Salvatore - Questions & Answers

Answer: The titular character Salvatore in Somerset Maugham’s story is an embodiment of a true congenial combination of love and affection that we count to be two primal qualities most predominant in his mental constitution.

One can easily notice a radiance of divine grace that is reflected in his attitude to his younger brothers and his parents. It is a homespun natural way of expression in his day-to-day affairs of life. Moreover, it is almost a motherly propensity that he shows for his two brothers. Such loving care for his siblings makes him a man of sterling worth. Such milk of human kindness is really worthy of approbation.

Salvatore acted as nursemaid to his two younger brothers. He shouted to them to come inshore when they ventured out too far and made them dress when it was time to climb up the hot, vineclad hill for the frugal mid-day meal.

Again, Salvatore showed his new-fangled love at the juncture of puberty for a girl living on the Grande Marina. It was only for his love that he joined military service. He “wept like a child” when he had to go.

But on the foreign land he could not rest in peace in the absence of his near and dear ones. His homesickness made him restless and ill. The toughest part was “to be parted from the girl he loved with all his passionate young heart”. In his long ill-spelt letters, he wrote to the girl how constantly he thought of her and how much he longed to be back.

When his boat from Naples finally reached ashore, he saw his father, mother and his two brothers. He waved to them. His eyes were then searching for the girl living in his heart. But she wasn’t there. Soon after, he got a devastating blow from his lover who ignored him and refused to marry him as he was then an invalid not being able to work any longer. It was owing to some form of rheumatism he became unfit for any work. He suffered such stiff mental setbacks without any complain; nor did he show any grievance against his lover. Even though he was unhappy, he never blamed the girl he genuinely loved. Instead he unburdened himself by weeping in his mother’s bosom.

His smile was very sad … , but he did not complain, and he never said a hard word of the girl he had loved so well.

Another incident happened in his life. He married Assunta, a girl older to him, in accordance with his mother’s choice. Salvatore and Assunta were blessed with two children. So, they apparently led a happy conjugal life.

As a responsible husband, Salvatore worked all day long in his vineyard and used to catch cuttlefish at night. Though he often suffered fits of rheumatism, he had pleasant words for everyone he met. A sort of fellow-feeling for every human being on earth is seen in his character.

But this doesn’t end here. A happy father as Salvatore was sometimes used to give his babies a bath. He would then seat the younger one on his big palm and hold him up and laugh a little at his smallness. Such fatherly affection and care make Salvatore a man worthy of respect.

The author has thus explored the theme of love and affection through the protagonist’s character in the story. He has shown how valuable the two qualities are in a man’s life. Salvatore has, no-doubt, gained a permanent place in the readers’ heart with his unconditional love and affection not only for the girl but also for everyone he lived among.

Answer:

“Salvatore” by W. Somerset Maugham is a biographical narrative about an adolescent boy whose upbringing, day-to-day mode of living, and marriage have been depicted in subtle prose infused with the spirit of humanistic vigour and pellucid clearness.

Salvatore is a fifteen-year-old boy, brown-coloured in complexion, endowed with sturdy built-up, graceful manner and nonchalant eyes. He has possessed an effortless ease in the art of swimming. Quite suitably the writer has depicted him as a frolicsome boy belonging to a fishing community.

… he would throw himself into the deep water with a cry of delight.

He is full of affection for his two brothers taking care of them as a caring nursemaid. The boy is, thus, grown up in the lap of nature along with others in the neighbourhood; a fine democratic upbringing he has got with a free-born spirit and jovial temper. Close-knit community feeling is well conspicuous in his character. He calls out to his brothers when they go too far into the sea. He also dresses them up when it’s time to go uphill for lunch. It is a matter of astonishment how a boy of his age could have a protective and motherly feeling for his younger brothers.

As a lover, Salvatore’s passion knows no bounds. He bursts into tears as he starts for entering into a professional life of a sailor in the navy of King Victor Emmanuel. He becomes ill at ease while staying with strangers in cities crowded with people without any charm of friendship. It is not an easy task for him to stay without the girl of his heart’s desire. Too much homesickness tells upon his health. He gets impatient to come home; he scribbles letters to the girl about his bottled-up feeling of utter discomfiture among those strangers. He also informs her that he is utterly desirous of meeting her. His life has gone through a sea-change. But he is every inch loyal to his relationship with the girl.

Upon the completion of military service, he comes back home. It is really a pleasure for him meeting his near and dear ones. But the girl he loves ignores him knowing that he has been diagnosed with rheumatism and declared incapable to work any longer. It all shatters his hopes. But he remains totally calm and patient. Utter stoicism is significant aspect of his character. He shows neither any complain nor any mental agitation when his lover rejects him for ever.

… and he never said a hard word of the girl he had loved so well.

Again, as an obedient son, Salvatore yields to his mother’s suggestion; he marries Assunta, a woman senior to him.

His conjugal life is really happy, blessed with two children. Though he often experiences fits of rheumatism, it doesn’t keep him from enjoying his outwardly mundane life of a common fisherman. He would catch cuttlefish at night and go to Naples on the early morning boat to sell them. At other times, he would be working on his vineyard from dawn to dusk. So as a dutiful husband he does enough to maintain his family.

Salvatore is also a happy, affectionate and caring father. Sometimes he would give his children a bath in utter delight. He would seat the naked baby on the big palm of his hand and hold him up, laughing a little at his smallness. This laughter is indicative of how happy the man is with his outwardly ordinary life.

… and his laugh was like the laughter of an angel. His eyes then were as candid as his child’s.

This is how Maugham portrays a man of stolid adjustment. He has managed to overcome two big shocks of his life – his rheumatism and the rejection of his beloved. He hasn’t got all he wanted. Life has not been as easy as he would have thought. But still, he never complains against anything in life; rather he is happy with what life has presented to him.

…he would lie down about the beach, smoking cigarettes, with a pleasant word for everyone notwithstanding the pain that racked his limbs.

This calm and happy attitude of Salvatore has actually been a by-product of one rarest virtue in his character. That virtue is the inner goodness of heart and the Christian forgiveness.

Answer:

In the short story “Salvatore”, Maugham has presented the character of Salvatore as an epitome of goodness. The writer directly communicates with the readers both at the beginning and the end of the story to suggest the purpose of his story. Through the depiction of an apparently ordinary man as our protagonist has been, Maugham shows us how the quality of goodness – the inner beauty of a man – can make an ordinary man extraordinary.

The story basically presents a biographical narrative of Salvatore’s life in a chronological order. When the story begins, he is a boy of fifteen, the son of an Italian fisherman. As a fisher boy, it is no shock that he is an expert at swimming. But the protective and caring attitude he shows to his two younger brothers is somewhat beyond regularity.

Salvatore acted as a nursemaid to his two younger brothers … shouted to them to come inshore when they ventured out too far and made them dress ….

Salvatore’s affectionate nature at this very young age wins the readers’ heart. At the very beginning paragraphs of his story, the author has been successful in registering a lasting impression of Salvatore’s goodness on our mind.

And this impression only gets stronger when the story progresses. We next see Salvatore as a passionate lover who joins the royal navy in order to get the girl he loves. Not only that, he remains true to his love even in foreign lands. He writes his beloved letters stating her his agony of staying away from her and his longing to meet her.

In wrote to her (in his childlike handwriting) long, ill-spelt letters in which he told how constantly he thought of her and how much he longed to be back.

He becomes ill at ease while staying with strangers in cities crowded with people without any charm of friendship. In China, he was in hospital for months. But he bears it “with the mute and uncomprehending patience of a dog”. He receives the first major shock of his life when he learns that it is a form of rheumatism which makes him unfit for further service.

But the worst was waiting for him. Salvatore gets back home and is happy meeting his parents and his brothers. But the girl he loves rejects him knowing that he has been diagnosed with rheumatism and declared incapable to work any longer. It all shatters his hopes. But he shows no sign of anger, nor does he use any harsh words. He keeps calm. Though he is unhappy, he can’t blame the girl. He rather unburdens himself by crying in his mother’s bosom.

… he did not complain, and he never said a hard word of the girl he had loved so well.

And Salvatore’s story doesn’t end here. He then marries Assunta, a woman older than him, at his mother’s will. His conjugal life is not unhappy either, blessed with two baby boys. He does enough to keep his family running in the form of catching cuttlefish at night and working in his vineyard all day long.

We see another identity of Salvatore in the form of a happy and caring father. He sometimes gives his babies a bath with utmost care. He seats the baby on his palm, holds him up and laughs at his smallness.

Though fits of rheumatism take its toll on Salvatore every now and then, he is never heard to use harsh words for anyone.

… he would lie about the beach, … with a pleasant word for everyone notwithstanding the pain that racked his limbs.

Salvatore has been calm, happy and accepting in every situation of his life. He impresses us with his love, affection and caring nature not only towards his lover, but also his brothers, and later on his children. Not to mention his mental strength which has helped him bear two major blows in his life – firstly being diagnosed with rheumatism and then rejection of his beloved. This mental toughness coupled with the calm attitude in Salvatore’s character is something that claims respect. It is indeed very hard to explain how a man from a traditional fishing community and without much formal education can bear such high moral standard of acceptance and forgiveness.

All in all, Salvatore has been a representative of simple common men with mundane life. Apparently, there is nothing extraordinary in his life. But an observant eye, as Maugham has, can sense the beauty and value of such a character. One quality shone with a radiance in Salvatore, as the writer perfectly sums up —

… the rarest, the most precious and the loveliest that anyone can have … Goodness, just goodness.

And this goodness of his heart makes Salvatore so special, and imitable a character, no doubt.

Answer:

In William Somerset Maugham’s short story “Salvatore”, Assunta married Salvatore, the protagonist of the story. Though initially Salvatore perceived her as an ugly woman who was older than he, finally they got married and that proved to be a good decision on his part.

Born to an Italian fisher family, the first part of Salvatore’s life went well when he was happy taking care of his younger brothers and diving into the sea at will. He was in love and engaged with a pretty young girl living on the Grande Marina. Everything had been going well until he set out on his journey to abroad on military service. Salvatore was homesick and he missed his near and dear ones, especially ‘the girl he loved so dearly’. He became ill frequently, and finally returned home with rheumatism, declared unfit for further service.

At this juncture, Salvatore received one more blow when his fiancée rejected to marry him for his illness. Then came Assunta in Salvatore’s life. At first his mother told him of the girl who apparently fell in love with him seeing him at a festival. As Assunta’s fiancé had been killed in Africa during his military service, Assunta was willing to marry Salvatore. She even wanted to buy him a fishing boat and to take a vineyard for them with her little savings. At first, Salvatore dismissed the idea.

“She’s as ugly as the devil,” he said.

But later he thought that Assunta had a good heart and would genuinely love him. After having a look at Assunta from the parish church Salvatore decided to marry her and told her mother of the same. They married and settled down in a tiny house in the middle of a vineyard. Though Assunta was a ‘grim-visaged female’ and looked old for her age, she was admiring, respectful and devoted to her husband. She could not tolerate the girl who had rejected such a good-hearted man like Salvatore.

She never ceased to be touched by his gentle sweetness. But she could not bear the girl who had thrown him over.

In the later part of the story we see Salvatore as a happy man with two babies whom he would sometimes give a bath. He would lie down on the shore when racked by the pain of rheumatism but he never had a complaint against anyone. He always had smile on his face. This tells us of the inherent goodness in Salvatore’s character. But Assunta also had a definite role in his life.

Assunta offered Salvatore the love, respect and care he deserved. She brought back the meaning of life when ‘he was terribly unhappy’ after his illness and his beloved’s rejection. Assunta helped him restore hope and faith in life. In turn that helped him stay kind and soft-spoken to others throughout his life even after the two harsh blows he had received. Assunta embodies the triumph of good heart over appearance.

Answer:

I think Maugham’s presentation of Salvatore as a static character is well justified. The love and affection, the caring nature, the calm, happy and forgiving attitude, in short, the inner goodness of Salvatore remains intact throughout his life. The character is so presented that even in foreign lands he misses his home and his fiancée. Salvatore cannot befriend strangers on those noisy cities and homesickness makes him ill.

Throughout the biographical narrative of the man, nothing changes in terms of his character traits or on idealistic grounds. What changes is only his fate. He receives two big blows in life in the form of rheumatism and the rejection of his lover. But that does not change the track of his life. He overcomes his sadness and marries another woman called Assunta. He also gets over his illness to some extent and works as usual.

Life has not been as easy as he would have liked. But, Salvatore accepts his life as it comes to him and never complains. Even when the fits of rheumatism rakes his limbs, he uses pleasant words for everyone. The inner beauty of this apparently common man is very much uncommon. And having passed two big tests in his life so successfully, there is no such threat that the goodness of this man will ever change. That is why the writer chooses a static character rather than a dynamic one for Salvatore.

Answer:

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.

Answer: Salvatore is the protagonist of Maugham's story with the same name. He is a boy of fifteen, the son of an Italian fisherman when the story begins and a middle-aged man with a wife and two children at the end of the story.

He is described as a person with a pleasant face, laughing mouth and carefree eyes. He happily took care of his two younger brothers. He spent his morning lying on the sea-beach and used to swim effortlessly in the sea where his father used to catch fish. He never wears shoes except on Sundays for going church.

He left his home for military service to become a sailor in the navy of the King Victor Emmanuel. He was living a miserable life full of ups and downs. During his military service in China he fell ill and as he was suffering from rheumatism he was consider unfit for further service. Salvatore did not mind his illness and rather felt happy to return to his own home. He was eager to meet his family and fiancée.

After returning to his hometown he gets to know that his fiancee whom he loved so dearly refused to marry him knowing he would never be quite well again and would never work like a strong man. It was a heartbreak for him but he didn’t blame the girl. On his mother’s suggestion he married a girl named Assunta.

Salvatore is living a simple yet hard life of a fisherman when the story ends. He catches cuttlefish at night. He also works in his vineyard the whole day. His rheumatism takes its toll on him occasionally. But he is happy with his life. He doesn’t blame anyone. He is a responsible husband as well as an affectionate father. At times he gives his children a bath and holds them tenderly as if they are flowers.

Answer:

Salvatore joined the military service reluctantly only to marry the girl he loved. When he had to leave the island which he had never left before, to be a sailor in the navy of King Victor Emmanuel, he wept like a child. Living on a battleship with strangers without any touch of friendship made his life miserable. He was constantly missing his little white cottage among the vines and the little island he loved so well.
 
He was all alone in the noisy friendless cities he had to visit as part of his job. He also realised that the volcanic islands of Ischia and Vesuvius which he used to look at every evening and at dawn when he was home were “as much part of him as his hands and his feet”, a feeling that he had never had before. 
 
As Salvatore was “Dreadfully homesick”, he badly wanted to come back home. The hardest part of it was “to be parted from the girl he loved with all his passionate young heart”. He also wrote her letters telling her about his agony of staying away from her and how much he wanted to be back. 
 
Salvatore was sent to many places including Spezzia, Venice, Bari and China as part of his service. In China, he fell ill seriously and was in hospital for months. With the mental toughness he has got, he managed to recover. But it was learnt that Salvatore had some form of rheumatism which made him unfit for further service.
 
What made him quit and come back?
It was Salvatore’s rheumatism which made him unfit for further military service. In fact, the doctors told him that he would be unable to work any longer. This is why Salvatore had to quit and return to home. And Salvatore was happy that he had to, as he would finally be able to come home and meet his near and dear ones.