The text under consideration is “Salvatore” by W.

Somerset Maugham a well-

known English writer, whose style is characterized by a clear unadorned style,
cynically sarcastic and a shrewd understanding of human nature.
The given story is about a named Salvatore. He is the son of fisherman, who spent
every morning lying on the beach when he was a boy. Then he fell in love with a
pretty girl from Grande Marina. Unfortunately, he got ill during his military
service and doctor said that he would be quite well. The parents of the girl, with
whom Salvatore was in love, forbade him from marrying the daughter.
This short story belongs to the emotive prose and as such represents the belles-
lettres functional style, the main aim of which is to give readers aesthetic pleasure,
to make them and to entertain by appealing to their emotions.
The story opens with the narrator expressing a sense of doubt in what he is
attempting: “I wonder if I can do it“, which is an implication of fore-knowledge.
This line has the uncanny ability to draw the reader in, to intrigue the reader’s
curiosity and make him/her expect something more opening with the flashback «I
knew Salvatore first when he was a boy of fifteen». It starts with exposition using
the describing of him and his family «He was in and out of the sea all the time»,
«His father was a fisherman», «his two younger brothers». In rising action is said
«he was madly in love with a pretty girl who lived on the Grande Marina», « he
become a sailor in the navy of King Victor Emmanuel ». The climax of the story
is, when his sweetheart told him unabashedly, «with the blunt directness of her
race that she could not marry a man who would never be strong enough to work
like a man».

The time and place of action are stated directly « Southern parts… Grande
Marina… about the beach».

The story has flashback, which is presented in the Past Simple and Present Perfect
tense.

Despite of the fact that the story begins with the narrator expressing his concern in
the first person: “I wonder if I can do it” other part of Salvatore`s story is related in
the third person by an observant narrator who adopts a conversational tone.

Even the style of narration is akin to the oral tradition of storytelling. The flow of
the story is lucid, and dialogues are replaced with reported speech with phrases
«She told him straight out,…., that she could not marry a man who would never be
strong enough to work like a man»
The narrative compositional forms are used in the text. Narrative proper presents
the unfolding of the plot. The description is presented in the form of landscape –
especially seaside.

As the key word, there is the title “Salvatore”. The thematic vocabulary of the text
is Salvatore, sea, girl, father.