Sunday, September 14, 2008
"The Martyr" title
I was confused as the title of “The Martyr”. I do not get why Ruben calls himself a martyr to love when he has sacrificed nothing. Usually when I picture a martyr I think of someone who has given up something of great importance, like leaving a family, or even giving up ones life, for a cause that he or she truly believes in. The term also has strong links to religion. I think Ruben is stretching the use of this concept. I think he wallows in his own self-pity and he chooses to indulge in food. Obviously, when he uses the term he is trying to hold his resignation from work and reality with high regard. I think that Porter might be making fun of artists who believe that their work relies heavily on a muse, or something outside of themselves. Or perhaps she is making a comment on the arrogance of many artists in general.
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I think the interest of the word martyr concerns what will happen after the story ends. I agree with you that Ruben is self-aggrandizing and hard to sympathize with. But the notion of martyr in the Catholic faith is also wrapped up in connotations of myth-like exaggeration. Violent but ordinary deaths took on supernatural qualities. In this case, I think the word Martyr refers to the myth-like treatment Ruben will be getting, in his friend's self-serving biography. The verity of his epitaph, after all, is decidely dubious. He could just as easily have said "My heart!" or "Shit, I'm dying!" But the waiter, who "understands everything," delivers last words worthy of an artistic legend. Ruben was not a martyr for his work, as would be expected of an artist: he never completes his mural. So, in death, his friends create and use his legend to sell books and tamales, in the same way violently murdered missionaries were used to sell the Catholic faith.
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