Previous
The Darkness Uninterrupted
Themes
and Colors
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 next morning, Jay wakes up early and leaves the house. Grace follows him and asks where he’s going. Jay tells her that he’s going to Legazpi; she lets him know that is actually in the opposite direction. She asks if he’s going to talk to Tito Danilo, and Jay admits that he is. He wants to go alone, but Grace says that Jun was her brother, so together they find a taxi driver. Jay knows that they’ll get in trouble for this trip, but no one would have let them go. Last night, Jay tried to ask the family what Tito Maning meant when he brought up Tito Danilo, but they all told Jay to drop it.
That Grace and Jay are going to find Tito Danilo suggests that even though they dismissed Tito Maning’s claims as lies the previous night, they worry that there might be some truth to them. Jay and Grace have now started to build a relationship built on sharing and honesty, but the family shutting down the conversation shows that secrets remain and the rest of the family fears the impact of having those secrets exposed. Jay initially going the wrong direction is a bit of comedy that again shows his lack of knowledge of the Philippines.
Active
Themes
As the taxi maneuvers through the city, the streets begin to get crowded with people on their way to work, and it starts to rain lightly. Jay can feel his phone buzzing now that he has a signal again, but he ignores it. Eventually, Grace and Jay arrive at a huge cathedral. Jay overpays the taxi driver, according to Grace; he gave roughly 60 U.S. dollars. Jay muses that his University of Michigan hoodie probably cost the same amount. The inside of the church is new-looking, with fresh paint and polished pews. Jay says it's beautiful, and Grace says the poor paid for it, which reminds Jay of Jun. Grace checks the rectory while Jay checks his texts. They’re mostly from Mia. He’s still annoyed at her for not responding earlier.
This trip to Legazpi is somewhat similar to Jay’s trip to the slums with Mia. People were on their way to work when Jay arrived at the slums, but this time, Jay doesn’t even notice his surroundings and doesn’t even bother to check his phone. He was on a similarly single-minded mission in the slums, but back then, he thought that learning the truth about Jun would be a good and meaningful thing, which is why he told Brian Santos that he was willing to die for the truth. Now, he knows that learning the truth might reveal things that he wished he didn’t know. Ignoring Mia might be taken as an indication of his partial loss of faith in the idea that all secrets should be exposed. Meanwhile, Jay continues to make tourist-like mistakes such as overpaying the taxi, while Grace’s comment about the poor paying for the church indicates that she shares a lot of Jun’s political beliefs, including his skepticism about the Church.
Active
Themes
While Grace is still looking around, Tito Danilo appears suddenly. Jay tells him that he’s here to talk about Jun. When Grace returns, the three of them sit in the pews. Jay says that according to Tito Maning, the police killed Jun for selling drugs, but Jay knows that Jun was killed for his Instagram. They fill Tito Danilo in on everything, beginning with Grace’s anonymous Instagram messages to Jay and ending with their journey today (leaving Reyna out). Much of this seems like new information to Tito Danilo. Looking sad, Tito Danilo says that what happened was a tragedy and there’s nothing else to say. Jay says that there’s still the truth, and Grace says that Tito Danilo needs to come home and tell everyone that Tito Maning is lying.
Active
Themes
Tito Danilo is quiet, and Jay worries that his uncle won’t be brave enough to stand up to Tito Maning. Finally, Tito Danilo says that what’s happening in the Philippines is a shame, and it’s a shame that the Church hasn’t spoken up. He tells Grace and Jay that Tito Maning called him a few months before Jun died; apparently, he’d heard from his colleagues that Jun was in Legazpi. Tito Maning wanted Tito Danilo to find and save Jun. Tito Maning had already bribed his colleagues to remove Jun’s name from the list, but Jun was back on it, and Tito Maning now wanted Tito Danilo to save Jun from drugs. Grace and Jay are confused: they’re sure that Jun didn’t use or sell drugs.
Active
Themes
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Tito Danilo continues. He spent weeks looking for Jun and couldn’t find him. One day, Jun came to the church looking different: he was skinny and rocked back and forth. Jun wanted to talk to Tito Danilo, and Tito Danilo told him to either go back home or stay here with him. But Jun was angry, saying that no one ever listened; people only told others what to do. Tito Danilo tells a disbelieving Grace and Jay that Jun used and sold drugs; Jun said so himself. Jun may have gotten onto the watchlist because of the Instagram account, but he ran away from Reyna because he’d started using and didn’t want to ruin her.
Active
Themes
Jay says nothing. He thought he knew Jun’s story, but now he sees that stories can shift. Tito Danilo continues, saying that Jun later began selling drugs. Shabu suppresses hunger, he explains, so many poor people begin using for this reason. Maybe Jun began selling to feed his addiction. Tito Danilo tells Jay and Grace that he’s sorry to tell them this, but he has nothing to gain from lying. At the time, Tito Danilo told Jun that he could stay at the church with him. Jun refused but promised to come back. He was dead days later. Jay refuses to believe Tito Danilo at first, but he sees how sad his uncle is and has to acknowledge that Tito Danilo is telling the truth. Jay says that maybe Jun was using the money from selling drugs to help others, but he trails off.
Grace asks who killed Jun, and Tito Danilo says that it doesn’t matter, because Jun’s murderer was probably someone trying to “feed his family.” Apparently, the killer was a vigilante who would have been paid for the kill. Jay is angry that everyone is okay with this system, but Tito Danilo says that this isn’t the United States and asks if Jay would have cared about the drug war if it weren’t for Jun. Jay asks why the Church isn’t doing anything, and Tito Danilo says the Church doesn’t interfere in politics. Jay feels that all adults have let him down: Tito Danilo doesn’t think the Church should be involved, Tita Chato gave up, Tito Maning is complicit, and Jay’s dad doesn’t care.
Active
Themes
Tito Danilo goes to call the family and tell them that Jay and Grace are here, and that he’ll drive them back after breakfast. Jay and Grace sit and cry together. They’re losing Jun in a whole new way now. Jay says he can’t believe the story, and Grace says that none of it is right. Jay watches a bird fly to a nest in the ceiling, and it reminds him of when the puppy died years ago and Jay’s mom told him to listen to the birds. At the time, she claimed that death creates space for life, but no life has emerged from Jun’s death.
