Quilt = Purdah

The quilt is strongly symbolic of purdah and homosexuality in the story, “The Quilt.” The quilt represents a veil to prevent people from seeing the homosexuality that exists in the community. Observing purdah is to block a woman from public view, similar to how the quilt prevented the narrator from seeing what was going on under the quilt. Bejum Jan and Rabbo’s homosexual relationship is the woman who is observing purdah, the veil is the quilt, and the public view is the narrator. But it is not only the narrator that is being blocked from this view, the rest of the workers in the house are being blocked from it too, more so than the narrator. The other workers have knowledge of the homosexuality going on and the narrator gets a glimpse of it in the end but neither will say anything about it. Here homosexuality is to remain in purdah and to never enter public view, even though it is known to exist.