Maugham’s short story ‘Salvatore’ conveys the message of Goodness. Though the story apparently looks like a biographical sketch of a young Italian fisherman Salvatore, it has actually been a portrayal of a good character, a quality of his character, which the writer calls “the rarest, the most precious, and the loveliest that anyone can have” — the quality of “goodness, just goodness”.

Salvatore’s carefree life and responsibility to take care of his brothers, his love for a pretty girl, his journey to abroad for the military service, his illness, return to his home and rejection of his fiancée and consequently his marriage to a woman older than him and then his affection for his children — through this chronological narration of events only one thing stands out. He never blames anyone for anything in his life, but accepts life as it comes to him. Salvatore as an ordinary fisherman possessed nothing in the world except a rare virtue, that is, inner goodness of heart, marked by acceptance of his fate and the Christian forgiveness.