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Mama
Amanda is a girl in Naomi who’s about Opal’s age. Opal describes her as “pinch-faced,” or mean. In Opal’s assessment, Amanda is a stickler for rules and walks around looking like she smelled something nasty. To Opal’s credit, Amanda is cold to Miss Franny when she goes to the library to return and check out books. However, the novel eventually reveals that this behavior is a front to cover up Amanda’s grief. The story of Littmus W. Block begins to break down Amanda’s walls, and Opal later discovers that last summer, Amanda’s little brother, Carson, drowned. Opal infers that Amanda looks and behaves the way she does because she’s still grieving her brother, though the novel never confirms or denies this. Amanda is nervous but happy when Opal invites her to the party at Gloria’s, and at the party itself, Amanda seems less mean and stuck-up. Though Amanda is still intent on following rules to the letter and forcing others to do the same, Opal makes a point to be kinder to her and more understanding of where Amanda might be coming from.
Amanda Wilkinson Quotes in Because of Winn-Dixie
The Because of Winn-Dixie quotes below are all either spoken by Amanda Wilkinson or refer to Amanda Wilkinson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 5 Quotes
And none of them wanted to be my friend anyway because they probably thought I’d tell on them to the preacher for every little thing they did wrong; and then they would get in trouble with God and their parents. So I told God that I was lonely, even having Winn-Dixie.
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Chapter 16 Quotes
“And the army took him, and Littmus went off to war, just like that. Left behind his mother and three sisters. He went off to be a hero. But he soon found out the truth.” Miss Franny closed her eyes and shook her head.
“What truth?” I asked her.
“Why, that war is hell,” Miss Franny said with her eyes still closed. “Pure hell.”
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Chapter 17 Quotes
I ate my Littmus Lozenge slow. It tasted good. It tasted like root beer and strawberry and something else I didn’t have a name for, something that made me feel kind of sad. I looked over at Amanda. She was sucking on her candy and thinking hard.
“Do you like it?” Miss Franny asked me.
“Yes ma’am,” I told her.
“What about you, Amanda? Do you like the Littmus Lozenge?”
“Yes ma’am,” she said. “But it makes me think of things I feel sad about.”
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Chapter 18 Quotes
I didn’t go to sleep right away. I lay there and thought how life was like a Littmus Lozenge, how the sweet and the sad were all mixed up together and how hard it was to separate them out. It was confusing.
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I got up out of bed and unwrapped a Littmus Lozenge and sucked on it hard and thought about my mama leaving me. That was a melancholy feeling. And then I thought about Amanda and Carson. And that made me feel melancholy, too. Poor Amanda. And poor Carson. He was the same age as Sweetie Pie. But he would never get to have his sixth birthday party.
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Chapter 25 Quotes
“Well,” said Gloria Dump. “We didn’t do nothin’. We just sat here and waited and sang some songs. We all got to be good friends. Now. The punch ain’t nothin’ but water and the egg-salad sandwiches got tore up by the rain. You got to eat them with a spoon if you want egg salad. But we got pickles to eat. And Littmus Lozenges. And we still got a party going on.”
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Amanda Wilkinson Character Timeline in Because of Winn-Dixie
The timeline below shows where the character Amanda Wilkinson appears in Because of Winn-Dixie. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5
...she’s lonely in Naomi. The only kids at church are two brothers, Dunlap and Stevie; Amanda, who always looks like she’s smelled something bad; and Sweetie Pie Thomas, who’s only five....
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Chapter 7
...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...
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Chapter 15
...boy, and that’s a story. Opal asks to hear the story and settles in, but Amanda Wilkinson comes into the library. She bossily declares that she’s ready for another book, but...
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Chapter 16
...Littmus left to be a hero, but he soon discovered the truth: war is hell. Amanda says that hell is a cuss word, but Miss Franny declares that war should be...
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...to Georgia, but when he arrived, there was no home—the Yankees had burned it. As Amanda joins Opal on the floor, she asks what happened to Littmus’s sisters. Miss Franny says...
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Chapter 17
...way to Florida, planning a candy factory. There, Littmus made the famous Littmus Lozenges. Neither Amanda nor Opal have heard of the candy. Miss Franny explains that they’re not in production...
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Miss Franny offers Amanda and Opal Littmus Lozenges. Opal asks if Winn-Dixie can have one too. Winn-Dixie swallows his...
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Amanda says that the candy makes her miss Carson. Looking ready to cry, Amanda runs away....
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Chapter 18
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...
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...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...
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Chapter 20
...funny, but she agrees with Opal that Otis is just lonely. Opal then shares that Amanda’s brother Carson drowned last year at five years old. Gloria remembers hearing about that and...
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...immediately. The preacher agrees to come. Miss Franny is thrilled and suggests that Opal invite Amanda. Opal is surprised that Amanda nervously says yes. Later, Opal asks Stevie and Dunlap. Stevie...
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Chapter 21
...a coat and a tie. Winn-Dixie stands in the middle and wags his tail. When Amanda arrives, her hair is curled and she doesn’t look as mean as usual—she looks shy....
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Chapter 22
...as Miss Franny frets over the possibility of her silk dress getting wet. Just as Amanda suggests they go inside, it starts to pour.
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Chapter 23
...punch. Opal and the preacher grab the food while Sweetie Pie rescues her dog pictures. Amanda helps Miss Franny into the house, and Opal goes back out to help Gloria. Opal...
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Chapter 25
...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....
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Chapter 26
...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,...
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...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...
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