The Postmaster By Rabindranath Tagore Summary

The story is written by Rabindranath Tagore and revolves around the life of a postmaster who is appointed to hold the post in the small village of Ulapur. Originally from Calcutta he felt like a fish out of water in this remote village. He also lacked companionship as he is rather reluctant to go talk to the village people. He also took up writing to distract himself from his loneliness. He cooked his own meals and also managed to get friendship and companionship from an orphaned girl named Ratan who used to help him around the house. On certain evenings they would converse till late in the night about their families, how much Ratan remembered her parents and memories from her childhood. The Postmaster would often talk about his mother and …show more content…
The villagers are mostly uneducated and hence have a different belief system with their own cultural beliefs and ideas. Ratan, who is from the same village, serves the postmaster and also keeps him accompanied. Many evenings they would sit together and chat about their families till late in the night. He also decided to teach Ratan how to read.Ratan would always wait outside his room waiting for him to call her in for her lessons. This shows her loyalty and obedience towards him. Even with their different caste, socio- economic status and level of education they manage to live peacefully with mutual trust and faith in each other. This shows the beauty of human …show more content…
The postmaster is very unhappy with his life here in Ulapur and is constantly on the lookout for something else, something to distract him from this miserable place. In the story the postmaster shares a relationship with Ratan which to him is just a sort of distraction or something to just pass the time with. We can clearly see this in many examples from the text where he shares stories of his family with her, teaches her to read just because he was bored, etc. His sudden departure also symbolises how little else matters to him other than his own sense of self. The postmaster’s rejection of Ratan’s request to come with him also solidifies this point. Even in the end when he thinks of Ratan’s pain he quickly dismisses it by rationalising it as something as a part of nature i.e. separation. By doing this he entirely makes it clear that the relationship that he shared with Ratan was more for his benefit something which he no longer needs from her as he is returning back to Calcutta leaving the poor girl completely alone