A drug dealer on whom Nomi and Travis rely for their supply of marijuana. The Comb is the only resident of East Village who manages to stay in the Mennonite community while flouting all its norms. For Nomi, his trailer is a kind of no-man’s-land, where she can rebel against her traditional upbringing without leaving behind her familiar community. However, The Comb is also unscrupulous and predatory: he makes suggestive comments to Nomi throughout the novel and, when she breaks up with Travis and visits his trailer in a state of mental instability, has sex with her. Ultimately, Nomi’s experiences with The Comb cause her to give up the drugs and alcohol on which she relies for much of the novel.
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The Comb Character Timeline in A Complicated Kindness
The timeline below shows where the character The Comb appears in A Complicated Kindness. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter Ten
Nomi and Travis are sitting in the truck waiting to meet The Comb , a local drug dealer, and buy marijuana. They are arguing about whether Ray and...
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The Comb comes outside from his trailer. He once worked at the chicken plant, and could kill...
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Chapter Sixteen
Travis pulls up to The Comb ’s trailer and helps Nomi get dressed and pull carpet fluff out of her hair....
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Nomi and Travis see The Comb inside his trailer, but they don’t have any money to buy weed. Nomi suggests they...
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Chapter Twenty-Four
...off their clothes and paint each other’s bodies red as well. Then they drive to The Comb ’s trailer and hose each other off with purple gas, and swim in the pits,...
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...with the intention of trading them for drugs, then passes out and wakes up in The Comb ’s trailer. She notices that she’s lying on her own couch, which Ray has apparently...
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Chapter Twenty-Seven
After she leaves the hospital, Nomi walks to The Comb ’s trailer. She tells The Comb that she doesn’t have any money, but he gives...
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