Discuss the postmaster's quest for love and security through his characterization in Tagore's "The Postmaster."

The postmaster's quest for love and security is a fairly
self- interested one.  From nearly the first moment that we are introduced to him, we
understand that his sole desire for happiness is to return back to Calcutta.  This flies
in the face of Ratan's desire for happiness, which is more centered on living life with
him in the village.  In this, his hope for happiness is structured to come at her cost. 
Both of their visions are mutually exclusive, and while there is a conveniences shared,
it is only a temporary one based on contingency.  The postmaster is one whose end goal
for love and security is based on temporary and transcendent ends.  On one hand, he
finds happiness and security in the life that Ratan makes for him.  She tends to house
for him, assists him in his duties, and takes care of him when he is sick.  In this
temporary condition, his quest for love and security is met.  When he receives the
transfer orders to Calcutta and ends up leaving without Ratan, his transcendent or
permanent quest for love and security is also accomplished in that he achieves what he
wants.  There might be some pangs of pain that exist in his when he leaves her behind,
but he rationalizes them away, ensuring that nothing, if anything, will stand in his way
for love and security.  This sense of happiness accomplished at the cost of anothers is
why Tagore cannot identify with him at the end of the narrative. While the story is in
his name, it is really Ratan's, who continues to wander about the village in the hopes
of seeing her "Dadababu" again, and in accomplishing her quest for love and
security.