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Wisdom from On High
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
On Saturday afternoon, Jay is playing video games when his dad approaches and asks him to pause. Jay ignores him, certain that his dad just wants to talk about college. He shoots a T-rex onscreen and cheers. Jay’s dad tells him that Tito Maning called with news: Jun is dead. Jay’s character dies onscreen as Jay processes the information. Now he can see that his dad’s eyes are red, and he realizes his dad, a nurse, should still be at the hospital along with Jay’s mom. Instead, he’s home during work hours.
Once more, the novel highlights Jay’s lack of connection or communication with his father. But this passage makes clear that Jay’s adolescent college problems won’t be the novel’s focus, and the juxtaposition between the fake video game deaths Jay interacts with onscreen and the real death Jay’s dad is trying to tell him about reminds readers—and Jay—that there’s a whole world outside of Jay’s growing pains.
Themes
Jay’s dad says that Jun died yesterday, but he won’t say how it happened. Jay is confused: was it an accident? His dad asks if it matters, and Jay doesn’t know if knowing the truth of how Jun died would really help. Worse, Jay doesn’t know how to grieve, since he and Jun became distant years ago.
Jay’s dad’s refusal to reveal how Jun died furthers the mystery around Jun’s death. Meanwhile, Jay’s dad poses an important question when he asks Jay if it matters how Jun died, and it’s significant that Jay can’t answer him. Jay doesn’t know if knowing the truth would help him or hurt him. Years ago, Jay didn’t want to know what Tito Maning did to the puppies’ bodies for the same reason: he thought that the knowledge might be too painful.
Themes
Jay feels numb; Jun is dead and Jay is just playing video games. Jay asks if their family will attend the funeral, but his dad says that Jun’s father, Tito Maning, doesn’t want a funeral because of the way Jun died. Jay’s dad leaves and Jay grows angry. He thinks about all of Jun’s letters and about the fact that he never answered the last one.
The shock of Jun’s death makes Jay feel even more acutely that his own (somewhat stereotypical American high-schooler) concerns of college and video games are meaningless or unimportant. In addition, now it is also clear that Jay caused the rupture in his relationship with Jun. Jay now blames himself for that failure, though the novel still hasn’t revealed why Jay stopped responding to Jun’s letters.
Themes
