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A Universe Where People Do Not Die for Doing What is Right
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
That night at dinner, Jay is pensive, because he still doesn’t know why Jun left Reyna. He wants to tell Tita Chato and Tita Ines the truth, but he can’t do so without lying or sharing Reyna’s story against her wishes (she asked Jay and Mia not to tell Tita Chato about her and Jun). Jay’s aunts decide to call in sick tomorrow, which makes Jay feel guilty since Tita Chato’s work is important. To cheer Jay up, Tita Chato brings out a karaoke machine and sets it up on the patio with chairs for neighbors. Many neighbors show up, including a really old man. He apologizes to Jay for not speaking much English and Jay says the man speaks better English than Jay speaks Tagalog.
Jay knows some of the truth about Jun now, but if anything, knowing that truth has only generated more questions. And, Jay is forced to experience just how complicated “the truth” is: Jay’s aunts deserve to know the truth about why Jun left, but Jay is right not to tell them, since Reyna asked him not to. In this case, the truth isn’t automatically a good thing, since telling the truth would hurt someone else. Jay’s interaction with the old man is the first time anyone has apologized to Jay for not speaking his language—normally, it’s the other way around. The novel seems to portray this sort of mindfulness as a way to cross cultural boundaries, as it causes Jay to immediately react with generosity rather than feelings of guilt or isolation.
Themes
Jay is allowed to drink beer, which makes him feel grown-up, since his parents don’t let him. The first neighbor starts singing a song that Jay doesn’t recognize and gets a score of 92. Tita Ines sings and gets a 97. Jay declines to sing, but eventually a neighbor insists that he participate, so Jay belts out “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen. At first, he’s self-conscious, but he soon gets into it, even though his score ends up being low. Jay is having a lot of fun, and then some neighbors start singing a love song and he begins to feel sad about Mia having a boyfriend and about Jun not being present. The old man sings a song and gets a perfect 100, and everyone cheers.
Jay is growing up on this trip as his worldview slowly becomes broader and more nuanced; it makes sense, then, that Tita Chato and Tita Ines treat him like a grown up by letting him drink beer. Jay’s choice of song suggests that Jay doesn’t always have to choose between cultural identities—he can embrace his own and be embraced by those around him in turn. Meanwhile, this scene shows Jay and others engaging in frivolous fun, and that fun not being “meaningless” but rather meaningful: these sorts of experiences knit communities together, across difference. Meanwhile, Jay himself can balance having fun while feeling some sadness. Life isn’t black and white, he’s experiencing, and that’s not only okay but how it has to be..
Themes
