The Thanks Giving

The Thanks Giving is the central ceremonial event at Ardua Hall that marks the return of the Pearl Girls from their missionary work abroad. It is a ritual of both celebration and transformation, in which the returning missionaries are promoted from Supplicants to full Aunts, and the young women they have converted—the newly gathered 'Pearls'—are formally inducted into Gilead. The ceremony is a public display of the Aunts' power and the regime's ideological reach, but it also becomes the stage for a covert operation that will ultimately help bring down Gilead.

Structure and Ritual

The Thanks Giving takes place in the Ardua Hall chapel, which is filled with Aunts in their brown uniforms and Pearl Girls in their silvery dresses. The ceremony begins with the singing of a hymn adapted from 'Bringing in the Sheaves,' now 'Bringing in the Pearls,' which the congregation sings with evident joy. Each returning Pearl Girl leads a young convert—a 'Pearl of Great Price'—down the aisle. At the front of the chapel hangs a large gold-framed picture of Baby Nicole, the iconic stolen infant whose image is used to inspire loyalty and hatred against Gilead's enemies. The ceremony is presided over by Aunt Lydia, the main Founder of the Aunts, who declares the returning Pearl Girls to be full Aunts 'with all the powers and privileges associated thereto.' The converts are then presented one by one: each Pearl Girl removes her own string of pearls, lays it in a shallow dish before Aunt Lydia, and formally presents the new Pearl, who is made to kneel. Aunt Lydia then places her hand on the convert's head, welcomes her 'Under His Eye, Per Ardua Cum Estrus,' and the congregation repeats the welcome.

Nicole's Arrival and the Thanks Giving

Nicole, under the alias Jade, is brought to the Thanks Giving immediately upon her arrival in Gilead, before she has even been shown where she will sleep. Aunt Beatrice, the Pearl Girl who converted her, leads her down the aisle and presents her as 'a precious Pearl of Great Price, saved from certain destruction.' Nicole is made to kneel, and Aunt Lydia places her hand on Nicole's head, welcoming her. The ceremony is the first public event Nicole experiences in Gilead, and it is immediately followed by an all-night vigil of silent meditation and prayer for the new Pearls. The Thanks Giving thus marks the official beginning of Nicole's life as a convert in Gilead, a life that is immediately revealed to be a precarious and deceptive one.

Significance and Consequences

The Thanks Giving is not merely a religious ritual; it is a key moment in the novel's plot. It is during this ceremony that Nicole is introduced to the Aunts and the other converts, and it is the event that sets the stage for her subsequent assignment to the apartment of Agnes and Becka. The ceremony also becomes a point of suspicion for Aunt Vidala, who later tells Aunt Lydia that she finds the new girl Jade 'unlikely' and suspects her of being a Mayday infiltrator. This suspicion forces Aunt Lydia to accelerate her plans, leading to the escape of Nicole and Agnes from Ardua Hall. The Thanks Giving thus functions as a hinge point: it is the moment of Nicole's official entry into Gilead, the moment that triggers Vidala's suspicion, and the moment that precipitates the final, desperate flight that will bring down the regime. The ceremony's joyful surface conceals the deep fractures and deceptions that will soon shatter Gilead's facade of order and piety.