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
The night sky is clear as Opal walks to the back of Gloria’s yard to look at the mistake tree. As she stares up at the bottles, Opal addresses Mama. She tells Mama that she knows 10 things about her, but that won’t be enough. Opal says she knows that Daddy will talk more about Mama now. Even though Opal misses Mama, her heart doesn’t feel empty anymore. Her heart is full. Opal promises to keep thinking about Mama, but she says she probably won’t think about her as much as she did this summer. When Opal is finished, she remembers the wait-and-see tree that Gloria helped her plant. Opal finds it and is shocked by how much it grew. It’s still small, but the branches feel strong.
Now that Opal feels more secure in her relationship with the preacher, she feels as though she can let Mama’s ghost go and focus on both her family and her new friends. It’s also significant that Opal calls the preacher “Daddy” here. This suggests that after speaking openly and honestly with him, Opal is able to think of him as her father and a real person, not just a preacher. Revisiting her wait-and-see tree and noticing how much it grew symbolizes Opal’s own growth over the novel. She’s still a kid, but she’s much stronger and more mature than she was a few months ago.
Themes
As Opal inspects her tree, Dunlap interrupts and asks if she’s praying. Opal says she’s thinking and apologizes for calling Dunlap and Stevie bald-headed babies. Dunlap says it’s okay and admits that he never thought Gloria was a witch; he was just teasing Opal. Dunlap surprises Opal by offering her a hand to help her up. They race back to the house, and Opal wins. From the porch, Amanda warns that it’s dangerous to run in the dark. Both Dunlap and Opal say, “Aw, Amanda,” but then Opal thinks of Carson and takes Amanda’s hand.
Given everything else that Opal has learned in the last few weeks, it now seems only right to her that she should do what the preacher asked and apologize to Dunlap. And her difficult choice pays off—his willingness to race and their shared scorn for Amanda’s warning suggests that Gloria was right: Dunlap is friend material. However, this doesn’t mean that Amanda isn’t—she still deserves compassion and kindness, something that Opal now recognizes.
Themes
Inside, the preacher smiles and says he’ll teach them all some songs. Miss Franny passes Opal the bowl of Littmus Lozenges and Opal eats one. She turns down Otis’s proffered pickle. Winn-Dixie leans into Opal, who leans into the preacher. Amanda doesn’t look mean at all. Opal focuses on the taste of her sweet and sad Littmus Lozenge and pays close attention to the song so she can learn it.
Now that Opal is free from worrying about Mama all the time, she can focus on the many good parts of her life and help others do the same. This doesn’t mean that Opal won’t still miss Mama or that the trauma of her abandonment wasn’t real. Instead, it means that Opal now has a healthier way of thinking about that experience, and about life in general.
Themes
