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 and the preacher hear guitar music, singing, and clapping a block away from Gloria’s house. When they enter Gloria’s kitchen, they see Otis playing his guitar while everyone else claps and sings. Opal can’t believe that they’re so happy when Winn-Dixie is gone. She shouts that they didn’t find Winn-Dixie. Otis stops playing and Gloria says that he’s been in her house all along. She pokes her cane under her chair and Winn-Dixie stands up. Opal runs to him and hugs him as he smiles and sneezes. Gloria says that they were all sitting around, waiting for Opal to get back. She convinced Stevie and Dunlap that she wasn’t a witch, and then Otis agreed to play his guitar. Otis and Gloria smile at each other.
To Opal, it’s unthinkable that all her friends aren’t mourning Winn-Dixie. In her mind, the loss is great enough that the entire world should stop and take notice. Though this is understandable and somewhat moot, given that Winn-Dixie isn’t lost after all, Gloria still makes the case that it’s important to focus on friends, happiness, and music in sad times like these. It’s impossible and foolish, she suggests, to put off making friends and connecting to others just because one individual is missing.
Themes
Gloria says that she and Franny talked about the songs they knew from childhood. They got Otis to play them, since he can pick up any tune if someone hums it. They taught the words to Stevie, Dunlap, Amanda, and Sweetie Pie—and then they heard a sneeze. Otis found Winn-Dixie hiding under Gloria’s bed. The dog sneezed whenever Otis played the guitar. Otis managed to coax Winn-Dixie out by playing, and once the storm stopped, Winn-Dixie fell asleep under Gloria’s chair. Opal thanks everyone. Gloria says they didn’t do anything; they just all became friends while Opal and the preacher were out. She turns everyone’s attention to the food and the party. The preacher asks if Otis knows any hymns, and Otis plays a tune that the preacher hums. Opal looks around at all her friends and feels her heart swell. She slips outside.
It’s especially meaningful that the group found Winn-Dixie’s hiding spot because they chose to focus on the happiness and their growing community rather than wallow. While it’s likely that they would’ve found Winn-Dixie eventually either way, the manner in which they found him impresses upon Opal that it’s always a good thing to look on the bright side. Importantly, Gloria insists that they all became friends in Opal’s absence, another indicator that making one friend—in this case, Opal—opens people up to becoming friends with many others.
Themes
