The Perversion Of Desire And The Institution of Marriage in the Sub-Continent: A Re-reading of Homoeroticism in the Quilt by Ismat Chughtai

Abstract

Homoeroticism or same-sex relationship though considered impious and abhorred publicly has existed in the Subcontinent of India in almost all sections and genders of society from the elite to the most downtrodden. Though male homosexuality has been a subject of both public discourse and academic writings, women’s same-sex relationship, however, is largely viewed as taboo and hence is discreetly referred to. This paper drawing upon Judith Butler’s criticism of normative gender with psychoanalytic commentary from Freudian sources investigates the queer characterizations and sexuality in the context of colonial India. Thus, this paper aims to explore and discuss the effects of the homoerotic practices of men and women, especially within the institution of marriage by employing textual analysis of Ismat Chughtai’s short story The Quilt. The story portrays a woman whose desire for her husband is thwarted because of his being homoerotic. This suppressed desire finds its way into her actual and attempted coerced sexual relationships with the other women around her. Homoeroticism, thus, results in gender oppression, economic exploitation, and worst of all paedophilia, all of which remain muffled and silenced because of their association with homoeroticism.