The main aim of this work is to show what influences the development and maturation of the characters and to explain how these characters mature within the short novels of the italian author Italo Svevo. At the beggining of the work, few words were written about our author's life background to help understand the connection between his works and his life. The author's views and reflections were mostly influenced by meetings and friendships with psychologist Sigmund Freud and philosopher Schopenhauer, whose theories are presented in this work. The main characteristics of Svevo's characters are outlined, as well as what affects the outcome of their relationships. Furthermore, the work presents the main topics that Svevo has dealt with, such as maladaptation, death, the contrast between illness and health, old age and youth. He devoted himself to exploration of the human psyche and the interior, that is, that which lies in the depth of the soul. The topics are addressed through various short stories based on the characters behaviour and their relationships with each other. Through psychoanalysis the characters explore themselves, and by revealing themselves to us, they reveal Svevo to us, because they serve as a material for presenting author's views and criticisms of the modern world in which we live. At the end of this work, the well-known novels written by Svevo were mentioned, among which the most important, La coscienza di Zeno, was highlighted. A link has been made between the novels and the stories of the same author, which shows that almost all of the Svevo's protagonist are very similar in character and destiny, ending their lives in a similar way.