Narrative play, I have argued, provides the child with a “potential space” in which to explore life's possibilities. Like the transitional objects – stuffed animals, blankets, dolls – with which children learn to comfort themselves in the absence of the mother, stories, rhymes, pictures, and songs people the world of the child with objects that she can manipulate as symbols of the objects in real life that matter most to her. As Winnicott says, the transitional object is itself a symbol, and the child's play with it is an early example of artistic creativity. Frequently the child acts out stories with her stuffed animals – so there is a tight interweaving between the symbolic physical object and the symbolic aesthetic object. Through symbolic activity, the child cultivates her ability to imagine what others experience, and she explores the possibilities of human life in a safe and pleasing manner. At the same time, she cultivates her ability to be alone, and deepens her own inner world.

I shall return to the child's use of narrative in Chapter 6, discussing the relationship between narrative play and the acquisition of compassion. But we now need to open up several more general questions about artistic activity and emotion. Literary works will be important to the normative part of my account in Part III – along with one musical work.