Dibs in Search of Self Characters

Dibs is a five-year-old boy whom Dr. Axline treats for his behavioral issues. At the beginning of the book, Dibs is withdrawn, rarely speaks, and lashes out at other children at school. He doesn’t participate… read analysis of Dibs

Dr. Virginia Axline is the author and narrator of the book; she’s a clinical psychologist who works with children in non-directive play therapy. The teachers at Dibs’s school call Axline in because they aren’t… read analysis of Dr. Virginia Axline

Dibs’s mother is initially described as a cold, emotionally withdrawn woman. She is a former surgeon who gave up her job when Dibs was born due to his developmental difficulties. Dibs’s mother reveals that… read analysis of Dibs’s Mother

Dibs’s father is strict man who’s often critical of Dibs. He dislikes Dibs’s emotional outbursts, and rather than responding empathetically, he frequently locks Dibs in his room. Dibs’s father often calls him an “idiot”… read analysis of Dibs’s Father

Jake is Dibs’s family’s gardener. Jake is very kind to Dibs: when Dibs’s father asks Jake to trim a tree outside Dibs’s window, Jake saves the tip of the branch because he knows that… read analysis of Jake

Dibs’s maternal grandmother is one of the few people who empathizes with Dibs early on in his life. Unlike Dibs’s mother, who constantly tests Dibs, Dibs’s grandmother simply lets him be himself—and as… read analysis of Dibs’s Grandmother

Hedda is one of Dibs’s teachers at school, along with Miss Jane. Hedda in particular takes an interest in Dibs’s well-being, as she worries about how his mother and father treat him at… read analysis of Hedda

Miss Jane is one of Dibs’s teachers at school, along with Hedda. At the beginning of the book, she and Hedda care deeply about Dibs but have trouble fully understanding his behavioral problems… read analysis of Miss Jane