Do you think that Jack had a troubled marriage with Clare? Justify your answer.

Yes, I think Jack had a troubled marriage with Claire. Jack although a good and a caring father, lacks something in his role as a husband. Though the story does not witness any quarrel between the husband and the wife, but it does call for a bond of love. After finishing his story and putting Jo to sleep, as Jack goes downstairs, he finds his pregnant wife painting the woodwork that was half old, tan and half-new ivory. He felt he was caught in an ugly middle position. Perhaps he felt that he might have helped his wife if he would not have to narrate a story to Jo. Also, I believe that had everything been fine between the two, Claire would have certainly waited for his husband to come and start the work together, instead of doing this tiresome work all alone in such a condition. Thus we can infer that Jack had a troubled marriage with Clare.