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Brian Santos
Seth is Jay’s best friend in Michigan. He’s a stoner and a bit of a slacker, but he’s also intelligent and wants to study computer science. Jay and Seth care about one another, but the two rarely talk about their lives or feelings. As a result, Jay feels like he can’t talk to Seth about Jun’s death or about his grief. Jay does eventually try to broach the topic, but Seth reacts badly; he tells Jay that he’d almost forgotten Jay was Filipino because Jay is “basically white.” This only makes Jay feel more isolated and alone, because Seth can’t understand his experience. This is a pattern that continues throughout the novel. For instance, Jay wants to message Seth while he’s in the Philippines and tell him about everything that’s going on, but Seth insults the Philippines by reducing the country to its slums, so Jay doesn’t share anything with him.
Seth Quotes in Patron Saints of Nothing
The Patron Saints of Nothing quotes below are all either spoken by Seth or refer to Seth. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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A Narrower Country Than Expected Quotes
“Man,” he says, shaking his head, “I forgot you're Filipino.”
“Huh?”
“You're basically white.”
I stop, stung. “What do you mean by that?”
[…]
He lets out an exasperated sigh. “I just meant you act like everyone else at school.”
“You mean like all the white kids?”
“Dude, our school's all white kids, so, yeah.”
Except it's not. The majority are, for sure, but his generalization—spoken with such confidence, such ease—makes me feel like he's erasing the rest of us.
Related Characters:
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Explanation and Analysis:
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Seth Character Timeline in Patron Saints of Nothing
The timeline below shows where the character Seth appears in Patron Saints of Nothing. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Wisdom from On High
Now in the present day, Jay and his friend Seth sit on the roof of their old elementary school at night. Seth is huge and...
(full context)
Seth pulls something out of his bag and tosses it to Jay: it’s a University of...
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Jay tells Seth that he isn’t upset about the Ivies, which is true. Actually, his lack of enthusiasm...
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...Jay has no way of knowing—he screwed things up with his cousin a while back. Seth sits next to Jay smelling like weed, which Seth’s parents won’t even care about. Seth...
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How He Lived
...off the phone quickly, realizing that no one but him knew Jun. He considers calling Seth, but he doesn’t. He just wants someone to hold him the way his mom held...
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A Narrower Country Than Expected
...to school and hasn’t done his homework, since he no longer feels like school matters. Seth wonders why Jay didn’t respond to his texts all weekend and why he’s acting like...
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...says that there are so many bad things in the world and everyone ignores them. Seth argues that people have their own problems to worry about, like school and jobs. Seth...
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Seth says that he forgot Jay was Filipino, since Jay is “basically white.” This comment stuns...
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Fail Him in Death
...Maning didn’t even find shabu in Jun’s room; it was marijuana. Jay can’t believe it: Seth smokes weed all the time, and no one would ever hurt him because of it.
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Another Day in the Minefield
...have left for work. He ignores texts from his parents, then texts Mia and messages Seth, but neither responds. Jay checks his email and discovers that his mom wrote him a...
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Jay gets a message from Seth, which makes him feel less alone. Seth asks Jay how the “motherland is,” and Jay...
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Patron Saints of Nothing
...school tomorrow with people who don’t know about the drug war, discussing video games with Seth, graduating, starting college. It doesn’t seem like his life.
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