The Black Scrunchie: Evidence, Memory, and Complicity

What Is the Scrunchie?

A scrunchie is a fabric-covered elastic hair tie. In The Boyfriend, it becomes a recurring physical object that binds together the story’s central mystery. Bonnie, a murdered neighbor, wears colorful scrunchies as her signature style—a detail noted by her friends. A single black scrunchie, left in Tom Brewer’s apartment, eventually links him to the crime.

Where the Scrunchie Recurs

Chapter	Context	Meaning
5	Bonnie wears a purple scrunchie matching her top when Sydney sees her in the mail room.	Establishes the scrunchie as Bonnie’s personal trademark.
14	Gretchen brings two scrunchies left by Bonnie; she and Sydney wear them while mourning.	Shifts the scrunchie into a memorial object, a token of grief and friendship.
51	Sydney drops her phone and finds a black scrunchie under Tom’s bedside table.	Transforms the scrunchie into physical evidence: Tom is Bonnie’s secret lover—and likely her killer.
52	Tom catches Sydney, but she kicks the scrunchie back under the nightstand to hide her discovery.	The scrunchie becomes a secret Sydney tries to conceal, raising the stakes.
59	Sydney discovers a freezer bag in Randy and Gretchen’s toilet tank containing locks of hair tied with different‑color ribbons.	The ribbon‑tied hair echoes the scrunchie concept, revealing Randy as a second killer who collects souvenirs.
66 (Epilogue)	Tom sends Sydney a lock of her stalker Kevin’s hair tied with a red ribbon, along with a note saying Kevin will never bother her again.	The ribbon‑tied lock revisits the scrunchie’s form, now as a murder trophy and a symbol of Sydney’s choice to suppress the truth.

How the Meaning Changes

Individual identity: In Chapter 5, the purple scrunchie marks Bonnie’s quirky style and hints at her secret relationship with “Dr. McHottie.” It is innocent and personal.
Memorial token: In Chapter 14, the scrunchie becomes a shared object of remembrance. Sydney and Gretchen wear Bonnie’s scrunchies as they toast her, transforming the accessory into a vessel for grief.
Incriminating evidence: In Chapter 51, the black scrunchie found in Tom’s bedroom provides the first concrete clue that Tom is the mystery boyfriend Sydney never met. It shifts from private keepsake (Tom’s hidden souvenir) to forensic proof.
Concealed secret: In Chapter 52, Sydney instinctively hides the scrunchie by kicking it under the nightstand. This act shows her fear of confronting the truth and her conflicted loyalty to Tom.
Serial killer signature: In Chapter 59, Randy’s collection of hair tied with colored ribbons reinterprets the scrunchie’s “tying” function as a collector’s signature. The scrunchie motif now signifies multiple murders.
Moral ambiguity: In the Epilogue, Tom’s red‑ribbon‑tied lock of Kevin’s hair echoes the scrunchie/ribbon pattern. Sydney receives it as a “gift” that confirms Tom killed her stalker. She chooses to throw the evidence away, making the scrunchie’s symbolic descendant a test of her complicity.

Character and Theme Connections

Characters

Bonnie Shaw (implied through association): The scrunchie is her signature. Her murder sets the plot in motion, and the black scrunchie left in Tom’s apartment reveals she was the “friend” he kept hidden.
Tom Brewer : The black scrunchie in his bedroom directly links him to Bonnie. It also foreshadows his violent obsession; in earlier chapters, he imagines hurting women he claims to love. The scrunchie is a trophy he kept from Bonnie.
Sydney Shaw : She discovers the scrunchie, hides it, and later receives the red‑ribbon lock. Her internal conflict over whether to report Tom’s final note mirrors her earlier reluctance to fully confront the scrunchie’s meaning.
Randy Muncy : His collection of hair tied with ribbons parodies the scrunchie’s function. Where Bonnie used scrunchies to express herself, Randy uses ribbons to catalogue his victims.
Gretchen (Daisy) Driscoll : She gives the memorial scrunchies to Sydney, but later is revealed as a killer herself. The scrunchie she shares with Sydney becomes ironic—she wore Bonnie’s token while planning more murders.

Themes

Deception and Identity : The scrunchie at first suggests Bonnie’s identity, but later it uncovers Tom’s hidden life and Randy’s secret trophy collection. Each appearance forces characters to rethink who they trust.
Obsessive Love : Tom keeps Bonnie’s scrunchie as a souvenir of a woman he killed, a sign of possessive fixation. Likewise, Gretchen’s bond with Randy is built on their shared obsession with taking trophies.
Violence and Control : The scrunchie becomes a physical marker of a murder scene. Tom’s control over Bonnie extended to keeping a piece of her. Randy’s ribbons represent his domination over his victims.
Justice vs. Complicity : Sydney’s choice to throw away Tom’s red‑ribbon lock mirrors her earlier decision to hide the scrunchie. Both acts raise the question of whether looking away from evidence makes one an accomplice.
Trauma and Survival : For Sydney, the scrunchie triggers fear and suspicion, but ultimately she uses the knowledge to distance herself from Tom and rebuild her life with Jake.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does the black scrunchie carry more weight as evidence than any other object in Tom’s apartment?

The scrunchie is uniquely personal to Bonnie. Sydney had just seen her wearing a purple one days before the murder. Finding a black scrunchie in Tom’s bedroom—where no other woman’s belongings appear—points directly to Bonnie’s presence. Unlike fingerprints or a phone, the scrunchie is a clear, recognizable token of a specific person. Its discovery in Chapter 51 is the moment Sydney realizes Tom was Bonnie’s secret lover, making it the story’s pivotal clue.

2. How does the scrunchie’s meaning shift between Chapters 14 and 51?

In Chapter 14, the scrunchie is a memorial—Sydney and Gretchen wear Bonnie’s scrunchies to honor her. It represents friendship and loss. In Chapter 51, the black scrunchie under Tom’s bed becomes evidence of a crime. The same kind of object moves from comforting to incriminating, underscoring how everyday items can acquire sinister significance after a death.

3. What does the red‑ribbon‑tied lock of hair in the Epilogue reveal about Sydney’s character?

The lock of hair—a direct descendent of the scrunchie motif—arrives with Tom’s note claiming he killed Kevin. Sydney briefly considers showing it to Jake but instead tosses it in the trash. This choice reveals her willingness to compromise justice for personal peace. She has learned from the scrunchie’s lesson: some evidence is better left hidden if the truth would complicate her life. Her earlier guilt over hiding the scrunchie is now replaced by a calculated decision to remain silent.

4. Compare the scrunchie with the ribbon‑tied hair found in Randy’s toilet. How does each object define its owner’s relationship with murder?

Bonnie’s scrunchie (kept by Tom) is a keepsake—Tom wanted a piece of a woman he both loved and killed. It suggests intimacy twisted into possession. Randy’s collection of ribbon‑tied locks, hidden in a freezer bag, is a catalog of multiple victims. Each ribbon functions like a label, dehumanizing the victims into trophies. While Tom’s scrunchie seems private and singular, Randy’s array signals a systematic, serial pattern. Both objects reveal the killers’ need to control their victims even after death.