Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Because of Winn-Dixie, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Storytelling and Listening
Sadness, Happiness, and Growing Up
Family and Loss
Openness, Friendship, and Community
Summary
Analysis
On Opal’s first day of work at Gertrude’s Pets, she arrives so early that the “closed” sign is still in the window. She and Winn-Dixie enter and hear beautiful music. They notice that all the animals are out of their cages, still as statues, listening to Otis play the guitar and tap his boots. Winn-Dixie gets a dreamy expression and then lies down with the other animals. Gertrude perches on his head. Otis notices Opal, stops playing, and mayhem ensues. The animals all start to run around while Winn-Dixie barks and Gertrude shrieks. For a while, Opal and Otis run around trying to catch animals, but then Opal shouts for Otis to play some more music. He picks up his guitar, and within seconds, everything is calm. As he plays, Opal puts the animals back in their cages.
Otis doesn’t yet trust Opal, so he doesn’t want to reveal this part of his identity to her yet. The mayhem that breaks out when he stops playing, however, suggests that there’s something to be said for being open and vulnerable with new people—it would’ve made everyone’s morning a little less difficult. That Otis is seemingly able to charm animals with his music also suggests that he is able to make friends easily, just not necessarily with other people. In this sense, he’s more like Opal than either of them seems to realize.
Themes
When the animals are back where they belong, Otis looks down and explains that he plays music for them since it makes them happy. The animals didn’t escape; he takes them out. He feels sorry for them, since he knows what it’s like to be locked up. Otis admits that he’s been in jail, looks down at his boots, and then awkwardly gets Opal started on sweeping. As Opal sweeps, Winn-Dixie follows her, and Gertrude tails Winn-Dixie. When Opal is done, Otis thanks her. Outside, Opal thinks that the preacher wouldn’t be happy to hear that her boss is a criminal.
Since Otis has done nothing to raise suspicion about his character—and especially since he seems like a shy, sweet man—it’s interesting that Opal goes straight to thinking of him as a criminal just because he’s been to jail. This suggests that she has a black-and-white view of good and bad.
Themes
Sweetie Pie is waiting for Opal. She announces that she saw all the animals out of their cages and asks if Otis is magic. Sweetie Pie takes her knuckle out of her mouth, takes Opal’s hand, and walks with Opal and Winn-Dixie. She confirms that Opal is coming to her birthday party and reminds Opal that the theme is pink. Suddenly, Sweetie Pie says she has to go. She points to a house and says the woman on the porch is her mama. Opal waves and watches Sweetie Pie run to tell her mama about Otis. Opal thinks of how she wants to tell Mama about Otis too. She thinks that she’s collecting stories for Mama. Someday, she’ll tell Mama about Miss Franny and the bear and about briefly believing that Gloria was a witch.
Sweetie Pie clearly either has no idea that Otis is a supposed criminal, or she doesn’t care—instead, she focuses on what Otis is doing now. The novel overwhelmingly implies that this is how people should look at others: it’s not especially useful to take past events into account when someone is doing obvious good in the present. Again, when Opal shares that she’s collecting stories for Mama, it shows that she’s not necessarily living for herself on her own terms. Because of this, Opal isn’t as able to enjoy life since everything she does is then tainted by grief and sadness.
Themes
