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The church represents Dibs’s self-determination and willingness to pursue the unknown. There is a big church across the street from the Child Guidance Center, where Dibs has his play therapy sessions with Dr. Axline, and he often looks at it out the window of the playroom. He comments during several therapy sessions that his mother and father do not go to church, but his grandmother and the family’s gardener, Jake, do. Dibs expresses a desire to go to church and believe in God, which shows his willingness to break from his parents’ expectations, even though he acknowledges that he doesn’t fully understand God.
At Dibs’s final session, he asks to go to the church, and he and Axline go together. This is a sharp contrast to Dibs’s first session, when he primarily looked around the playroom and named all of the objects in it. Whereas that activity was intended to maximize his safety and comfort, here Dibs shows that he now feels confident and secure enough to explore and discover something unknown. At the church, the music scares Dibs a little, but he’s also awestruck by its beauty. Ending with the visit to the church thus represents Dibs’s transformation into much more self-determined and courageous child than he was when he began therapy and still felt beholden to his parents’ expectations. Even though Dibs still has fears, he’s now able to overcome them and try new things on his own terms.
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The Church Symbol Timeline in Dibs in Search of Self
The timeline below shows where the symbol The Church appears in Dibs in Search of Self. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
...the sandbox, Dibs buries three of the soldiers in the sand. The bells in the church on the other side of the street chime four o’clock, and Axline comments that Dibs...
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Chapter 8
...Dibs’s mother comments that Axline has a lovely view out her window, looking at the church across the street.
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Chapter 10
...the hill. Afterward, Dibs says that that particular soldier was “Papa.” At that moment, the church bells chime four o’clock, and Dibs starts describing different kinds of clocks. Axline notes that...
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Dibs then looks out the window, observing the church. He says that “Dibs isn’t church-size,” and Axline comments that the church makes him feel...
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Chapter 11
...returns for his seventh session. He briskly starts to construct a toy village, setting up churches and houses, and he evocatively describes the world that he has made, the seasons, and...
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Dibs walks over to the window and looks at the church, explaining that Jake and his grandmother go to church, but his father and mother don’t,...
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Chapter 12
Dibs hears the church bells ring and Axline says he has fifteen minutes left in his session. Dibs is...
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Chapter 13
...number, and he files it correctly. He also writes a card for Axline. When the church bells chime, he observes that all the people are going home from work. He asks...
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Chapter 21
...the set and decides to build a toy town for himself. He sets up a church, a house, and a truck, describing his city as he builds it. Dibs also flies...
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Chapter 22
...house and Axline’s house; he also sets up his grandmother’s house. Dibs sets up a church, a jail, and a big chestnut tree, and he says his father’s office is on...
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Chapter 23
...Then he goes to the window and asks if he can go over to the church across the street. Axline says yes, even though it’s an unusual request. Inside the church,...
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...Dibs explains that he is afraid of the bigness and the noise but that the church also fills him with brightness and beauty. Dibs waves goodbye to God and he and...
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