Question

Character sketch of Salvatore by W. Somerset Maugham

Answer 1

The author describes Salvatore first as a boy of fifteen with a pleasant face, laughing mouth, and carefree eyes. He was a skilled fisherman and a swimmer too.  He falls madly in love with a pretty girl. He can't marry her until he has served in military service. He leaves to join as a sailor in the navy of King Victor Emmanuel. He went to many places, to Spezia, to Venice, to Ban and finally to China. Unfortunately, he falls ill and has to be admitted in a hospital for months.  He suffers from a kind of rheumatism which renders him incapable of serving in the Navy. When he comes to know that he would be sent back to his island, he is exalted. To his surprise, when he goes there he finds out that the girl has refused to marry him as he won't be able to work and do well in his later life. He, then, marries a girl Assunta who is 'as ugly as the devil. After going through worst in life he still has a laugh like the laughter of an angel and eyes as candid as his child's. Thus he makes the most out of his wedding, his job, and his children. The quality that makes him face all odds calmly is goodness, which the author concludes is a rare quality.