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
The family is gathered in front of the house when Jay and Grace return. Tito Maning looks smug, probably because he’s aware of what Tito Danilo told them. Jay and Grace enter the house and walk to their rooms, but they stop in the hallway. Grace says that she keeps thinking about the last time she saw Jun. She wonders if she missed crucial signs. Maybe she could have done something to help him. Jay thinks about the marijuana Tito Maning found years ago—maybe something was going on with Jun even then.
It's interesting that Tito Maning acts “smug” when Grace and Jay return. If anything, this makes him seem more villainous and crueler than Danilo’s story of events would suggest. Grace’s confession to Jun implies that she feels guilty about Jun’s addiction, since she was around him while he was an addict and didn’t notice. And if Jay had written Jun back, he might have picked up on some early warning signs, too. But, also, perhaps they couldn’t have helped Jun—after all, Jun outright refused Tito Danilo’s help. To some degree, they have to grant Jun the responsibility for his own actions.
Themes
Jay says that families are good at hiding things from each other. Grace agrees, then asks how Jay is doing. Jay says that he’s confused, and asks whether Grace regrets messaging him on Instagram. If Jay had never come, they would never have known that Jun sold drugs. Jay feels that Jun’s memory is “tainted” now, but Grace disagrees. She wonders if she could’ve helped Jun, but she knows Jun was human, and he was struggling. Even though he dealt drugs, his life meant something, and parts of him were still good.
The failure of Jay’s family—both American and Filipino—to openly communicate has been evident throughout the novel. Once again, Jay wonders whether the truth about Jun ended up being worth learning, echoing his mom’s argument that truth wasn’t always worth telling if it caused pain. But Grace takes a more mature approach and argues that even if Jun wasn’t entirely “good,” he was human—and for that reason alone his life meant something. Jay has been trying to make Jun’s death mean something; but Grace here asserts that it was his life that meant something.
Themes
Jay feels guilty, because he’s spent a long time believing the opposite of what Grace is saying. According to Grace, Jun believed that the government wasn’t trying to solve the drug problem and was using the poor as scapegoats. Jun believed that addicts needed to be rehabilitated, since addiction is genetic. He also thought drug pushers should be employed, since they’re just trying to make a living. And corrupt politicians who allow drugs to enter the country should be removed from office. Grace is summing up what Jun believed, but Jay feels that the words are hers, too—part of Jun lives in Grace.
Throughout the novel, Jay has been desperate to prove that Jun wasn’t an addict or drug dealer—clearly, he has some preconceived notions about individuals involved with drugs. Grace is able to see past Jun’s addiction, while Jay had been fixated on it. Jun’s beliefs were that drugs are a systemic problem, and that the blame should be placed on the system and those in the position to control and affect the system—not on those most affected by the system. Jay’s sense that a part of Jun lives on in Grace, not because they are siblings but because Grace shares Jun’s ideals, offers another way to think about life, death, and meaning—that one’s life and meaning can live on through those you’ve impacted and influenced.
Themes
Jay says he wants to do something to help, but Grace says that even though Jay is from the Philippines, he only just discovered these problems and can’t solve them. Jay looks down, ashamed. Grace says that she’ll continue to post on “GISING NA PH!” She wants Jun’s life to have been for something, and people need to recognize the humanity of those the government murders. Jay almost thinks it’s Jun saying these things at first, but when he looks up, it’s still Grace.
When Grace tells Jay that he can’t solve the Philippines’ problems, she’s not trying to be cruel, the way Tito Maning was. She acknowledges that Jay is from the Philippines, but she’s right that he can’t swoop in and solve issues he just discovered—it would be arrogant, and dismissive of the people who have long lived in the Philippines, to think that he could. And Grace isn’t claiming that she can singlehandedly solve those (largely systemic) problems, either—she’s just doing what she thinks is right. Notably, Grace wants to continue “GISING NA PH!” so that Jun’s life—not his death—will have meant something.
Themes
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Jay says that he misses Jun, and Grace says that she does, too. They both cry and hug each other. Jay knows that he’ll feel this grief forever, but at least he won’t have to feel it alone. They’ll figure out how to live without Jun while remembering him. Jay hears the family coming into the house. Grace knows that it’s too late for a funeral, but she wonders if she should ask the family if they can hold an impromptu memorial for Jun. Jay says that she should.
Grace and Jay once again grieve for Jun together—but, this time, they’re grieving the real Jun, rather than their image of who Jun was. Jay has felt alone throughout the novel, but now he’s able to connect with Grace and speak openly with her. Jay was always focused on finding the truth about Jun, so he never thought about what would come after. Now, he knows that he’ll always be grieving Jun. Notably, he’s no longer looking for a way to “resurrect” his cousin’s memory, and instead, Jay wants to honor Jun even as he moves on and begins to heal. The impromptu memorial seems like a perfect way to do that, since even though Jay no longer thinks that Jun’s death was “meaningful,” it’s still worth mourning him so the family can heal together (instead of suffering alone).
Themes
