Patron Saints Of Nothing Hero Quotes

In Patron Saints of Nothing, Randy Ribay demonstrates that because heroes have experienced hardship, they help others. According to this definition, Jay and Tita Chato are heroes.

The main character, Jay, experiences hardships throughout the novel and uses them as fuel to aid others along the way, therefore he is defined as a hero.While he searches the internet for possible clues, he comes across an article describing the drug war in the Philippines, explaining how any individual with the slightest connection to the usage or selling of drugs is brutally executed by the police. Having been told that Jun was a drug user, which Jay does not believe, the feeling of grief in him shifts: “The possibility that Jun died like one of the people from

While living with her, Jay finds out that his aunt, Tita Chato, had taken Jun under her roof for a year after he ran away from his home. He witnesses the heartbreak that Tita Chato and her wife experience having to watch Jun leave them too, his reason being that he was done, “‘Pretending,’ Tita Chato provides. ‘To be our son, I think.’ She closes her eyes like the words are physically painful” (Ribay 170). Jun had not only left Tita Chato’s home, but also her care. He had become just like her son, and having to watch him go was “physically painful” for her to even reminisce. After telling Jay about it, she “closes her eyes”, implying that she can not bear the memory of Jun leaving. Nonetheless, like Jay, she still puts immense effort into caring for others. When Jay first arrives at Tita Chato’s home, he explains to her the reason behind suddenly coming to the Philippines. Tita Chato has prepared a room for Jay to stay in, and it happens to be where Jun had lived when he took shelter with them: “Tita Chato says, ‘There is a box inside with all he left behind. We kept it in case he returned…If you want to look through it later, you can take what you want” (Ribay 171). Tita Chato was aware of the shock and sudden grief that Jun’s death led to among the family. She could have kept the box of “all he left behind” as artifacts of Jun, yet she makes the selfless decision to give the last of her memories of her nephew to Jay. This action alone implies her effort to try and fill the void she recognizes in Jay, telling him that he can “take what [he] [wants]”, and completes her classification as a hero in this