Symbols The Things We Never Say Elizabeth Strout

The Sailboat as a Symbol of Hope, Escape, and Unfulfilled Promises

What the Sailboat Literally Is and Where It Appears

The sailboat is a modest, single-person sailing vessel owned by Artie Dam, the 57-year-old history teacher at the heart of The Things We Never Say. It moors in the small Massachusetts harbor near his home, and he takes it out whenever the wind allows. The boat appears in several key scenes: early in the novel when Artie considers going sailing but chooses to wait for his son Rob (Chapter 1), during a solo outing after a difficult conversation with his wife Evie (Chapter 3), and most poignantly as a gift from Rob in Chapter 7. In the Epilogue, Artie sails alone for two summers, and during a rare joint trip with Rob, they share a tense but bonding moment in a fog.

The Gift and Its Promise

In Chapter 7, near Christmas, Rob gives Artie a sailboat and promises, “We’ll go sailing” together. The gift is more than a physical object; it represents Rob’s acknowledgment of his father’s deepest need for connection. Artie has been secretly planning suicide for months, and the sailboat offer gives him a tangible reason to keep living—a future shared with his son. The promise, however, remains largely unfulfilled. During the first summer after the gift, Artie sails alone. In the second summer, when Rob and his partner Francesca visit, Rob is preoccupied with his secret work for the European Union, and only at the last minute does he agree to go out. The fog that envelops them during that sail becomes a metaphor for the obscurity of their relationship: they hold onto each other but cannot see where they are going.

The Sailboat as a Place of Peace

For Artie, the sailboat is the only place where his mind can go blank. Repeated evidence from the Epilogue shows that on the water, “his mind became blank, and he was grateful for that.” This mental stillness contrasts sharply with the relentless dread he feels on land—the political horrors of a new administration, the erosion of civil liberties, the suicide of a colleague, and the daily weight of his own depression. On the boat, the sounds of water lapping and wind in the sails temporarily mute the “quiet dread” that otherwise defines his life. The sailboat thus becomes a rare sanctuary, a tiny zone of freedom in a world that feels increasingly suffocating. This connects directly to the theme of free will: on the water, Artie can still choose his direction, even if the larger society is spiraling out of control.

Shifting Meanings: From Promise to Necessity

The meaning of the sailboat evolves through the novel. Initially, it is a simple hobby—something Artie does because he loves the water, rooted in childhood memories of Revere Beach and an early dream of owning a boat. After Rob’s gift, the sailboat becomes a symbol of hope and the possibility of healing their fractured relationship. But as the political climate darkens and Artie’s mental state deteriorates, the boat shifts again. By the Epilogue, it is his only remaining comfort. The promise of sailing with Rob fades, and Artie goes out alone, finding peace not in companionship but in solitude. The boat no longer represents a shared future; it represents the necessary isolation of a man who has lost faith in everything else. Its final appearance, with the fog closing in and Artie clinging to his son’s arm, underscores how the boat has become a vessel not for escape but for endurance.

Connection to Major Themes

The sailboat is intimately tied to several core themes of the novel:

  • Loneliness: Artie’s solo sails mirror his profound loneliness. As the epigraph from Carl Jung states, loneliness comes from being unable to communicate what matters. On the boat, Artie does not need to communicate; he simply exists. The blankness of his mind is both a relief and a symptom of his isolation.
  • Secrets and Lies: The sailboat becomes a place where secrets are partially revealed—during the foggy sail, Rob tells Artie about his EU work for the first time, but withholds the full truth. Artie himself keeps his suicidal thoughts hidden from Evie, and the boat is where he processes his unspoken grief. The spaces between characters are as important as what is said, and the boat amplifies that silence.
  • Parenthood and Fatherhood: The sailboat is a direct link between father and son. Rob’s gift is an attempt to reconnect after years of estrangement following the car accident that killed Heather. Artie’s memories of his own father telling him he would never own a boat add a painful layer: Artie has proven his father wrong, but the achievement rings hollow without Rob’s presence. The boat represents both inheritance and failure. See also the character page for Artie Dam.
  • Political Division: The broader world intrudes even on the water. The political decay that Artie watches on land—the president’s actions, the prison in Florida, the arrests of students—is the very reason Rob cannot leave his work. In the Epilogue, the boat cannot shield Artie from the knowledge that “his country was committing suicide.” The sailboat becomes a fragile refuge that cannot last.

Character Links

  • Artie: The boat is his only realm of control and peace. When he nearly drowns earlier in the novel, it is because his suicidal thoughts overwhelm him while on the water—the one place he thought was safe. After Rob’s gift, the boat becomes a lifeline, but one he must hold alone.
  • Rob: By giving the sailboat, Rob tries to repair the bond that shattered after the accident. Yet he never fully delivers on the promise, partly because of his high-stakes work. In the Epilogue, when he finally sails with Artie, the experience is shadowed by the fog and the weight of his secret. Rob’s inability to be present mirrors the free will theme: he chooses a dangerous path that separates him from his father.
  • Evie: She dislikes boats and never joins Artie. Her absence on the water underscores the emotional distance between them. After Artie’s nearly fatal accident, she does offer to accompany him, but he declines. The sailboat remains his solitary domain, marking the limits of their marriage. See Evie Dam.

Study Questions and Answers

Question 1: How does the sailboat’s function change between the moment Artie first receives it as a gift and the final sailing scene in the Epilogue?

Answer: Initially, the sailboat is a promise of shared time between Artie and Rob—a future-oriented object that gives Artie a reason to postpone his suicide. By the Epilogue, Artie sails alone for two summers, and the boat has become a solitary refuge. When Rob finally joins him, their conversation is dominated by Rob’s dangerous work and the political crisis, not by the simple pleasure of sailing. The fog that envelops them shows that the promised connection remains elusive. The boat moves from a symbol of hope to one of necessary solitude.

Question 2: Why does Artie find peace on the water? Use textual evidence to support your answer.

Answer: The Epilogue states that as Artie sails alone, “his mind became blank, and he was grateful for that.” This blankness contrasts with the “quiet dread” that rises as soon as he returns to land. The water offers sensory immersion—the slap of waves, the wind in the sails—that temporarily stills his anxious thoughts. Additionally, the boat gives Artie a sense of competence and control, a confidence he lacks in his personal and political life. The freedom to steer is a small but real exercise of free will in a world where he feels helpless.

Question 3: In what way does the sailboat connect to Artie’s childhood and his relationship with his own father?

Answer: Artie recalls telling his father as a boy, “I’m going to have a boat one day,” and his father responds, “No, Artie, you’re not ever going to have a boat.” The memory surfaces while he is sailing, and he notes that the remark “did not hurt Artie to remember.” This suggests that achieving the boat ownership is a quiet vindication, but also that his father’s dismissiveness shaped Artie’s drive to prove himself. The boat thus links Artie’s personal history of striving with his present need for autonomy. It ties into the parenthood and fatherhood theme by showing how parental judgments echo across generations.

Question 4: Why does Rob’s promise to go sailing with Artie remain largely unfulfilled? What does this reveal about their relationship?

Answer: Rob is consumed by his work for the European Union, which he describes as “serious stuff” that even Francesca does not fully know. The political situation forces him to prioritize secrecy and survival over family time. When they finally do sail together, Rob confiscates Artie’s cellphone and speaks in hushed tones, showing that their relationship is now mediated by danger and distrust. The unfulfilled promise reveals that despite Rob’s love for his father, he is unable to be present; his choices around secrets and lies and his commitment to a higher cause keep him distant. The sailboat, intended to bring them together, instead highlights how far apart they have grown.