A Study of Quiet Resilience: Ratan in Rabindranath Tagore’s “The Postmaster”

Abstract

Rabindranath Tagore’s short story, “The Postmaster” is often celebrated for its poignant depiction of loneliness and failed communication, but its emotional core resides in the central female character, Ratan. This paper analyzes Ratan not merely as a domestic servant, but as a representation of silenced femininity and unacknowledged emotional maturity. Through her simple, unarticulated longing for familial affection from the postmaster, the narrative explores themes of poverty, gender inequality, and the painful reality of a young woman’s hopes being mistaken for utility. Her ultimate abandonment serves as a devastating, yet quiet, critique of casual male privilege and class insensitivity in late 19th-century Bengal.

DOI - https://doi.org/10.65525/SVUP.9788199392083.2025.14-17.