Thoughts on the Social Form and Individuals’ Flowing: Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments

To cite this article: WU Lijuan. (2021). Thoughts on the Social Form and Individuals’ Flowing: Margaret Atwood’s The

Testaments. Asia-Pacific Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 1(4), 045-052, DOI: 10.53789/j.1653-0465.2021.0104.007

To link this article: https://doi.org/10.53789/j.1653-0465.2021.0104.007

Abstract: The contemporary Canadian writer Margaret Atwood’s new work The Testaments is full of concern for human nature, society and human living conditions. To some extent, the novel functions as a kind of medium that Atwood thinks can purify human nature and reveal the truth. The novel devotes itself to exploring a new social regime, an external form and an internal ideological foundation under the background of the original Gilead. Furthermore, the novel intends to reflect the essence of individuals’ freedom and explain the different ways of individuals’ evolution and consciousness through the detailed descriptions of Agnes and Nicole so as to realize the social redemption formed by the connection between people. In this sense, the novel reflects the will of human beings to pursue a universal social community and strengthens the individuals’ subjectivity in the community from the aspect of the public dimension.

Key Words: The Testaments; social form; individual; love; community

WU Lijuan Number 4 APJHSS.pdf