The mood of “The Postmaster” is overwhelmingly melancholy. The Postmaster is living alone in a hut in a village where he knows no one and has a hard time connecting with people because he is an educated, middle-class man from a city living amongst rural working-class people he sees as beneath him. He misses his family and the comforts of Calcutta.
The depressive mood shifts somewhat as the Postmaster starts to connect with Ratan. Despite the difference in their ages, genders, and class positions, they are able to find common ground. The mood becomes more easeful and comforting in these moments, as seen in the following passage:
Occasionally, sitting on a low wooden office-stool in a corner of his large hut, the postmaster would speak of his family—his younger brother, mother and elder sister—all those for whom his heart ached, alone and exiled as he was. He told this illiterate young girl things which were often in his mind but which he would never have dreamt of divulging to the indigo employees—and it seemed quite natural to do so. Eventually Ratan referred to the postmaster’s family—his mother, sister and brother—as if they were her own. She even formed affectionate imaginary pictures of them in her mind.
There are still melancholic elements in this passage—the postmaster is describing how much he misses his family, after all—but the fact that he is sharing “things which were often in his mind but which he would never have dreamt of divulging to the indigo employees” with Ratan shows that he is experiencing comfort and connection. The way in which Ratan “formed affectionate imaginary pictures of [the Postmaster’s family] in her mind” also contributes to the sweet and easeful mood.
The mood has one more significant shift near the end of the story when the Postmaster decides to go back to Calcutta, leaving Ratan completely distraught. The story ends in a very sad and distressed place, with Ratan holding onto the hope that the Postmaster will return even though the Postmaster knows this will not happen.
