The Things We Never Say
47 pages • 1-hour read
Elizabeth StroutThe Things We Never Say
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Symbols & Motifs
White Socks
The motif of Artie’s white socks represents his authentic, working-class identity, and his insistence upon wearing them even to upscale events and functions marks his irreverent resistance to assimilating into Evie’s upper-class world. For decades, the socks are a point of quiet contention in the marriage. Evie, who comes from an “old Brahmin family” (19), dislikes the very sight of the white socks, viewing them as a symbol of the blue-collar background she wishes Artie would leave behind. Her persistent attempts to make him wear “dress socks” represent her desire to mold him into a man who fits more seamlessly into the inherited affluence of her life.
For Artie, however, the socks are a matter of comfort and an unconscious link to his roots. By refusing to abandon them, he delivers a quiet but firm assertion of selfhood against the pressures of his wife’s world. The socks function as a daily, low-grade reminder of the cultural and class differences that persist within their long marriage. Later, when Rob tells him, “Don’t you ever stop wearing your white socks” (98), this statement transforms the socks into a symbol of unconditional filial acceptance, proving that Rob embraces the authentic, working-class father who raised him, not the idealized version his mother might have preferred. Rob’s subsequent Christmas gift of a large bag of white socks solidifies his celebration of his father’s authentic identity.
Sailing and the Ocean
While Artie’s sailboat is initially a vessel for escape, the solitude that he finds here soon curdles into despair, and the vast waters serve as the setting for his most dire suicidal ideation as he reflects, “I have seen it all before, and whatever exaltation was available to my heart is available no more” (24). This passage reveals that his usual refuge has become a mirror of his emptiness. However, after his accidental near-drowning, Artie recovers his zest for life, and the ocean thus becomes the site of his spiritual rebirth. Being rescued from its cold waters marks a crucial turning point, stripping away his death wish and initiating a newly authentic chapter of his life.
The Flowered Pillowcase
The flowered pillowcase that Artie uses to collect student cellphones represents his gentle, unorthodox approach to teaching and discipline alike. This object of domestic softness and care pointedly contrasts with the institutional environment of the school and the increasingly harsh tenor of the outside world. When Artie responds to Rick Roper’s taunt by replacing the pillowcase with a sterile cardboard box, this significant shift signals his reluctant concession to a world that has no room for such gentleness. However, the symbol’s final transformation occurs when he gives the pillowcase to Rhonda Lazarre, for whom it becomes a cherished keepsake. With this act, the pillowcase comes to represent the lasting legacy of his kindness, acting as a tangible connection to the acceptance that he unconditionally offered to all of his students.
Confectionary Sugar
The recurring symbol of confectionary sugar encapsulates the consequences of hidden suffering. The sugar is explicitly defined as a sign of Artie’s sister Maria’s desperate yearning for “sweetness” in a life marked by her mother’s abuse. Artie’s memory of discovering his sister secretly eating sugar in the cellar fuels his own conception of the hidden nature of human pain. He recalls her “alarmed and guilty and pale” face (39), her mouth ringed with white powder, and this image comes to inform his empathy for students like Rhonda Lazarre. The childhood experience also connects to The Weight of Unspoken Truths by illustrating how trauma often forces individuals into solitary, hidden behaviors.
This memory resurfaces in the novel’s emotional climax, for as he sits with Flossie, releasing a torrent of awful, grief-stricken laughter, his final thought is of Maria “in the cellar of their childhood apartment, […] [j]ust looking for something sweet” (190). In this moment, Artie’s own loneliness and disillusionment merge with his sister’s childhood desperation, and he recognizes in himself the same hidden, aching need for comfort. The symbol bridges the past and present, revealing that the legacy of unaddressed pain and the search for solace are universal aspects of the human condition.
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