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
Jay stays home from school to prep for the trip. He messages the anonymous account again on Instagram but gets no response. His dad picks up a bunch of stuff from the grocery store and explains to a confused Jay that the items are pasalubong (gifts for the family), which will be placed in balikbayan boxes (boxes you bring home with you). Jay will take the boxes to the Philippines and distribute the gifts upon arrival. At first, Jay tries to help his dad fill the boxes, but he does it wrong, so his dad takes over. After his mom helps him pack, Jay secretly stashes Jun’s letters in his backpack.
Balikbayan boxes are a Filipino ritual of sorts—Filipinos either mail them to family overseas or bring them back home after traveling. In this case, Jay’s lack of knowledge about the boxes again points to his disconnection from Filipino culture. Yet the fact that he is bringing the boxes at all—boxes that one brings home after traveling—attests to the fact that the Philippines still is a home for him, a legacy that can’t be taken from him. Earlier in the novel, Jay closed the box holding Jun’s letters “like a coffin,” but now that he believes Jun’s murder is unsolved, Jay has “exhumed” the letters. Solving Jun’s murder gives Jay a purpose, but it also allows him to repress his grief.
Themes
That night, Jay has a dream about Jun that he thinks might actually be a memory. In the dream, the boys are leaving Jun’s school in the Philippines and laughing about one of Jun’s classmates as they walk down the street together. Suddenly, Jun speeds up. Though Jay tries to follow, he loses his cousin in a crowd.
The meaning of this dream isn’t too difficult to parse: Jay has quite literally “lost” Jun, and his dream reflects that reality. But interestingly, this dream also seems related to Jun’s final letter and to Jun’s dropping out of school. In that letter, Jun described his annoyance with his shallow classmates. In the dream, Jay is laughing at those students with Jun, despite the fact that Jay worried, after learning of Jun’s death, that he was just as shallow as those classmates. This dream seems to reflect Jay’s guilt.
Themes
Jay’s parents bring him to the airport before dawn. Jay’s dad checks the balikbayan boxes and loads them onto the conveyor belt. Other Filipino travelers are doing the same. Jay and his dad hug, and his dad seems like he’s about to say something but doesn’t. Jay walks through security without looking back and sits at his gate while the sun rises. As he boards the plane, prepared for his 20-hour journey, he imagines Jun’s ghost behind him.
Jay’s dad continues to take charge of the balikbayan boxes, although they should be Jay’s responsibility at this point. Even now, Jay’s dad isn’t willing to share any cultural or personal experience with Jay. And, once again, Jay’s dad seems unable to communicate in the way he wants to with his son. Feeling as if he is with Jun’s ghost captures Jay’s intention to solve Jun’s murder, but also suggests that Jay is unwilling to mourn Jun or let Jun go. The rising sun could be read as a symbol of this new life that Jay is entering as he embarks on this trip.
Themes
