The Martyr

Ramon recorded Ruben's last words as "tell them I am a martyr to love. I perish in a cause worthy the sacrifice. I die of a broken heart" but I believe Ruben died not because he loved Isabel, but because he loved food. I read this story as if he died of a heart attack because of his unhealthy lifestyle habits. Ruben convinced himself that he ate because Isabel nicknamed him "Churro" or he wanted to revist the restaurant they often frequented so he would miss her less or stay transfixed with his love for her, but truly, I believe his obsession with Isabel merely covered his obsession with eating and refusal to give up self control. Isabel as a "lover" was merely a distraction and her absence only allowed him to self indulge guiltlessly, blaming his lack of self control on a woman. "Layors of fat piled insidiously upon him" and he killed himself by not listening to the doctor's orders or his friends' pleas. His epitath, would, then, read: I am a martyr to the love of food. I die of a broken, unhealthy heart attack. Perhaps Porter argues that self indulgence only leads to death. Death of the spirit. Death of happiness. In the case of Ruben, physcial death. He would rather die than change his lifestyle and respect/love himself.

Also, after our class discussion about Porter's disdain to the idea of the suffering artist, I realized that another association with artists is the "starving artist," and I couldn't help but chuckle at the idea of Ruben as a starving artist. The humor and irony of the story, then, would reflect not Porter's antipathy toward society's view of the artist as genius only in his suffering, but her mocking sentiment toward people who believe that view.