ABSTRACT
In Chapter 2 the expression by Rhys and by Ceri of preferred modes of engaging with a reading adult or with the pictures of a book led to the postulation of a distinct identity or character for each child; the emphasis then was on self-affirmation and on differentiation. In this chapter, the self is viewed from a slightly different angle. The prime concern is the construction by the adult, in speech, of Ceri’s sense of who she is. The means via which this mother encodes actions and significant persons of a particular picturebook will be described. Since these actions are subtly coded in a form which suggests that they are either (1) not permitted to the child, (2) accessible if shared with an adult or (3) available to the child to experience autonomously, I propose that this mother is here concerned with structuring, albeit indirectly, her child’s position in a moral universe. But since also this adult’s use of language is suggestive of directions which a child might take with regard to certain attachment figures as opposed to others, one may also speculate as to the social (as opposed to individual and/or biological) origins of this infant’s psychosexual development.
