Character Analysis Of The Postmaster, By Rabindranath Tagore

This story revolves around and old man and his unconventional relationship with his caretaker. The postmaster hailing from Calcutta, feels like a fish out of water in the remote village of Ulapur where he works. There, he led a lonely life, with little company and minimal work to do. To cope with this, he often engaged himself in writing poetry describing his peaceful and isolated surroundings. He had Ratan, an orphan girl of the village, to do odd jobs for him. He shared with her his meals, family stories, sad and wishful longings and even knowledge by teaching her the alphabet. Ratan who too is a lonesome being grows considerably fond of the Postmaster, as he is her sole companion in the village.However, the postmaster falls ill during the …show more content…
They share an unconventional bond that they build by sharing meals and stories about their families with each other.
The main themes that the story revolves around are isolation, attachment and separation.
The story symbolises the necessity of company longed by human beings. Like in the story, two people who are isolated get attached to each other in no time even though they have nothing in common apart from being alone. The age gap and lack of education doesn’t pose as a barrier for the attachment between Ratan and Dada.
The story also displays the inconsistent nature of the relationships between people. There are numberless people that we meet in our lives, some we choose to hold on to for a lifetime, and most, we forget In a couple of seconds. There are very few and rare consistent and permanent relationships in one’s life. The rest are just temporary and help us move on with our lives without being completely left out. This teaches us to be resistant to getting attached to people too fast, because in the end it would only lead to disappointment and sorrow at the time of separation, which is …show more content…
However, it can be studied and deconstructed further, as her love for him resembles that of a sister, a mother, or even a child. She nurses him, takes care of him, cooks food for him, and eventually cannot bear to live without him. Such strange, unconventional love is the basis for this story. It is only in search of this love that the poor unthinking human heart makes the decisions it does, which are more often than not impractical, unrealistic and doomed to fail. However, the beauty in such love is apparent too, as Ratan’s innocent desires are smashed to pieces, and the simple comfort she found in the postmaster’s company is forcibly taken from