Randy Ribay Patron Heroes

798 Words2 Pages

In Patron Saints of Nothing, Randy Ribay demonstrates that a hero is someone motivated to help others because they have experienced hardship themselves. According to this definition, Jay and Grace are the heroes of Patron Saints of Nothing. Jay endures pain which feeds his need to help others; this makes him a hero. Nearing the end of Jay’s journey, he and Grace, his cousin, finally found out what they had been dreading: their deceased and beloved family member, Jun, was a drug user and pusher. Jay and Grace are talking after returning to their Lolo and Lola’s house, Jay’s internal dialogue after he begins to cry goes like this: “Then I start crying. And it hurts so much to think of Jun— to think about all we could have done for him but didn’t, to think about all that he could have done …show more content…

After Jay and Grace found the truth they were searching for, the final result ended in a bit of pain. What they feared became true: Jun was in fact a drug user and pusher. On their way back home, this is what Jay sees Grace do: “Her face falters, the revolutionary resolve skipping away. At least for now. ‘Me too,’ she says, her voice cracking. Then she drops her face into her hands and starts crying”(Ribay 292). Grace is experiencing the pain of losing a brother. Grace, a put together girl, lets go of the front she has been putting on and lets her emotions show. Her “voice cracking” and “crying” are all signs of the hardships she is going through. Her family refuses to speak or do anything about their loss, so she bears this burden by herself with no one to turn to, until now. Not only is Grace heroic because she endures hardship, but because it motivates her to help others. Grace and Jay are texting and Jay finds out that Grace has been updating the GISING NA PH, a Philippine website that records who has died in the War on Drugs and shows how they were normal people

More about Randy Ribay Patron Heroes

Open Document