Question

Read the excerpt below and answer the question.

Answer 1

The two meanings of fix that are suggested by the use in the above excerpt are:

to rig or unfairly influence an outcome

to stare at directly and steadily

T.S. Elliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,”  is a poem which is about the loneliness and melancholic state of human beings. He speaks about the frustration which a man undergoes in order to search the meaning of his existence in the world. The poet asks the readers to accompany him through the journey of his life which has been a pale and dull experience for him. The poem speaks about the unhappy life of Prufrock as he thinks that a much larger part of his life as ended. He also terrifies at the fact that he will be laughed at by the people as he had a failure of not achieving things at the proper age. Throughout his life, he has bothered about the views of the society which they will build according to his deeds and acts. It is because of his peers and the people of the society that he has turned himself to a person who is unable to ask any question. He fears that if he'll ask his questions, he will be mocked and be ridiculed.

Answer 2

The correct options are these:
1. TO STARE AT DIRECTLY AND STEADILY.
2. TO RIG OR UNFAIRLY INFLUENCE AN OUTCOME.
From the way the word 'fix' is used in the passage given above, it means to look at someone directly for a long time in order to pass across a particular message, typically negative message. In the passage we are given above, the eyes staring at the narrator were doing so in order to show that they disapprove of him.
The disapproving eyes influenced the behavior of the narrator and made him to lose all confidence in himself.