Tagore’s writing style in “The Postmaster” shifts between matter-of-fact, direct language and evocative, imagery-driven descriptions (primarily of the weather and other elements of the natural world). The following passage—which comes after the Postmaster tells Ratan he is leaving Ulapur for good—demonstrates Tagore’s varied writing style:
Ratan did not question him further. The postmaster himself told her that he had applied for a transfer, but his application had been rejected; so he was resigning from his post and returning home. For several minutes, neither of them spoke. The lamp flickered weakly; through a hole in the crumbling thatched roof, rain-water steadily dripped on to an earthenware dish. Ratan then went slowly out to the kitchen to make some chapati. She made them with none of her usual energy.
In this passage, the language starts out fairly sparse and direct: “Ratan did not question him further,” “his application had been rejected,” “for several minutes, neither of them spoke.” Then the style changes from minimalist to more expressive: “The lamp flickered weakly; through a hole in the crumbling thatched roof, rain-water steadily dripped on to an earthenware dish.” The figurative language of “the lamp flickered weakly” and the imagery of the rain water “steadily drip[ping] on to an earthenware dish” suddenly adds a more visual (and emotional) element to the scene. Then Tagore's style once again shifts back into simple, literal language as Ratan goes to make chapati.
These shifts in style mirror the emotional shifts of the Postmaster. He is both a postmaster and a poet, a companion to Ratan and also her employer. Tagore’s style shifts as the Postmaster’s attention to Ratan and the world around him shifts—when he is more open emotionally connected to Ratan, he can see and experience more dimensions of the world, but when he is closed off, all he notices are life’s simple machinations.
