Salvatore by Somerset Maugham is a heart-warming short story about the life of an Italian

fisherman who, despite facing debilitating tribulations such as a crushing heartbreak and a
lifelong painful illness, showed up for life with extra-ordinary grace, acceptance, and endurance.
This simple story, in its essence, is a study of the virtue of goodness. It shows how this rare
quality in a man adds beauty to everything, even a world full of difficulties and misfortunes.
This story is a chronological narration of the events in the life of an ordinary fisherman, from his
boyhood days to his life as a middle-aged father and husband. The third-person point-of-view
narration of the story has been framed in a manner that places the presence of the omniscient
narrator at the forefront. We view Salvatore and the events of his life – falling in love, serving in
the military, facing heartbreak, settling down in his role as a responsible family man – all through
the eyes of the narrator, with his point of view and opinions becoming ours. Even the style of
narration is akin to the oral tradition of storytelling. The flow of the story is lucid, and dialogues
are replaced with reported speech. The language of the story is also devoid of ornamentation but
makes for a pleasant read because of the similes and metaphors that have been used beautifully
by Maugham.

Salvatore Summary and Analysis

Short summary, .... the plotline of the story.

A young and carefree Salvatore, who spent his days swimming in the sea, climbing rocks, and
taking care of his two younger brothers, grows up to fall madly in love with a woman from Grande
Marina. However, before the couple could gratify their love through marriage, Salvatore had to
leave for military service to serve as a sailor in the army of King Victor Emmanuel. Draft duty was
a dark period in Salvatore’s life when he was faced with the most crushing homesickness from
missing both his native place and the love of his life. While serving in the military, Salvatore
traveled extensively to the strange cities of Spezzia, Venice, and Bari. And it was during service
in China that he was afflicted with a form of rheumatism that threatened lifelong disability. This
unfortunate development was received as good news by Salvatore, for it meant that he could
finally go back home and unite with his family and love.

However, things did not work out as Salvatore had planned. Upon reaching back to his island, he
discovered that his betrothed did not wish to marry him anymore due to his disability. Salvatore,
despite being crushed at the beginning, dealt with this turn of events gracefully. He moved on
and began working in his father’s vineyard and fishing business. One day, his mother told him
about Assunta – a woman who had fallen in love with him and wished to marry him. Salvatore
then married Assunta, and with the little money she had, they bought a fishing boat and leased a
vineyard. Two children were born to this happily married couple. Life went on beautifully for this
hard-working fisherman, despite his lifelong disability, for he showed up for life with endurance
and grace.

Development of the story....

The story begins in Salvatore’s boyhood days on the island of Ischia. The writer shows how the
thin and agile fifteen-year-old boy spent his carefree days of youth swimming in the sea and
climbing rocks to dive into the water. From a young age, Salvatore showed the loving
responsibility of a caretaker as he looked after his two younger brothers, dressing and feeding
them and taking care of their safety. As he grew older, he fell in passionate love with a beautiful
girl from Grande Marina “who had eyes like forest pools and held herself like a daughter of the
Caesars.” They were soon betrothed; however, military service came in the way of the
consummation of their love. Salvatore had to depart from his island, which he had never left
before, estranged from his home and the woman he loved madly, to serve as a sailor in the army
of King Victor Emmanuel.
Draft duty presented terrible challenges in Salvatore’s life. From being a carefree young lad who
lived amongst the vines, he now found himself in a life where his freedom was curbed by the
ones in authority. He had to spend his days among strangers in battleships, and when on land,
the lack of warmth and friendliness in the crowded and noisy unfamiliar cities frightened him.
And through this period of intense homesickness, he realized that the islands of Ischia and
Vesuvius, where he had grown up, had become an intimate part of him. Above all, he missed his
beloved deeply, and like an estranged anxious lover, he wrote long love letters telling her how
much he longed to be with her.

Draft duty took Salvatore to a host of places such as Spezzia, Venice, Bari, and when finally in
China, he was struck by a dreadful illness that quarantined him to the hospital bed for days. He
endured his ailment with tremendous patience. And when the doctors informed him that he had
been diagnosed with a form of rheumatism that would render him incapacitated for the rest of his
life, instead of being disheartened by the news of possible lifelong disability, Salvatore’s heart
exalted because his illness meant that he was unfit to serve in the army and could finally be
home to be united with his family and the love of his life.
Upon landing home, he was met with the emotional greetings of his family, but his beloved was
nowhere to be seen. His mother had not seen her for days, and so, unable to wait a day longer,
he went over to her house in Grande Marina. But instead of a passionate reunion and the happy
ending he had hoped for, Salvatore was handed a rude heartbreak. The woman he loved coolly
stated that she did not wish to marry him anymore, for his illness meant that he would never be a
strong enough man who could provide for her. The news crushed Salvatore, and he cried terribly
on his mother’s bosom. But he soon took this misfortune in his stride with amicable
understanding. Despite feeling awfully dejected, he did not grow bitter towards the girl or his life.
Instead, he made peace with the fact that a woman needs a strong man and that he could not be
a that strong man for his girl because of his illness.
Life moved on for Salvatore, and he began working in his father’s vineyard and fishing business.
From being a thin boy, he had grown into a well-built man with big strong hands and legs. One
fine day, his mother told him about a woman named Assunta, whose fiancé had been killed in
service. She had fallen in love with him after seeing him at the fiesta and wished to marry him. As
a first reaction, he said, “She’s as ugly as the devil,” but then, after seeing her at the Sunday
church, he decided to settle down with her. With the little money that Assunta had, the couple
bought a boat and assumed the tenancy of a vineyard. And with two children, they spent their
days as a happily married couple in a tiny white-washed cottage. Assunta was devoted to
Salvatore and his “most beautiful manners” and “gentle sweetness,” Salvatore was an ever-loving
husband to her and a great father to his two children.
Salvatore lived the hard life of a fisherman, spending his evening and nights catching fish in the
fishing season and his mornings in the vineyard. There were days when his rheumatism took a
heavy toll on him. These days, he would calmly endure the debilitating pain by lying about on the
beach and exchanging pleasant words with everyone he met.
Maugham ends his narration of Salvatore’s life story with a moving picture of the middle-aged
fisherman bathing his sons in the sea. The concluding scene shows Salvatore as a doting father
who loved his children with so much tender love, care, and affection that they seemed like little
flowers in his coarse hands. His laughter of an angel and the child-like happiness in his eyes as
he played with his kids on the beach after drying them touches the reader’s heart.

Salvatore ....Somerset Maugham

Analysis.....
In this Salvatore analysis, we will delve deeper into the short story.

Salvatore by Somerset Maugham is a heart-warming short story about the life of an Italian
fisherman who, despite facing debilitating tribulations such as a crushing heartbreak and a
lifelong painful illness, showed up for life with extra-ordinary grace, acceptance, and endurance.
This simple story, in its essence, is a study of the virtue of goodness. It shows how this rare
quality in a man adds beauty to everything, even a world full of difficulties and misfortunes.
This story is a chronological narration of the events in the life of an ordinary fisherman, from his
boyhood days to his life as a middle-aged father and husband. The third-person point-of-view
narration of the story has been framed in a manner that places the presence of the omniscient
narrator at the forefront. We view Salvatore and the events of his life – falling in love, serving in
the military, facing heartbreak, settling down in his role as a responsible family man – all through
the eyes of the narrator, with his point of view and opinions becoming ours. Even the style of
narration is akin to the oral tradition of storytelling. The flow of the story is lucid, and dialogues
are replaced with reported speech. The language of the story is also devoid of ornamentation but
makes for a pleasant read because of the similes and metaphors that have been used beautifully
by Maugham.
Salvatore has a straightforward plot structure. Instead of providing a complex plot with twists
and a noticeable character arc, the story provides a biographical sketch of the fisherman with
the sole objective of exemplifying the virtue of goodness. The only uncommon aspect of the plot
development is the beginning, where Maugham catches the readers’ attention at once by telling
him he is unsure whether he can accomplish a task. This beginning thread of the story is tied
neatly into the story’s framework in the end when Maugham reveals that the task was to hold our
attention through a simple story about humane goodness. And by successfully meeting this
objective through his short story, Maugham delivers the message that life cannot promise fair
play and might be full of injustices. Still, people with goodness in their hearts will always create a
wonderful happy ending for themselves against all odds.

Salvatore Character Sketch

In this Salvatore character analysis, we will study the character of the main protagonist,
Salvatore, after which the story has been named.
At the outset, Salvatore seems to be a narration of the events in the life of a man – right from his
boyhood days to his married life as a loving father and husband. However, after reading the story,
we realize that the whole short story is a masterly character sketch of a simple man with
extraordinary qualities.
The most prominent among Salvatore’s qualities was his goodness – something which is also the
main theme of this story. Salvatore only had the goodness to offer. This is why when the love of
his life rejected him because he had a lifelong disability, instead of getting bitter towards her, he
accepts the situation as fair and moves on, consoling himself that a woman needs a strong man.
It is this same goodness of Salvatore that enables him to be a loving, dutiful husband to his wife
and a deeply affectionate father to his children. Even on days when Salvatore’s rheumatism took
the better of him and rendered him incapacitated to work, he always had a good word to say to
whoever passed him.
Another noticeable character trait of Salvatore was his endurance and grace. When unfortunate
news of his engagement falling apart was delivered to him rudely, he endured the pain and
allowed time to heal him instead of fighting with his betrothed or blaming her for his misery. We
also get a glimpse into Salvatore’s endurance powers when he fought his illness patiently in
China, waiting to return home to his loved ones.
Another quality of Salvatore’s that stands out is his power of acceptance. Salvatore accepted all
misfortunes that life threw at him with grace, which is why he could craft for himself a happy life
full of many little joys like bathing his sons and taking care of his family.
(You may add other points as discussed in the class)
One of the first qualities indirectly attributed to Salvatore is responsibility. We are told that
Salvatore “acted as nursemaid to his two younger brothers“, ever watchful of their safety and
wellbeing and in doing so comes off as a caring brother. This is one of the first among a
multiplicity of qualities that go into the making of the admirable unity of Goodness.
deteriorates and as if the illness weren’t  enough, he returns home only to face the full blow of a
blunt breakup. The girl pulls no punches and he clearly doesn’t see it coming. It is a clear
knockout:

“He wept on his mother’s bosom. He was terribly unhappy, but he did not blame the girl…he did
not complain, and he never said a hard word of the girl he had loved so well.“

This speaks volumes about the character of this man. Despite being wronged, he tries to
understand the other person’s situation and holds no grudge against her. This is
a magnanimous gesture on his part that is rarely seen in the real world.
Therefore, each instance of Salvatore’s life is marked by the display of one quality or the other.
When we analyse the brief account of Salvatore’s  life , we find such qualities scattered along  his
journey from childhood to fatherhood.   Salvatore has the rare quality of goodness because one
glance at his life-history shows that he is loving, carefree, humble, patient dutiful, responsible
childlike, empathic, forgiving, gentle, hardworking, well mannered, magnanimous, caring,
honest and above all has the tendency to do good despite the hardships he has endured and the 
unfairness with which he has been dealt with. In short, he  is a man above his circumstances he’s
trapped in and the ‘goodness’ which resides in him refuses to be shaped by the hardships of life.
Whether it is his care for his brothers, his duty towards his country, his forgiveness for the
woman who rejected him, his acceptance of  another who loved  him, his hardworking nature, his
affection for his children and his sheer strength of character,  all go into the making of this
quality which sets him apart from his fellow men – the quality of goodness.  And above all,
this goodness is tempered   with humility. As the narrator explicitly states :

All I know is that it (goodness) shone in him with a radiance that, if it had not been unconscious
and so humble, would have been to the common run of men hardly bearable “.

 
Maugham is known for his economy of words and quick paced, direct narratives. Salvatore, the
life story of a man from his adolescence to fatherhood which covers different aspects of his life
as a kid, his relationship with his brothers, his first love, his duty in the navy, his experiences
abroad, his unfortunate breakup, his marriage, his role as a father and the breadwinner of the
family – all account for no more than a couple of paragraphs.. The sheer ease with which the
story is condensed is commendable. And the manner in which the  quality of “Goodness” is
unpacked in such a fast paced story is positively intimidating.
The  story is fraught with plenty of such striking smiles and metaphors describing Salvatore's
character that create a strong impression on the reader’s mind. A boy with a body “as thin as a
rail” who eats his frugal midday meal must be  poor. A man bearing his illness with the “patience
of a dog” and a lonely lover whose eyes have the look “of a dog that has been beaten” must
wallow in helplessness for some time. Similarly, a grown up man who, in the company of his
children laughs “like an angel” and whose coarse hands become “like flowers” while handling his
infants forms the impression of a caring father that cannot  be easily forgotten.
Another device with which this story providing a biographical sketch of the character is
condensed to such a short read is the authorial intrusion in the beginning and end of the story.
The speaker muses thus:
“I wonder if I can do it ”
Not only does the first person allow the speaker to express his intention to demonstrate the
remarkable quality of “goodness” in the concluding paragraphs, it also allows him to jump
directly into the pith and marrow of the narrative thereby relieving him the trouble of creating
either a sound  background or a clear and coherent conclusion. This  drastically reduces the
length of the story  that is  effectively a biographical sketch.
Salvatore, with its  depiction of many facets of a worthy quality, its sheer economy of words, its
unpretentious style, quick  pace and above all, the brilliant character sketch of the protagonist
makes it a really interesting read. The story not only  captures one’s attention  for a “few pages”
but overwhelms the observant reader with its form and content.

Salvatore Theme: Theme of Goodness in Salvatore

The goodness of the heart is the overarching theme of Salvatore. Throughout the short story,
what Maugham has attempted to do is show us how one can stand strong in the face of
challenges and misfortunes by staying true to the innate goodness that all humans have. A real
test of Salvatore’s goodness came when the love of his life refused to marry him. It was the
thought of uniting with the love that had made him accept his lifelong illness of rheumatism
happily – for it meant that he could stop serving in the military and marry his betrothed. Needless
to say, Salvatore was crushed when the silver lining to his misery was snatched from him. And
this is the first time we get a glimpse into just how extraordinary Salvatore’s quality of goods
was. Instead of blaming his fiancé or thinking bitter things about her, he extended tremendous
understanding towards her. He understood that a woman needs a strong man, and with his
lifelong disability, he could not be that man for his love. Salvatore then, instead of growing bitter
towards the world, continued to live a life of goodness – being an excellent family man to his wife
and children. It was this goodness alone that made us view a life that many would call
unfortunate as a happy one.
Other prominent themes of the short story are endurance and acceptance. Through Salvatore’s
character and the patient graceful manner in which he handled the misfortunes that befell him,
we discover the power of accepting whatever life throws with endurance, which, in turn, enables
one to act gracefully through life.

Salvatore Analysis Key Points......

Salvatore by William Somerset Maugham is a wonderful short story documenting the life of a
man who lived by goodness. Life was anything but fair to Salvatore. He got afflicted with
rheumatism, lost the love of his life to his illness, and intermittently suffered due to his illness.
However, despite being full of these tribulations, Salvatore’s life appeared to be a happy one
because he showed up for it with goodness, acceptance, endurance, and grace.