Douglas Memorial Higher

Secondary School

Name: Souvik Bhatta

Class: XI
Stream: Arts
Session: 2021-22.
 Index
S. No. Date Content Signature
 1  18.07.2021  Topic

 2  18.07.2021  About the

Author
 3  18.07.2021  Salvatore as an
epitome of
goodness

 4  18.07.2021  Salvatore as in
relation
 5  18.07.2021  Salvatore as
passionate
lover
 6  18.07.2021  Salvatore as
husband

 7  18.07.2021
 Salvatore as a
loving father
 8  18.07.2021  Salvatore as a
man of
emotion

 9 Bibliography
 Acknowledgment

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher as

well who gave us the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project,
which also helped me in doing a lot of Research and I came to know
about so many new things I am really thankful to them.
Secondly I would also like to thank my parents and friends who helped
me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.
 Topic
W. Somerset Maugham speaks of “the interest, the most
precious, & the loveliest” quality that Salvatore
possessed. Elaborate the quality of Salvatore as sketched
out by the author in about 1000-1500 words.

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 SALVATORE
:- By W.Somerset Maugham

About the Author

William Somerset Maugham (25 January 1874 – 16 December

1965) was an English playwright, novelist, and short-story
writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era
and reputedly the highest-paid author during the 1930s.

Both Maugham's parents died before

he was 10, and the orphaned boy was raised by a paternal
uncle, who was emotionally cold. He did not want to become
a lawyer like other men in his family, so he trained and
qualified as a physician. His first novel Liza of
Lambeth (1897) sold out so rapidly that Maugham gave up
medicine to write full-time.
During the First World War, he served with the Red
Cross and in the ambulance corps before being recruited in
1916 into the British Secret Intelligence Service.[4] He
worked for the service in Switzerland and Russia before
the October Revolution of 1917 in the Russian Empire.
During and after the war, he travelled in India, Southeast

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Asia and the Pacific. He drew from those experiences in his
later short stories and novels.

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 Salvatore as an epitome of goodness

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’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.

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

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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.

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 Salvatore as in Relation

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 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

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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.

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 Salvatore as a passionate lover

Salvatore was a passionate lover, because he gives up his

love as he did not want to see his girl suffer with him. When
the girl’s parents refused to agree to their marriage, he lets
her go because he felt he might not be able to support her.
This shows how passionate he was about her.

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 Salvatore as a husband

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.

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 Salvatore as a loving father

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.

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 Salvatore as a man of emotion

He is great son, a responsible husband and an affectionate

father. The short story conveys the message of goodness
through the character named Salvatore. Who is happy
spending his life with his family no matter what may be the
condition

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 Bibliography.

 Echoes : A collection of short stories

 Various sites of Google

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