Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Dibs in Search of Self, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Therapy, Empathy, and Non-Judgment
Parental Expectations vs. Self-Determination
Trust and Security
Intelligence vs. Emotional and Social Skills
Summary
Analysis
The following Thursday, at Dibs’s fifth session, Dibs’s mother arranges for him to arrive and leave 15 minutes earlier so he can go to a doctor’s appointment. When Dibs arrives, he says he feels glad. He wants to paint, and when Axline affirms that what he does is up to him, he repeats this and says it is up to him. He starts to paint happily.
Dibs continues to demonstrate more independence as a result of the play therapy. In addition, Axline reinforces how Dibs’s ability to determine what he wants to do not only makes him happy, but also allows him to reach his full potential and display his creativity and intelligence more openly.
Themes
When Dibs finishes painting, he looks at the mirrored wall and says that someone else’s room is behind it—he knows because he heard people typing. Axline is amazed, explaining that this indicates how aware children are of the things around them, even if they don’t comment on it at the time. Dibs also observes Axline’s notepad in her lap. She was jotting down notes on his actions, and she used abbreviations to refer to the colors he was using to paint. He tells her that she should spell out the names of the colors, and when Axline asks why she should do this, Dibs says, “Because I say so.” Quickly, he reverses himself, acknowledging that she can do it her way.
Dibs’s observation of the people behind the mirrored wall illustrates Axline’s point that just because someone doesn’t always express their inner thoughts doesn’t mean that they don’t have a vivid and intelligent inner life. In addition, Dibs’s statement that Axline can do things her way rather than his illustrates that he understands the value of self-determination. Even though his parents may have expressed that there is one right way to do things, Dibs is beginning to recognize the value of his (and others’) own desires.
Themes
Dibs next removes the walls and the door from the dollhouse and buries them in the sandbox. Then he pushes a car around the sand while staying on the ledge of the sandbox. After some time, Dibs decides to get into the sand and takes off his shoes; he then tastes the sand and observes that he has holes in his socks. After Dibs gets out of the sandbox, he asks Axline for the nursing bottle. He pretends that he is in a crib and that he’s a baby, sucking on the bottle.
Dibs’s play shows great symbolic meaning. In burying the walls and the doors, he is getting rid of the objects that isolate him from the world and prevent him from being accepted by his parents. This not only demonstrates the pain that the doors and walls have caused, but it also illustrates a desire to avoid that isolation. Dibs’s use of the nursing bottle also shows how sometimes he has a desire to be comforted like an infant despite his age and high intelligence, and he relishes having the space to do so without being judged for it.
Themes
Suddenly, Dibs gets up and sings a song. The melody is clear and sweet, but his words are harsh: he sings that he hates walls, doors that lock, and the people who shove him into those doors. He says he’ll kill them all, describing violent ways in which to kill people. Then he explains how he would fly around as a bird and play in the sand in the playroom.
The disparity between Dibs’s melody and his words is striking, but it shows that Dibs finds value in being able to express himself openly and that he knows he can trust Axline to hear his hostile thoughts without judgment. The fact that Dibs transitions from this song to describing a flying bird suggests that Dibs finds expressing his emotions liberating, as flying around like a bird suggests a freedom of movement that contrasts with the confinement of the doors and walls.
Themes
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When Dibs finishes the song and asks Axline what she thinks, she comments that it was “quite a song.” Dibs looks at Axline’s watch and observes that there are 10 more minutes in the session. He runs around the playroom with an airplane, but then he suddenly stops, listens outside the room, and says, “There is Dorothy.” Dibs becomes very sad, explaining that it’ll be time to go soon, even if he doesn’t want to. He suddenly becomes helpless and asks Axline to put on his hat and coat.
Axline continues to act without judgment. Even though Dibs’s song may have been disturbing, only by expressing those feelings is Dibs then able to move past them. And again, Dibs demonstrates how his emotional insecurity impedes his intellectual capabilities. When he is distressed about leaving with his sister for the doctor, he becomes unable to dress himself. It’s not that he can’t do it—it’s perhaps that the idea of being back with his family makes him feel powerless, or possibly that he wants to ensure that he still has Axline’s empathy and support.
Themes
After Axline helps Dibs into his coat, Dibs notices an animal cut-out in the trash and asks if he can have it. Axline says yes, and Dibs corrects her: “Say […] ‘If it’s what you, Dibs, want, then that’s all right.” When Axline repeats this, Dibs is pleased. He starts to leave, but then he says that it’s too early to go. Axline reminds him that he arrived earlier than usual, so he has to leave earlier—he’s already been there for an hour and he has a doctor’s appointment. She recognizes that he doesn’t want to go, and he replies, with resignation, that he’ll go.
Dibs’s correction of Axline’s language shows his remarkable awareness of how much he values autonomy. He doesn’t simply want permission to take the animal figure home—he wants to know that, in this room, he can do whatever he wants. And again, Axline demonstrates empathy for Dibs’s desire to stay longer, but she continues to emphasize the parameters of their visits so as to maintain Dibs’s security in his environment.
Themes
Before Dibs leaves, he expresses his hope that the doctor will stick his needle into Dorothy and that she will scream and scream. Dibs will be glad if Dorothy gets hurt and he’ll pretend like it doesn’t bother him. He then says goodbye and walks into the reception room where his mother and Dorothy are waiting for him.
Dibs continues to express hostility towards members of his family, as he does with Dorothy here. However, Axline illustrates how this freedom of expression then allows Dibs to act with less hostility toward his family in person. Only by having this non-judgmental environment can Dibs express and work through his feelings. Dibs’s desire to see his sister scream in public might also suggest his frustration with being constantly seen as the problem child—perhaps he wants to see the “perfect” child act out like he sometimes does.
Themes
