Thin As a Rail (Simile)
When introducing his protagonist, Maugham writes that Salvatore "used to spend the morning lying about the beach with next to nothing on and his brown body was as thin as a rail." In this simile, Maugham highlights just how thin the young Salvatore is by comparing him to a narrow, featureless tube of metal.
Ugly As the Devil (Simile)
Upon learning that Assunta, a local widow, has fallen in love with him, Salvatore tells his mother that the woman is "ugly as the devil." In this simile, Salvatore unfavorably compares his future wife's appearance to an entity understood in his culture to be fearsome to behold.
Like Legs of Mutton (Simile)
While updating the image of Salvatore as a grown man at the end of the story, Maugham describes him as having "enormous hands, like legs of mutton, coarse and hard from constant toil." In this simile, Maugham emphasizes the almost comical size of Salvatore's hand by comparing them hyperbolically to the legs of sheep.
