question_answer 4)

What makes jack feel caught in an ugly middle position?                                         

Answer:

While Jack was telling the story, he heard some furniture being moved but he did not go down to help Clare though he knew that she shouldn't move heavy things as she was six months pregnant. After Jack finished the story, he went downstairs, He saw his wife, Clare wearing an old shirt of his on top of her maternity dress, painting the chair. He visualized the woodwork as a cage and he felt caught in an ugly middle position.           This is a representation in fiction of the way in which the male psyche is reinforced by the patriarchal cultural climate of the 1950s that began to unravel during the 1960s and 1970s. This unsettling of gender roles and perspectives is further reflected in the story. The male chauvinistic attitude was reflected even while he was telling the story to his daughter. Jo thought the story was all over. But, (Jack didn't like women when they took anything for granted; he liked them apprehensive, hanging on his words.