Discuss the theme of love and affection as depicted in the story "Salvatore."

In “Salvatore,” we learn the story of a young man who lives on a Mediterranean Island. Salvatore is described as a young man who has it all. His life is relaxing and free, and he is blessed with a betrothal to a beautiful young woman. He faces a challenge: his forced military conscription is the conflict that causes his story to come to a halt.
He finds the military confining and dull. He is eventually released from service after it comes to light that he is stricken with rheumatism, which is a type of arthritis. His affliction is at first a cause for joy because he can go home and back to his love, but then he is distraught to find that he is no longer betrothed because he cannot work with his disease.
After his heartbreak, we see the first way in which love and affection are shown in the story. Salvatore weeps into his mother's bosom:

He was terribly unhappy, but he did not blame the girl.

The love of his mother extends well beyond childhood. Salvatore, at this point in the story, is a man. The love of his mother and the comfort she provides to her son leads her to seek some resolution for him. It is his mother who finds him another young woman that might be his wife. The woman she finds is “ugly as the devil”—but Salvatore agrees to marry her because she is in love with him and he doesn’t have a lot of options.
His relationship with Assunta is strange because he doesn’t think she is beautiful, but she shows her evident love and affection by being fiercely loyal and defensive of her husband. The story tells us tha,

the little smile of devotion that she gave her husband when he was being very masculine and masterful; she never ceased to be touched by his gentle sweetness. But she could not bear the girl who had thrown him over, and notwithstanding Salvatore's smiling expostulations she had nothing but harsh words for her.

She loves Salvatore dearly and appreciates the work that he does—even though he is often too sick to do much. She also hates his first fiancé, and she has nothing but harsh words for her because of the betrayal she sees the girl has made to her husband. I don’t think it is jealousy so much as the idea that someone could be so cruel to her kind and gentle husband.
The last way in which the story depicts love and adoration is between father and son when Salvatore takes his two sons to the beach to bathe them on days when he cannot work. He treats them gently and with love, dipping them into the water and drying them tenderly. He shows his sons great care and love and generally enjoys spending time with them.
The three different relationships show that even in the most unfortunate circumstances, love and affection can help ease an afflicted life. Salvatore, despite not being able to provide as society expects, still can give and receive love and affection in a meaningful way. The author ends the story by saying that Salvatore’s story is average—there is nothing special that happens but that he is a man of goodness. Goodness that comes out of trouble and misfortune perhaps makes the story is more extraordinary than the author realizes.