How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
He passed in reverse through all the spots they had visited together during their honeymoon journey (9).
Chorb’s backward journey is a great set-up for the mystical, other-worldly atmosphere of "The Return of Chorb." It’s as though time is passing in reverse as he tries to re-create the image of his dead wife.
Quote #2
Nighttime, though, was unendurable. Night imbued with sudden terror her irrational presence (9).
This allows for a great parallel to the Orpheus myth. Nighttime evokes a fear of the unknown – like Orpheus traveling to the Underworld, Chorb doesn’t know what he’ll find in the darkness.
Quote #3
Now he knew what must be done. His quest, however, lasted a long while: This was a quiet and chaste town, and the secret by-street where one could buy love was unknown to Chorb. Only after an hour of helpless wandering, which caused his ears to sing and his feet to burn, did he enter that little lane—whereupon he accosted at once the first girl who hailed him (20).
Even the most base of actions is imbued with an other-worldly importance in "Chorb."
Quote #4
Just before falling asleep she caught herself thinking that once or twice she had already been in that room; she remembered the pink picture on its wall (33).
For the prostitute, too, there is a sense of a re-created past in this room. Lines like this suggest that the eerie atmosphere isn’t just in Chorb’s mind, but that there is in fact something spectral about this very setting.
Quote #5
And Chorb heaved a sigh of relief, for he realized that the ordeal was over. He moved onto the green couch, and sat there, clasping his hairy shins and with a meaningless smile contemplating the harlot (35).
This is the "return" to which the title refers – Chorb has left the past and returned to the present. He has completed his mission, in a sense, which is why he smiles at the harlot.