"The Martyr"

The title of this short story confused me as well at first, being that Ruben didn't sacrifice anything for Isabel, to deserve such a title. I came to the conclusion that Ruben spent a majority of his time convincing his friends that he was worthless, only able to eat and drink his sorrows away. I think Ruben forced the title of "The Martyr" upon himself, desperately reaching out to Isabel, wanting her to know how she broke his heart. He says on page 35, "I have a pain in my heart that will kill me. There is no woman like that one." His friends all viewed his behavior as being stupid, and Ruben went on to prove to them, and everyone else that he did, in fact, have a pain in his heart that would kill him. I think the title of the story comes more from Ruben's perspective than from Porter's. Without the character's view of his broken heart, the title, "The Martyr" feels forced.