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
Miss Franny says that back when Florida was still wild and she was still a little girl, her father, Herman W. Block, told her that she could have anything she wanted for her birthday. Leaning in close, Miss Franny says quietly that her daddy was very, very rich. Since she loved to read, Miss Franny asked for a small library so she could spend her days reading and share books with others. Mr. Block built her a house for her books, and that’s how Naomi’s library began. Miss Franny says that she became the librarian at a very young age. She reiterates that back then, Florida was full of wild beings—there were wild animals in addition to wild people. Miss Franny admits that as a girl, she was a know-it-all and felt like she knew the answer to everything, since she had a library.
In her old age, Miss Franny is better able to identify where she went wrong as a kid. For her, it wasn’t her necessarily her wealth that warped her priorities—it was the fact that she was in charge of the town’s library that made her feel superior to everyone else. In other words, Miss Franny may have cut herself off from meaningful relationships because she acted like such a know-it-all as a kid. Though Opal is perhaps less judgmental than Miss Franny was, this offers hope that as Opal ages, she, too, will become more accepting of others.
Themes
One day, Miss Franny was reading in the library when a big shadow crossed her deck. Without looking up, she asked the patron if she could help them find a book. The patron didn’t answer. Miss Franny figured that it was a wild person who was afraid of books, but then she smelled something odd and looked up: it wasn’t a person, but a huge bear. When Opal asks how big the bear was, Miss Franny replies that he was probably three times the size of Winn-Dixie. After that, the bear sniffed the air. Miss Franny vowed to not go down without a fight, so she held up War and Peace, the book she was reading, and threw it at the bear. The bear ran and took the book with him. It never came back, but men used to tease Miss Franny that they’d seen the bear reading in the woods.
Here, Miss Franny’s lack of awareness and her sense of superiority put her in a potentially dangerous situation—while she didn’t think that a so-called “wild person” would hurt her, a bear definitely might. Though parts of this story seem potentially fantastical and fabricated, this is nevertheless a bonding experience for Opal and Miss Franny. By listening, Opal gives Miss Franny the ability to feel as though she has something to say.
Themes
With a sigh, Miss Franny muses that she’s probably the only one left from those days; no one else who remembers the bear is still alive. All her friends have died. Opal thinks that Miss Franny looks suddenly small and wrinkled, and she thinks that they’re not so different—they’re both friendless. Winn-Dixie looks between Opal and Miss Franny and then smiles at Miss Franny. Miss Franny smiles back. Opal suggests that the three of them could be friends. Miss Franny’s smile grows and she says that’d be grand. Right then, “pinch-faced” Amanda Wilkinson walks in. She announces that she enjoyed Johnny Tremain but that she wants something more difficult to read. Miss Franny gets up to help Amanda and assures her that some dogs are allowed in the library. Miss Franny winks at Opal. Opal is thrilled to have made a friend and vows to not let Amanda ruin it.
Telling her story didn’t just give Miss Franny a sense of dignity; it also provided a launch pad for her friendship with Opal. Listening, this suggests, can allow people to befriend others by showing that they’re worthy of consideration and respect. It’s telling that Opal is able to identify with Miss Franny. This indicates that Opal is starting to recognize that she’s not the only person who feels the way she does; there may be others who feel alone or who are grieving for absent family members. The novel suggests that learning to see others in a more empathetic light is an important aspect of maturation.
Themes
