Dialogue and Growth: The Transformative Power of Female Characters in Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments

Abstract

This paper aims to revisit the self-psychological growth of female protagonists within multiple dialogues in Margaret Atwood’s latest fiction The Testaments (2019). The plot of this novel is formed and deployed through three female narrators, Aunt Lydia, a character from the previous novel, as well as two next-generations, Agnes Jemima and Daisy who witness and experience the oppressive and suffocating female condition in Gilead. By utilizing Bakhtinian keywords, such as monologue, heteroglossia, polyphony, double-voices, etc., this article focuses on how the characters fight against the ‘monological world’ Gilead through Aunt Lydia’s imaginative dialogue with the reader and her previous self as well as her official discourse with others, the ‘micro-dialogue’ of two sisters, and dialogues among three of them. Along with their dialogues, the protagonists’ self-consciousness is marked by autonomy, fluidity, openness, and growth-turn, which enable them to form a sisterhood and lead their respective ‘Testaments’ to challenge Gilead rules. Margaret Atwood gives voice to marginalized women, which shatters the male-centered narratives. This arrangement is consistent with the core of M. M. Bakhtin’s dialogue theory, while also offering more possibilities for addressing the complexities and precariousness of contemporary female existence. (Chungnam National University)