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
Opal sometimes tells Miss Franny’s most recent story to Gloria . Sometimes she imitates Otis playing for the animals, and other times, Opal makes a story up. Gloria shares that she used to love to read, but her eyes are so bad now that she can’t read—they don’t make glasses strong enough. One day, Opal decides to tell Gloria that Otis is a criminal. She reasons that she should tell an adult and asks Gloria if she should be afraid of Otis, since he’s done bad things and was in jail. Gloria says she’d like to show Opal something and leads her to the back of the yard. There, Opal studies a huge tree with whiskey, beer, and wine bottles hung from it. The bottles clang and make a spooky noise.
Since Gloria can no longer read, her storytelling get-togethers with Opal are a way for her to fill that void. By listening to Opal’s stories, Gloria is then also able to help Opal feel needed and respected in the community and in their friendship in particular. Leading Opal to this tree indicates that Gloria has much more to teach Opal than what she already has about stories. This positions Gloria as a parent figure of sorts who’s able to guide Opal onto the right moral path—especially since the preacher isn’t someone Opal feels comfortable confiding in.
Themes
Gloria explains that the bottles are there to keep away the ghosts of all the things she’s done wrong. Opal is awed that Gloria has done so many things wrong when Gloria is such a nice person, but Gloria insists that being nice doesn’t mean a person hasn’t done bad things. When Opal observes that there are whiskey and beer bottles, Gloria says that she’s aware—she drank the contents and hung the bottles on the tree. In a whisper, Opal whispers that Mama drank, and according to the preacher, sometimes she couldn’t stop. Gloria says that it’s like that for some people. She used to be one of those people, but today, she doesn’t drink anything stronger than coffee.
Opal again reveals that she has a clear, black-and-white view of good and bad. In Opal’s mind, it’s difficult to accept that Gloria has done bad things since she seems so good. Seeing the tree and realizing what it represents shatters this simplistic worldview. This happens again when Opal notes the alcohol bottles. Seeing that someone like Gloria drank, just like Mama, also helps Opal to see that alcoholism is a problem that all different kinds of people have and to understand that just like Gloria, Mama was a multifaceted individual.
Themes
Opal asks if the alcohol made Gloria do the bad things. Gloria says that they made her do some of them, but she would’ve done some of them anyway before she learned the most important thing. When Opal asks what the most important thing is, Gloria says it’s different for everyone. The point, however, is that Opal can’t judge people by what they’ve done; she has to judge them based on what they’re doing now. She suggests that Opal judge Otis by his music and how kindly he treats the animals, and that Opal not judge Stevie and Dunlap too harshly either. Opal agrees. Gloria and Winn-Dixie walk away, but Opal studies the tree. She wonders if Mama has a tree full of bottles. She wonders if she’s a ghost to Mama, since Mama seems ghostly to her sometimes.
What Gloria essentially implies here is that Opal can’t just blame Mama’s choice to leave on the alcohol. It’s possible that there was nothing anyone could’ve done or made Mama do to convince her to stay—but hopefully, Mama has learned her “most important thing,” wherever she is. By asking Opal to consider people like Otis in terms of what they’re doing now and not based on what they did in the past, it begins to teach Opal to be more open and accepting of others. Essentially, Opal should be on the lookout for the good in others, which she might find in unexpected ways.
Themes
