Dibs’ Silence
Dibs talks funny. Well, once he starts talking, that is. But before he starts talking, he remains silent and uncommunicative. The thing is, however, that Dibs is uncommunicative on purpose; he is not stupid or mute either anatomically or psychologically. He just refuses to talk as a matter of course. And it is this purposeful lack of communication which becomes symbolic of the state of those we fail to understand. That failure of understanding is based on a failure to communicate stimulated on both sides of the equation.
Dibs’ Speaking
Dibs talks funny. Once he does start talking, it is almost impossible to get him quiet again. And his manner of speaking is oddly stilted. Oddly enough, this strange—call it unfamiliar or alienated—formalized speaking style also symbolizes a lack of communication. An untrained professional meeting with Dibs and hearing him speak like he does would almost beyond a doubt not have the same reaction. Most, it is safe to assume, would be put off by the way Dibs speaks to the point that many would reject him as “different” or “difficult” to almost the same degree as if they saw him being silent and uncommunicative.
Jake
Jake is the family gardener for Dibs’ parents. He only really makes one impactful appearance in the narrative when it is revealed by Dibs that he doesn’t get to see Jake anymore because he suffered a heart attack and apparently is not well enough to continue doing his work. Jake is very special to Dibs in a way that would make it easy to simply dismiss his symbolic significance as a being “father-figure” to a boy who has a father who is emotionally absent. But Jake goes far beyond that. Dr. Axline paints Jakes as the symbolic incarnation of the kind of parent that, had Dibs actually had in both his mother and father, might have been enough to transform his entire childhood. Had his real parents been more like Jake, in other words, Axline might never have been called upon to treat Dibs.
The Puppet Theater
The puppet theater is, of course, the central symbolic entity in this story. The foundation of its telling lies in the Dr. Axline’s play therapy approach to treating Dibs. And the centerpiece of that therapy lies in the puppets which symbolically represent Dibs and his family. The puppets create the necessary emotional distance between reality and symbolic representation which affords Dibs the opportunity to be completely and open with his therapist.
The Nursing Bottle
The symbolic importance of this object is made clear by the other name it is called by: the baby bottle. Dibs sucks on the nursing bottle like a wino going at cheap wine in some scenes, but ultimately he not only gives it up, but actually says, “Goodbye, baby bottle, goodbye. I do not need you anymore.” And so he doesn’t. When voluntarily giving up the baby bottle, he is symbolically reclaiming his actual age which, it should be said, was already well beyond when most kids give up the nipple.
