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
When Opal and Winn-Dixie get to Gloria’s, Opal says she has a big surprise and a small one. Gloria asks for the small one first, so Opal hands her a Littmus Lozenge. Gloria remembers the candies; she pops the lozenge in her mouth and agrees that it tastes sad. Then, Opal announces that she’s going to read Gone With the Wind out loud. It has 1,037 pages, so it’ll take a long time. Opal reads the first chapter “loud enough to keep the ghosts away.” That night, Opal gives the preacher his candy as he kisses her goodnight. He eats the candy and says it has a peculiar flavor. Opal watches him seem to get further away and withdraw into his shell. He says the candy tastes “melancholy,” a word Opal has never heard before. The preacher says it makes him think of Mama.
The revelation that Gloria remembers the candies suggests that despite Miss Franny’s insistence that there’s no one alive who shares her memories, she might be wrong. The novel never reveals the women’s ages, but it’s possible that they’re close enough in age to remember a lot of the same things. This suggest that there are friends lurking everywhere, if one knows where to look—and through their connections with Opal, it’s possible that Miss Franny and Gloria will be able to connect with each other and expand their communities even further in the future.
Themes
The preacher sighs that it must be a bad batch if it tastes sad, but Opal explains that it’s supposed to taste that way. She tells the preacher Littmus’s story and how he invented Littmus Lozenges. Winn-Dixie starts eating the candy wrapper and refuses to let Opal take the wrapper from him. Then, the preacher says that Stevie and Dunlap’s mama mentioned that Opal called Stevie a bald-headed baby. Opal says she did, but only because Stevie calls Gloria a witch and calls Otis bad names. The preacher says that Opal needs to apologize, since she hurt Stevie’s feelings and he just wants to be friends. He insists that some people have an odd way of making friends.
The preacher, just like Gloria, insists that Opal can’t think horribly of the boys just because they haven’t been able to express their desire to be friends—and in any case, their bad behavior is no excuse for Opal to behave badly in return. However, it’s also important to commend Opal for her desire to stand up for her friends. She likely feels compelled to defend others because there are so few right now who stand up for her, especially since the preacher seems unwilling to make the boys stop pestering his daughter.
Themes
Opal asks if the preacher knows anything about Amanda Wilkinson and a person named Carson. The preacher says that Carson was Amanda’s brother. He drowned last year; he was only five years old. Opal asks why the preacher neglected to mention that, but the preacher insists that they shouldn’t gossip about other people’s tragedies. Opal insists that she needed to know, since Carson’s death explains why Amanda is so “pinch-faced.” The preacher kisses Opal, pats Winn-Dixie, and leaves the room.
Opal has no interest in gossiping, but she does want to have information that will help her understand why the people in her community behave the way they do. Knowing that Amanda has suffered such a loss helps Opal to identify with her and to understand where Amanda is coming from. It also shows Opal that loss like this is a normal, if tragic, part of life.
Themes
Opal lies in bed and confusedly thinks about how life is like a Littmus Lozenge. It’s a mixture of sweetness and sadness, and it’s impossible to separate the two. She shouts for the preacher, and when he returns, she asks him what word he used to describe the candies. She ponders the word melancholy, eats another candy, and thinks of Mama leaving. She thinks of Amanda and Carson. Carson was Sweetie Pie’s age, but he’s never going to have a sixth birthday party.
That Opal makes the connection now between the Littmus Lozenges and life is the entire point of the candies: life is both happy and sad, and it’s impossible to have one without the other. As she turns over this fact, she becomes increasingly empathetic—and even more importantly, she spends more time thinking about Carson than about Mama. In this way, she’s becoming less selfish as she comes of age.
Themes
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