Analysis Of Postmaster By Rabindranath Tagore

Ratan is one of the simplest and yet one of the most enigmatic feminine characters in Rabindranath Tagore’s short stories. She is a twelve year old, poor orphan girl. Her parents died when she was very young and hence, she has lived in this solitude all her life. She is a simple, honest and caring girl. She is illiterate but slowly learns to read and write under the guidance of the postmaster. Infact, she has a high grasping power which is well proved by the speed with which she learns to read and write. She is obedient and diligently performs her domestic chores and serves the postmaster to the best of her abilities. She quietly sits outside, waiting for the postmaster to call on her and comes to his dismissal as soon as she hears her name …show more content…
The postmaster is aCalcutta boy and feels out of place in such a distant rural village. He, as we can see, is not verygood at socializing, because he is isolated and has nobody to talk to. “Among strangers, heappears either proud or ill at ease.” The postmaster is an educated man. He is extremelyurbane which is well demonstrated in the story through his inability to adjust in the village. Thepostmaster is more family-oriented than career-oriented. He is very home sick during his stayin Ulapur, he constantly remembers his mother, brother and sister and longs to go back andlead a normal life with them which results in him applying for a transfer. His transfer is rejectedso he quits the job, implying that he chose his family over his career. Being a city boy, he haslittle appreciation for the beauty of nature. He tried his hand at writing a verse or two but hewould fail and would rather wish for that scenery to be replaced with a macadamized road andtall buildings that could cover the clouds. The postmaster, though family oriented, ironicallyproves to be emotionally insensitive and emotionally impotent. He applies for a transferwithout even informing Ratan about it and informs her only after after getting his boss’confirmation. He fails to show any emotional attachment with her when he laughs off the ideawhen she asks him to take her …show more content…
Both Ratan and the Postmaster have faith that someday, their dreams shall turninto reality which helps them survive through their respective difficult situations. The Postmaster wasplaced for his job in the village of Ulapur. He felt like a “fish out of the water” in that village because hecame from an urban background and was having a difficult time in adjusting with the ways of the villageand connecting with the people over there. He was home-sick, he longed to get back to his family andwould often often have conversations with Ratan about family. The Postmaster falls sick and right after hisrecovery, he applies for a transfer. The hope of his request getting approved gets him through that phase.On denial of his request by his boss, he decides to leave the job which offered him nothing more than ameagre salary.On the other hand, Ratan endures her life in Ulapur by aspiring to live with the postmaster forever. She focusedon the present and never ever thought about the future, as to what may happen if the postmaster leaves?Ratan was a young, poor, orphan girl. She had no one in the world for her, nothing to look forward to in life,hence serving the Postmaster to the best of her abilities became her sole motive in life. Her desire to be withhim, serve him, learn from him and have conversations with him is what kept her going in that village. She wasalso isolated much like the postmaster, but unlike the postmaster who had a family, Ratan did not have