you think
this is?
4) When Nicole and Agnes are travelling to Canada, Nicole
says “Just because people are related to you doesn’t mean you love them.” Agnes
replies “Love is like a discipline, like prayer.” How have the girls’
upbringings developed their perception of what love is?
5) Why do you think Atwood called the novel The Testaments?
6) Of all the groups of women in Gilead, who do you think
has the most “freedom”?
7) Men are not portrayed very favorably in The Testaments.
Are there any male characters who have redeeming features? Is it possible to be
a man in Gilead and NOT be a bad person?
8) The novel has multiple narrators. How does this format
help you to understand the story in different ways? How effective did you find
the narration to be?
