Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Patron Saints of Nothing, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Truth, Adolescence, and Justice
Responsibility, Guilt, and Blame
Culture and Belonging
Death and Meaning
Summary
Analysis
Mia introduces the woman as Reyna. Reyna says that she and Jun lived in this apartment together for two years. Jay wants to ask about the child but doesn’t. Instead, he looks around and wonders how Jun ended up here; he even wonders if Reyna is scamming them. Brian Santos explains that Reyna doesn’t want both Jay and Brian going into the apartment, since they’re men, so Brian will wait outside.
Jay wants to know the truth about Jun, but he seems unhappy with learning anything that doesn’t fit with his preconceived notions about Jun’s life—for instance, he doesn’t want to learn more about the child, which might be Jun’s. And the fact that he thinks Reyna might be scamming mirrors Tito Maning’s instinctive mistrust of the poor and the “lower” classes.
Themes
Mia and Jay enter the apartment, which is like a loft. It’s a more impressive structure than other homes in the slums but still looks dangerous; the floor is rotting and the “windows” are just open gaps in the walls. Reyna invites Mia and Jay to sit in plastic lawn chairs, and the child sits in front of the TV. Reyna brings them crackers and water, which Mia silently warns Jay not to drink. Mia says something to Reyna, and then Mia takes out her phone and begins to record. They begin talking, though Jay can’t understand the conversation.
The description of the apartment makes clear the poverty in which Jun and Reyna (and now Reyna) lived. Once again, Mia has to explain something about the Philippines to Jay, but again, it’s for a practical purpose: if Jay drank the water Reyna gives them, he’d probably get sick. Similarly, Jay’s inability to speak Bisaya excludes him from the conversation between Mia and Reyna, but they’re obviously not excluding him on purpose. Jay has to trust Mia to find the truth about Jun’s life in this apartment without Jay’s help.
Themes
Jay looks around for proof that Jun lived here. Mia finally tells Jay that Reyna is speaking in Bisaya, so that she can tell her own story, something crucial in journalism. Jay reflects that Jun must have learned Bisaya, and that maybe he taught Reyna Tagalog. Mia tells Jay that Reyna was part of a big family. When Reyna was 11, traffickers came to her village, though no one knew what they were. They said that they could help girls find domestic work abroad, so Reyna’s parents sold her to them.
Jay’s search for evidence of Jun in the room indicates that he doesn’t necessarily want to believe that Jun was living here, so he’s searching for “proof” that would either confirm or debunk Reyna’s story. In contrast, Mia is focused on journalism and allowing Reyna to tell her story, to reveal her truth. And that truth is a story of lies and brutal exploitation. Mia takes her ethical responsibility as a journalist seriously, but Jay is caught up in what Reyna’s story means about Jun.
Themes
After five or six years, Tita Chato’s organization helped Reyna get out. Jay is confused: what organization? Mia explains that Tita Chato helps trafficking victims, and Jay is sad to realize Reyna’s situation is common. Reyna went to stay with Tita Chato temporarily, where she met Jun. Jay is uncomfortable, because this means that Reyna was in a vulnerable position when Jun met her and he took advantage. Mia continues: Jun was very considerate, since Reyna wasn’t the first client to stay with them. She helped out around the house and Jun kept his distance and treated her gently.
Once again, Jay’s lack of knowledge about the Philippines is made clear. Meanwhile, it’s ironic that Jay is now worried about the ethics of Jun dating Reyna—while he’s right to pick up on the fact that their relationship could have been inappropriate, he was secretly questioning whether Reyna was a grifter only moments before. But it seems like Jun’s relationship with Reyna wasn’t inappropriate after all, since he kept a respectful distance. The story, like many others about Jun, emphasizes his empathy and kindness.
Themes
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Tita Chato found a permanent home for Reyna after a few weeks; she’d care for a family’s child in exchange for board. But the husband of this family began to abuse Reyna, something she hid from Tita Chato when Tita Chato checked in. Reyna was ashamed and didn’t want to bother anyone, and she was afraid of the husband. Jay thinks she should have spoken up, but Mia says that Jay can’t understand Reyna’s situation. Mia says that Reyna eventually called Tita Chato to confess, but it turns out that Jun was the one on the other line. He picked Reyna up and asked where she wanted to go. She didn’t want to return to Tita Chato, so he helped her settle at this apartment.
Once again, Jay is faced with a situation he doesn’t have the context or ability to understand. Much like Seth couldn’t ever fully understand Jay’s experience, Jay can’t fully understand Reyna’s. In such a situation, the only thing he can do is listen, which is what he wanted Seth to do back when he told Seth about Jun. Sometimes, open communication demands listening as much as speaking, which is what Mia is teaching Jay here. Meanwhile, it makes sense that Jun wanted to help Reyna,. Jun was a deeply empathetic person and felt responsible for others, but “helping people” was an abstract concept before Reyna.
Themes
Reyna made Jun promise not to tell Tita Chato. Jun continued to help Reyna, though, and brought her food when he could. Jay realizes that this must have been what Jun was doing instead of going to school—the library excuse was a lie. Reyna tells Mia that she and Jun fell in love, and after two weeks she asked if he wanted to have sex. But Jun said no; he was helping her because it was the right thing to do, not because he expected anything. But after another two weeks, he confessed that he loved her and moved in. Jay can’t believe that all this happened while his own biggest concern was the new Avengers movie.
After he began to help Reyna, Jun clearly decided that the things he previously valued—like school—no longer mattered. (This is similar to Jay’s change in focus upon learning about Jun’s death.) And yet, what enabled Jun to help Reyna was his lie about still going to school. So in this case Jun lied in order to try to do good.
Themes
Jun still didn’t tell Tita Chato, probably because he felt guilty for getting involved with one of her clients. Reyna hands Jay a piece of paper now, which Mia identifies as a love song that Jun wrote for Reyna. Jay wants to ask to keep it, but realizes that the song is Reyna’s the way the letters were his, and so he remains silent. Reyna recorded many of the songs but had to sell the phone the recordings were on to keep from starving. Mia continues: Jun left school, and they both made enough money to live.
Jay’s father stopped communicating with his Filipino relatives out of guilt over leaving the country behind. Now it is made clear that Jun left his family because he felt guilty about what he had done, even if he had done it for good reasons. Guilt drives so much of the family breakdown in this novel. Meanwhile, through his whole search for the truth behind Jun’s death, Jay (perhaps driven by his own guilt at having stopped corresponding with Jun) has acted as if Jun is his—as if he is Jun’s inheritor. But now it’s clear that other people knew Jun far better than Jay did, and Jay realizes this too when does not ask for the song lyrics.
Themes
Jay asks if Jun was a drug pusher or user. Mia translates, and Reyna says no. Jay knew it: Jun couldn’t have lived with himself if he sold drugs. In fact, Reyna says, Jun helped addicts get clean. Mia thinks that Jun’s name ended up on the list by accident since he spent time with addicts, though Jay still believes that Tito Maning was involved. Jay wonders why Reyna said that Jun only lived here for two years if he left Tito Maning three years ago. Reyna begins crying and tells Mia that Jun left her on Christmas.
Again, Jay wants to believe that Jun’s death meant something, and his death would seem more meaningless to Jay if Jun was killed for using or dealing drugs. After all, dealing drugs would be pretty unethical, since addicts in the Philippines can be legally murdered for their addiction, and drug dealers feed that addiction. Reyna tells Jay exactly what he wants to hear when she reveals that Jun was actually helping addicts get clean, and Jay continues to seize on the simple “answers” that conform with what he wants to believe. However, Reyna’s admission that Jun left her complicates Jay’s presumption that Jun was entirely innocent, especially since his leaving must have left her in dire poverty if she had to sell Jun’s phone to survive.
Themes
Jay thinks that Jun must have had a reason for leaving, but Mia sees a pattern: Jun runs when things get hard. He did the same when he stopped writing to Jay, when he left home, and when he left Tita Chato. Jay doesn’t listen to this and asks if the child he saw is Jun’s daughter. She’s not; she’s a neighbor’s kid. Jay is relieved but also feels a sense of loss. Reyna asks them to go and Jay leaves some pesos on the table secretly, thinking of Jun as he does so. He asks if Reyna knows about Jun’s website, and Reyna says no. As they leave, Jay imagines a world in which Jun is alive and married to Reyna.
Jay continues to always see Jun in the most positive life. He wants to find the truth, but he still only wants to find the truth that matches with his expectations and makes him feel better. Jay has advocated for the importance of sharing hard truths, but when Mia tries to share a hard truth about Jun with Jay, Jay dismisses it. While it’s not clear that Mia is entirely right in her assessment of Jun, either—for instance, it wasn’t Jun who stopped writing to Jay, but Jay who stopped writing to Jun—it seems likely that the truth lies somewhere in the middle of Mia and Jay’s separate assessments of Jun. Jay’s sadness at finding that the child isn’t Jun’s is grief that Jun is truly gone—that he doesn’t “live on” through a child. And there appears to be still more of a mystery to Jun’s life, as Reyna apparently knows nothing about the website that Jun seems to have run.
Themes
