The Stolen Comb: Symbol of Shame and Rebellion in The Things We Never Say
Introduction
In Elizabeth Strout's The Things We Never Say, seemingly small objects carry enormous emotional weight. The stolen comb—a "man’s thin, plastic, almost bendable small comb"—is the first thing 57-year-old Artie Dam ever shoplifts. This act of petty theft crystallizes Artie's hidden shame, his secret rebellions against his own life, and the deceptions that permeate his marriage. The comb recurs not as a physical object exchanged between characters but as a touchstone for Artie's internal crisis, his memories of betrayal, and his growing awareness of the lies he and his wife Evie have lived with for twenty-eight years. Through the comb, Strout explores themes of loneliness, secrets and lies, and the fragile nature of free will.
The Literal Object and First Theft
The stolen comb appears in Chapter 4. Artie is in a drugstore in a neighboring town, standing near travel-size toiletries. He picks up the comb, casually removes its price tag, and slips it into his pocket. The act is unpremeditated and almost dreamlike. Strout emphasizes the comb's ordinariness: it is cheap, plastic, and unremarkable. Yet for Artie—a man who has never stolen anything in his life—this moment is transformative. The theft triggers a cascade of memories, including painful recollections of Reginald MacDonald and Evie's possible emotional affair. The comb symbolizes a crack in Artie's carefully constructed identity: the respected teacher, the devoted husband, the man who has always played by the rules.
Recurrence and Changing Meaning
The comb does not reappear as a plot device in later chapters, but its symbolic weight shifts as Artie's story progresses. When Evie finds the comb in their bedroom, Artie lies, claiming a student left it. This lie mirrors the larger lie he has just discovered—that Rob is not his biological son. The comb thus becomes a token of Artie's newly chosen silence and his complicity in the family's long-standing deception. Later, Artie attempts to shoplift two shirts (in Chapter 4), revealing that the first theft was not an isolated lapse but the beginning of a pattern. The comb's meaning evolves from representing Artie's private shame to embodying his quiet rebellion against the constraints of his life—his marriage, his unexpressed anger, and his hidden knowledge. By the novel's end, the comb is never mentioned again, yet its presence lingers as a marker of the moment Artie began to assert a secret self.
Character and Theme Connections
Artie Dam: The comb is central to Artie's character arc. His shoplifting is a small, secret rebellion against the overwhelming loneliness and powerlessness he feels. After learning that Rob is Reginald's son, Artie is shocked into silence; the theft gives him a tiny, private sphere of control. It also connects to his fascination with Carl Jung and free will—he asks Rob, "help me out with Carl Jung... I'm confused," directly after the comb incident. The comb embodies the conflict between his conscious choices and the unconscious drives that push him toward irrational acts.
Evie Dam: Evie's discovery of the comb is a moment of suspicion. She sees the comb and immediately doubts Artie's explanation. This scene foreshadows her deeper unknowability: she has kept the secret of Rob's paternity for twenty-eight years. The comb becomes an emblem of the lies that now sit "huge... silently between them." Evie's reaction—skepticism mixed with dismissal—mirrors how both partners will henceforth live with unspoken truths.
Themes: The comb touches on loneliness—Artie's isolation even within his marriage—and secrets and lies, as both Artie and Evie withhold key truths. It also connects to free will: Artie wonders if he is compelled to steal, just as he wonders if he had any choice in the life handed to him. The theft is a small act of will that ultimately leads to greater openness with his son and, tentatively, with himself.
Study Questions and Answers
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| 1. What does the stolen comb symbolize in Artie's life? | The comb symbolizes Artie's hidden shame and his quiet rebellion against the roles he must play. It marks the moment he begins to act out his inner turmoil through petty theft, expressing a desire for control and a secret self that contradicts his upright public persona. |
| 2. Why does Artie steal the comb at age fifty-seven, and how does the text connect this to his past? | Artie steals the comb without premeditation. The act triggers memories of Reginald MacDonald, his wife's possible affair, and Danny Marino's father crying over a failed marriage. The theft thus becomes a gateway to Artie's buried grief and the sudden realization that his marriage has been built on a lie. |
| 3. How does Evie's discovery of the comb affect the couple's relationship? | Evie's finding the comb leads to Artie's first direct lie to her about the theft. This moment echoes the larger lie Evie has lived for decades. The comb becomes a silent object around which both characters now practice deception, deepening the gulf between them even as they maintain surface normalcy. |
| 4. What do Artie's subsequent attempts to shoplift reveal about his psychological state? | Artie later tries to steal two shirts (evidence in Chapter 4). This shows that the comb theft was not a fluke but the start of a compulsion. The recurrence suggests his growing distress: he feels trapped by his knowledge and seeks relief through tiny, secret transgressions. It also parallels his inability to speak openly about Rob's parentage. |
Conclusion
The stolen comb in The Things We Never Say is a deceptively simple symbol that unfolds into a rich commentary on shame, secrecy, and the small rebellions that define a life. Through Artie's first theft, Strout captures the moment when a repressed man begins to crack, choosing a cheap plastic object as the vessel for his defiance. The comb never returns physically, but its symbolic charge—the weight of a guilty secret, the hunger for control, the loneliness of unspoken truth—echoes throughout the novel. Readers who trace this symbol will find it illuminates the core struggles of all the characters, from Artie and Evie to Rob and Kenneth Moynihan. Ultimately, the comb reminds us that sometimes the most insignificant objects carry the greatest emotional truth.