The excerpt begins with Offred singing Amazing Grace, a song now banned due to its message of freedom. We learn that this and other songs like this have been outlawed and as a result of this there is very little music in the Commanders home. The little music that is present comes from Rita’s quiet humming or Serena illegally playing old recordings of herself. Offred notes that the weather is improving, and it is coming to the warmer portion of the year and it is during this period that handmaids are allowed to wear their sunny dresses. At this point, we are introduced to Offred’s thoughts on how Aunt Lydia would talk about the problems which women encountered before Gilead, and how wearing light summer dresses would bring certain sexual problems on themselves – the women being at fault for what they were wearing, the men almost blameless (Atwood, 1985). Offred also remembers a time where Moira threw an ‘underwhore’ party with the intent of selling lingerie. She also thinks about how she and society in general ignored the signs that led to Gilead’s inception, reading papers with stories of women raped, and murdered but not paying them much attention, it is easy to ignore problems when they are happening to other people. The chapter ends with Offred sitting at the window watching the Commander drive away realizing that she neither loves nor hates him.