The Nursing Bottle Symbol in Dibs in Search of Self

The toy nursing bottle represents Dibs’s progression from insecurity to confidence. A nursing bottle is quite literally a marker of infancy, as it mimics the experience of breastfeeding and provides babies with nourishment and comfort. Dibs often drinks from the nursing bottle in the playroom, particularly in his early sessions with Dr. Axline, and he sometimes pretends that he’s lying in a crib as he does so. Acting like a baby seems to be a way of hiding from the burden of his parents’ high expectations for his behavior—and in this way, the nursing bottle enables Dibs’s insecurity and gives him a degree of comfort.

At other times, Dibs affirms that he doesn’t need the nursing bottle, suggesting greater maturity and security in himself. But Dibs does recognize that it’s okay to drink from the nursing bottle if he wants to, even as he does so less frequently, indicating a greater acceptance of his more infantile tendencies. In this way, he learns that he is happier when he can determine what he wants to be and do, rather than trying to live up to his parents’ ideas of how he should act.

Finally, at the end of Dibs’s last session, he says that he doesn’t need the nursing bottle anymore; he hurls the bottle away from him, and it breaks. This suggests that Dibs no longer needs the nursing bottle—and, by extension, he no longer feels the need to hide behind an infantile persona. He’s grown more mature and confident in himself through his therapy sessions, and he now feels comfortable acting however he wants to.

The Nursing Bottle Quotes in Dibs in Search of Self

The Dibs in Search of Self quotes below all refer to the symbol of The Nursing Bottle. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Therapy, Empathy, and Non-Judgment Theme Icon

I was interested in the manner in which Dibs had been displaying his ability to read, count, solve problems. It seemed to me that whenever he approached any kind of emotional reference he retreated to a demonstration of his ability to read. Perhaps he felt safer in manipulating intellectual concepts about things, rather than probing any deeper into feelings about himself that he could not accept with ease. Perhaps this was a brief bit of evidence of some conflict he had between expectations of his behavior and his own striving to be himself—sometimes very capable, sometimes a baby.

Related Characters: Dr. Virginia Axline (speaker), Dibs, Dibs’s Mother

Related Symbols: The Nursing Bottle

Page Number and Citation: 61

Explanation and Analysis:

The Nursing Bottle Symbol Timeline in Dibs in Search of Self

The timeline below shows where the symbol The Nursing Bottle appears in Dibs in Search of Self. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...room is full of toys, including a dollhouse, stuffed animals, cars, clay, paints, and a nursing bottle. Axline tells Dibs that they’ll spend an hour in the playroom, and that he... (full context)

Parental Expectations vs. Self-Determination Theme Icon

Intelligence vs. Emotional and Social Skills Theme Icon

As Axline puts on Dibs’s boots, she notices that he is sucking on a small nursing bottle that was on the table. Dibs then asks to put the tops on the... (full context)

...third session, he notes that Axline replaced the paint lids. He then picks up the nursing bottle and starts to suck on it. Soon after, he tells himself to take off... (full context)

...that his relationship with his parents is so deficient. Dibs continues to suck on the nursing bottle until he says, “Take off my rubbers.” Axline realizes that he means her own... (full context)

...Dibs smiles and laughs—the first laugh Axline has heard from him. As Dibs fills the nursing bottle with water again, he says that he wants to take his snow pants off.... (full context)

...Axline can learn lots of interesting things that way, and then he picks up the nursing bottle once more and drinks from it. (full context)

...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... (full context)

...whimpers and asks Axline for her help with his shoelace before going over to the nursing bottle and sucking on it. Axline asks if Dibs is sad, and he nods: he... (full context)

...into the pipe, he isn’t able to retrieve it and laughs. He then gets the nursing bottle and chews on the top. As he does this, he dumps a set of... (full context)

Dibs lays down in the sand and sucks on the bottle for a while, but then he gets up and says that he’s not a baby... (full context)

After washing the dishes, Dibs sucks on the nursing bottle and says that he’s not very old—he’s only six. He then says that he... (full context)

...as they have deprived him of love, respect, and understanding. Dibs drinks briefly from the nursing bottle, but then he says he doesn’t need it anymore—that he’s a big boy now.... (full context)

Dibs starts to talk to the water bottle, but then he chides himself and instructs himself to talk to people instead. He says... (full context)

...the mountain again and again, but she must do it. Then Dibs picks up the nursing bottle and says he’s just a baby who can’t do anything, instructing grandmother to “take... (full context)

...representing Dorothy and holds her. He says that he’ll take care of her, holding the nursing bottle to her lips. Dibs explains that he’s going to make a gift for each... (full context)

...mother or his mother’s friend. But it doesn’t matter. Dibs then runs over to the nursing bottle and says that the bottle brings him comfort when he needs it; he sucks... (full context)

The Nursing Bottle Symbol Analysis

The Nursing Bottle Quotes in Dibs in Search of Self

The Nursing Bottle Symbol Timeline in Dibs in Search of Self