Question -
Answer -
While Jack was telling the story, he heard sounds of furniture being moved but he did not go down to help Clare, though he knew that she should not move heavy things as she was six months pregnant. After Jack finished the story, he went downstairs and 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.
He felt that both of them were caged together. He did not want to speak with her, work with her or touch her. 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, who assumed the story to be over. But, Jack did not like women when they took anything for granted; he liked them apprehensive, hanging on his words. Thus, he deliberately contained them in his story.