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 bathes Winn-Dixie with the hose. Winn-Dixie looks insulted, but he stands still. Then, Opal brushes him with her own hairbrush. As she grooms him, she tells him that they’re alike: they’re almost like orphans. Opal has the preacher, but she doesn’t have a mama—Mama left when Opal was three years old, so Opal doesn’t really remember her. She says that Winn-Dixie probably doesn’t remember his mother either. The dog looks relieved that someone understands. Opal says that she doesn’t have any friends either, since she had to leave them all behind when she and the preacher moved from North Florida.
That Opal is laying out all these similarities between her and Winn-Dixie suggests that she desperately wants to connect with and relate to others who are in her same situation. The revelation that Mama left when Opal was little makes it even clearer that Opal is, in many ways, alone at home—she doesn’t have another parent figure in her life aside from the preacher, who is emotionally absent. Winn-Dixie can begin to fill this void by giving Opal someone to talk to.
Themes
Opal admits that since she and the preacher moved, she’s been thinking about Mama more than she ever did in her old town. Winn-Dixie raises his eyebrows as Opal continues. Opal says that she believes the preacher also thinks about Mama a lot. According to the church ladies, he’s still in love with her and hopes she’ll return. Despite this, the preacher won’t talk to Opal about Mama. Opal wants to know more about Mama, but she’s afraid that the preacher will get mad if she asks. Winn-Dixie looks hard at Opal, and Opal agrees to think about asking the preacher to tell her more about Mama.
What Opal says about the preacher explains why he’s so withdrawn and distant: just as Opal misses Mama, he, too, is wallowing in grief over his absent wife. Though it’s hard to say whether Winn-Dixie understands what Opal is saying and responds accordingly, or if he’s just an expressive dog, it ultimately doesn’t matter—what matters is that Opal reads his responses and promises to take action on what he “says.”
Themes
Winn-Dixie looks much better when Opal is done: he’s still skinny and he wouldn’t let her brush his teeth (he kept sneezing), but his fur is soft now. Opal parades him into the trailer to show the preacher. It takes a moment to get his attention, but the preacher smiles and tells Winn-Dixie that he looks handsome and smells nice. Quickly, Opal says that she’s been talking to Winn-Dixie, and he agrees that the preacher should tell her 10 things about Mama since Opal is 10 years old. The preacher goes still, and Opal thinks that he’s considering pulling his head back into his shell. Winn-Dixie nudges the preacher with his nose. The preacher tells Winn-Dixie that he knew he’d be trouble, and he invites Opal to sit down and hear about Mama.
Winn-Dixie doesn’t just make Opal feel heard—his “responses” give her the courage to ask for what she needs and to overcome her fears, which suggests that he’s a true friend who makes Opal a stronger person. That the preacher agrees to give Opal what she wants speaks again to the power of friendship and to forging connections with others. It’s also possible that Opal has been needlessly afraid of the preacher’s reaction and that he needs to talk about Mama just as much as Opal does, a possibility that would humanize him as a character and add another layer of complexity to his behavior toward Opal.
Themes
