Offred and the Commander are becoming “cozy” with each other. The way she sits, the imagined light of the fireplace. He’s more kind to her than most men. He doesn’t seem to be saying “bitch” in his head while speaking to her (like Luke, who seems to have a bit of a streak of misogyny in him). The Commander does have the inclination to think women aren’t smart, can’t do addition. “[For women] one and one and one and one don’t make four” (186). He asks if she wants to read. She doesn’t feel like it today since him watching her read is a bit voyeuristic, a bit sexual. Thus, he’s fetishized her while doing what women or girls aren’t forbidden to do. She instead wants to talk. To glean information from him. It becomes a bit of a fencing match (everything is a game between the two of them, remember). He doesn’t give away much about what he’s a Commander of...something vaguely scientific. So she asks about the Latin phrase from her cupboard instead. She finds out that the previous Handmaid had...