Shadows Sway Like An Elephant (Visual Imagery)
In the first line of "The Quilt," the narrator comments on how her winter quilt casts shadows on the wall that "seem to sway like an elephant." In this example of visual imagery, the elephant-shaped shadow form on the wall provokes unpleasant memories from the narrator's past. The image resembles the elephant-shaped quilt she saw as a girl when staying with Begum Jaan, whose quilt looked like an elephant because her masseuse was under the quilt, servicing Begum Jaan sexually.
Rabbu's Skin (Visual Imagery)
Juxtaposed against Begum Jaan and her pure pale skin, Chughtai describes Rabbu as looking "as dark as Begum Jaan was fair, as purple as the other one was white. She seemed to glow like heated iron. Her face was scarred by small-pox." In this example of visual imagery, Chughtai emphasizes the social class differences between Begum Jaan and Rabbu. While Begum Jaan's beauty and paleness speak of her social privilege, Rabbu's dark skin and smallpox scars signal her subservient social position.
Slurping Sound of a Cat Licking a Plate (Auditory Imagery)
While sleeping in the same room as Begum Jaan and Rabbu, the narrator hears the two women arguing quietly. After she hears Rabbu crying, the narrator hears "the slurping sound of a cat licking a plate." In this example of auditory imagery, Chughtai uses the sound of slurping to imply that Rabbu is performing cunnilingus on Begum Jaan. Filtered through the child narrator's naïve perspective, the sound of the sex act evokes the sound a cat makes when it licks a plate.
