Question

How successful was the writer in bringing out the protagonist’s innate goodness in the short story, Salvatore?

Answer 1

Somerset Maugham expresses his doubt whether he will succeed in whatever he plans to do at the beginning of the story ‘Salvatore’. At the end of the story, we learn that he has been very successful in his attempt to capture. the essence of the character of a simple, humble human being.

“Goodness, just goodness” is what Salvatore is, as described by the writer. He is a gem among humans, not because of exemplary courage, nor because of any noble sacrifice, but just because of being a human. A true human who does not have any complaint with anything or anyone. The author gives certain glimpses of his life and makes us realise how sheer goodness can make a person content and happy.

Salvatore’s life was beset with challenges and upheavals. However, his manner did not reveal any of his troubles. He was cheerful and loving to others; not even a trace of bitterness appeared in his words or actions. He learned to live with his incapacities and limitations, and he bore them with “the mute and uncomprehending patience of a dog”.

The first challenge in his life came when he had to join the military to marry the girl he loved. It was agony for him to leave his beloved island, but he did it as it had to be done. He adjusted to the hard life in silence.

The true test came when he contracted a debilitating disease, which forced him to leave service. He saw the brighter side of it by thinking that it gave him the opportunity to go back to the girl he missed so much. But the trusting, simple-hearted boy was in for a shock. The girl whom he rushed to see rejected him, saying that he was “not man enough to support her”. He cried his heart out, but never blamed the girl; instead, he empathized with her.

As days passed, Salvatore came to terms with his loss. He worked in the vineyard, got married to a woman of his mother’s choice, and proved an exemplary father to his children. It was a hard life, fishing in the sea, working in the vineyard, fighting with his rheumatism, but he forgot his troubles when he gleefully played with his children. A strong man, he treated his children with utmost tenderness as though they were flowers. The comparison of large hands with flowers reveals the gentleness of his nature.

It was his innate goodness, his simple-heartedness, his tendency to see good in others that enabled Salvatore to live a contented life. An ordinary fisherman who possessed nothing else in the world except a quality which was “the rarest, the most precious and the loveliest that anyone can have,” the quality of goodness. Yes, Maugham, with infinite ease, has portrayed the picture of goodness.