Wind symbolizes Dibs’s freedom and confidence. In Dibs’s seventh therapy session with Dr. Axline, he tells a story about how the wind whispers to the trees, and how the trees are jealous of the wind because the wind can go wherever it wants to, while the trees are lonely and sad. This story reveals Dibs’s own feelings, as he identifies with the solitary and stationary trees and envies the carefree wind. Dibs also explains how his family’s gardener, Jake, gave Dibs the last leaf from the tree outside his window, which Jake told him was blown all over the world by the wind and then returned to Dibs. Dibs identifies with this leaf, suggesting that he wants to be freer and less isolated—moving with the wind—even though the leaf is a part of the lonely and stagnant tree.
However, by the end of the book, Dibs’s teachers Miss Jane and Hedda tell Axline that Dibs played the part of the wind in a school assembly, which indicates that Dibs’s therapy sessions have given him a newfound sense of confidence and freedom. The teachers also describe how other students enjoyed watching Dibs playing the part. In this way, the wind both literally and figuratively mitigates Dibs’s isolation, frees him from his fears of rejection, and enables him to connect with others.
Wind Quotes in Dibs in Search of Self
“I keep that leaf,” he said. “It is very tired and very old. But I keep that leaf. I mounted it and framed it. And I imagine some of the things it must have seen, flying all around the world with the wind. And I read in my books about the countries it saw.”
But he joined the circle and volunteered to do a dance one day. He made one up, much to the delight of the other children. He wanted to be the wind. He went blowing and swaying around and the children all decided that he should be the wind in the school program. Dibs agreed. He did his part very well. Suddenly in the middle of the dance he decided to sing. He made up the words and the melody. It went something like this. “I am the wind. I blow. I blow. I climb. I climb. I climb the hills and I move the clouds. I bend the trees and I move the grass. No one can stop the wind. I am the wind, a friendly wind, a wind you cannot see. But I am the wind.” He seemed to be unaware of his audience. The children were surprised and delighted. Needless to say, so were we.
Wind Symbol Timeline in Dibs in Search of Self
