People make mistakes and have to face their problems. The characters in We Were Here also have to confront their own inner turmoil throughout the journey. We Were Here is about a young man named Miguel sentenced to a group home to serve his punishment. Miguel then runs away with his friends, the story follows their journey outside the vacant walls of the home. Matt de la Peña’s book We Were Here uses the character’s inner struggles to highlight the theme that people cannot run from their troubles.

The guilt of getting out the consequence of one’s actions will always eat away and control people. Miguel, Mong, and Rondell escape their problems and actions by leaving the group home. For instance, (Matt 356) “I got two kids here who are ready to make good on their time”. Although, in the end the surviving members of the party end up returning to the group home, proving those actions inescapable. The group home was their consequence of what they each had done. By running away from the home the characters ran from their troubles, but Miguel and Rondell decided to come back on their own conscious. Meaning that guilt for their actions had set into their minds, telling them to go back on their actions and make it right. Of the three only two returned because unfortunately one of them fell to their weaknesses.

Suicide lets the victim free but it often end up entangling the people around regardless of the previous relationship. Mong’s suicide was supposed to let him free and cut him off from the world he struggled to survive in. Yet, in retribution it ended up negatively affecting the people he loved the most. For example,  (Matt 204) “I knew the sh** wasn’t right ‘cause of what happened with Mong.” Mong tried to run from his worries by committing suicide, to him it was the effortless way out nonetheless, it ended up bringing down the moral of the surviving group as well as became an obstacle for them. Mong was their main navigator as well as the person who helped them get out of trouble for example, he would always keep the group on track telling them which bus to take and which direction to head, along with that he kept watch of incoming police and took care of a racist store clerk. To illustrate, (Matt 115) “You shouldn't talk about people’s races like that sir. Especially when the people you’re saying it to have nothing to lose. Like us three.” In various situations he saves them, by killing himself he disables them. Tailing back to his death upsetting the rest of the group, after his death Miguel and Rondell have lots of guilt and sorrow for Mong, they valued him as a friend. They then often end up subconsciously thinking about him throughout the rest of the story. By killing himself he let go of his mortal emotions, which provided an even heavier toll on his loved ones. Mong spent his whole life bundling his emotions up and ended up self-destructing fortunately his friends didn’t have the same fate.

Hiding issues don’t help the problem and oftentimes make them worse. The death of Diego constantly ate away at the core of Miguel over the course of the story. He wanted to convey his emotions but because of his pride he opted out. In particular, (Matt 344) “It was me, you fu**ing re**rd.” (Matt 263) “I actually wanted to tell her everything about me”. From this example it shows he wanted to tell people and talk through it, but, he held his tongue about accidentally killing his brother, and tried to act as though he was still alive. The two times in the story he talked, his emotions exploded both those times. Once with his former flame Flaca, he spills everything to her in a winded speech. The second time with his friend Rondell where he cries and tells him that he should just die. He balled up all his feelings and tried to hide them but he couldn’t hold it in anymore and his feelings exploded all over as a result. Conveying the idea that hiding issues doesn’t make them go away it deepens the connection to them.

Matt de la Peña’s book We Were Here is a statement on life, it conveys the theme that problems shouldn’t and can’t be ran from. Simply stated We Were Here is about people learning through consequences. People should learn from this book and deal with their issues head on so the world can move on and humanity can improve.