Essay comparing and contrasting "The Quilt" and "The Veil"

Nick Sidoti
April 14th 2014
English 132
Discussion 01-BA
Heather Wayne

The Quilt and Veil: Cloaking both Sin and Virtue

In the Catholic Church there are seven deadly sins, which are clearly labeled in church teachings. Along with those seven deadly sins are seven virtues, which are to be acted out by each and every Catholic throughout their lives. Every deadly sin is paralleled with a virtue; the sin of lust, which is the most deadly sin according to the Catholic Church, is compared to the virtue of chastity. Chastity is defined, as “abstaining for sexual actions,” while lust is defined as “a disordered desire for sexual pleasure.” In the both “The Quilt” and “The Veil” by Ismat Chugtai the sin of lust and virtue of chastity are major themes. The quilt can be compared to a veil as lust and be compared to chastity.
“The Quilt” is story the recounts the childhood years of the narrator living in the house of a depressed, emotionally unstable, and bisexual women named Begum Jan. Chugtai is a very clever writer and writes this extremely controversial story in the perspective of a child, allowing the reader to interpret what he or she believes is going on without going into explicit detail. Her husband who was preoccupied in his hobby, educating young men, shunned Begum Jan. Begum soon realized that her husband had no desire for her, his intentions and focus lay with the boys, she would spend all her time alone lying in her bed with her quilt. At first her quilt was the thing that tormented her at night. It would form “monstrous shadows” on the wall and with each shadow her hope for a better life slowly diminished. The quilt in this sense was foreshadowing what was about to happen in her life. Feeling neglect and loneliness Begum still had that desire, that lust, which could not be contained and eventually started to have sexual relations with her masseuse, Rabbo. While the narrator is forced to stay with Begum she sleeps in her bedroom. Early during her stay the “shapes” that the quilt makes at night terrify her. The reader then is informed that Rabbo sleeps in Begums bed because Rabbo tries to comfort the narrator at night.
The actual quilt in the story is a prefect representation for the deadly sin of lust. Lust is an ugly and powerful sin that can conquer any soul, especially a vulnerable newlywed who is neglected by her husband and is constantly sexually aroused by her masseuse. At night the quilt would make shapes that would frighten whoever would see the images. Whether it was at the beginning of the story when Begum was originally scared, which foreshadowed her temptation to sin, or when the narrator would see the shapes at night. It could be interpreted that the shapes were formed when Begum and Rabbo were making love. Chugtai makes it very clear towards the end of the story that the deadly sin of lust and homosexuality is indeed a frightening and sinful action. The child narrator said she would never tell a soul, not even for a large sum of money. The Quilt is covering the lustful acts of Begum and Rabbo, it is also used a shield; its meant to prevent anyone from seeing the unfavorable acts that Begum preforms in her bedroom. In a similar fashion the veil in “The Veil” mirrors the quilt but for completely different reasons.
“The Veil” is actually a very sad story about a beautiful bride to-be never actually getting married because she refused to obey her finances command, which was to lift her own veil at their weeding. In Indian tradition it is considered bad luck for a bride to lift her own veil so the bride would always refuse to do so. This marriage was a fixed marriage so husband to-be, Kale Mian, had never seen the beautiful brides face. As the story progresses so do the lives of Kale and his fiancé, Goribi, and they still remain unmarried. Since Goribi is not married yet she has remained a virgin, keeping the virtue of chastity. At the end of the story Kale Mian becomes very ill at an old age and begs to see Goribi one last time. Goribi agrees and puts on her bridal outfit one last time to see Kale. Once she arrives Kale is about to die and begs her one last time to lift her veil; the story ends with Kale dying and Goribi putting on her white widows veil.
Both veils are very symbolic in the story because Goribi’s face is never revieled to Kale or the readers. Goribi is described as a beautiful young women at the time of her initial marriage but her husband never gets to see this beautiful face because he is a stubborn man and insists that Goribi lift her own veil instead of him doing it for her. Goribi not lifting her own veil signifies her own independence as a women, she is making a statement by telling Kale that she would rather be an unmarried virgin for the rest of her life then to submit to his ridiculous request. The veil also represents the pure chastity in Goribi. Being chaste is considered the hardest but most fulfilling virtue according to Catholic teachings and for Goribi to give up a sexual life with her husband speaks volumes to her overall character.
In both “The Quilt” and “The Veil” one of the most important themes that Chugtai is trying to instill is the defiance and strength in Indian women. It was expected during the time when these stories were published that Indian women should submit to their husbands will’s; meanwhile the majority of the time the husbands would neglect their wives, remain unfaithful to them, or have multiple wives without any consequences. The veil and the quilt are symbolic in almost hiding the women’s actions but in a subtle fashion. However Chugtai shows women’s defiance in two very distinct and different ways. In “The Quilt” she shows that women need attention in a healthy marital relationship otherwise she will resort to lustful and sinful actions, and in “The Veil” Chugtai shows that no matter how beautiful a women is she will never give up her chastity to a spiteful and stubborn man.