70 pages • 2 hours read
Kate DiCamilloA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
“It’s hard not to immediately fall in love with a dog who has a good sense of humor.”
Opal says this immediately after meeting Winn-Dixie, when he smiles at her in the grocery store. This statement proves to be true not just for Opal, but for all of the people Winn-Dixie meets. His smile is a symbol of the power of friendship.
“My daddy is a good preacher and a nice man, but sometimes it’s hard for me to think about him as my daddy, because he spends so much time preaching or thinking about preaching.”
Opal reveals this information about her father early in the novel, as a way of explaining her loneliness. Part of her yearning for her mother comes from the preacher’s dedication to his work. Opal must share the preacher with the community, and so often feels lonely.
“‘See,’ I said, ‘You don’t have any family and neither do I. I’ve got the preacher, of course. But I don’t have a mama. I mean I have one, but I don’t know where she is. She left when I was three years old.’”
Opal says this to Winn-Dixie soon after they meet. She is explaining the bond they have—they are both orphans, because they are both missing their mothers. This is Opal’s biggest loss, and one she returns to often.
“She drank. She drank beer. And whiskey. And wine. Sometimes she couldn’t stop drinking.”
The preacher tells Opal about her mother’s alcoholism when he is sharing the list of 10 things he knows about her. He explains that her alcoholism was a big reason they did not stay together, and a reason she might have left them both behind.
“I could understand the way Winn-Dixie felt. Getting left behind probably made his heart feel empty.”
When Opal and the preacher discover that Winn-Dixie cannot be left behind for long—not tied up, or even out of sight of Opal—Opal reflects on his loneliness. She can relate to him, and his fear of abandonment.
“I imagine I’m the only one left from those days… All my friends, everyone I knew when I was young, they are all dead and gone.”
Miss Franny Block says this to Opal after they first meet in the library, and Miss Franny tells Opal about her interaction with the bear. Miss Franny is lonely because so many of the people she used to share stories with are gone now—either dead or far away.
“You know, my eyes ain’t too good at all… so I got to rely on my heart. Why don’t you go on and tell me everything about yourself, so I can see you with my heart.”
Gloria Dump is blind, and so she asks Opal to introduce herself by saying everything about herself. Gloria teaches Opal how to see with the heart, a theme that remains throughout the book.
“I loved the preacher so much… I loved him because he was going to forgive Winn-Dixie for being afraid.”
After Opal and the preacher discover Winn-Dixie’s fear of thunderstorms, Opal is afraid that the preacher will not forgive Winn-Dixie’s erratic behavior, and they will not be able to care for him anymore. Opal is so thankful when the preacher forgives Winn-Dixie and talks to Opal about supporting him instead.
“I take them out. I feel sorry for them being locked up all the time. I know what it’s like, being locked up.”
Otis says this to Opal at Gertrude’s Pets, after Opal discovers Otis playing music for the animals. He lets them out of their cages, and explains that he hates feeling confined, after a brief stint in jail. This changes how Opal thinks about him.
“It made me mad, the way they wouldn’t listen to me and kept believing whatever they wanted to believe about Gloria Dump.”
Opal gets angry at the Dewberry brothers, who mock her for visiting Gloria Dump. They believe she is a witch and insist that she is dangerous despite Opal’s insistence otherwise. Opal is disgusted by their ignorance, and their inability to understand Gloria for who she is.
“To keep the ghosts away […] the ghosts of all the things I done wrong.”
Gloria explains the meaning of the empty bottles hanging in her Mistake Tree in this passage. She tells her backstory to Opal, about her history of alcoholism and the mistakes she made. She teaches Opal a lesson about judgment and forgiveness.
“But in the meantime, you got to remember, you can't always judge people by the things they done. You got to judge them by what they are doing now.”
Gloria says this to Opal, after explaining the Mistake Tree. She is telling Opal to forgive Otis for his past wrongdoings and judge him by his behavior now—his kindness, and his musical ability, and his love for animals.
“I wondered if my mama, wherever she was, had a tree full of bottles; and I wondered if I was a ghost to her, the same way she sometimes seemed like a ghost to me.”
Opal stays back for a moment to reflect on the Mistake Tree. She connects Gloria’s past with her own mother’s alcohol addiction, and wonders about how her mother thinks of her—whether she seems real, or more like a ghost, a shadow of a person long gone.
“It was important to me to hear how Littmus survived after losing everything he loved.”
Franny Block tells the story of her great-grandfather, and his time during the Civil War. Opal is captivated by this story, because Littmus Block loses everything he has—his home, his entire family, his innocence. It is important for Opal to understand how he survived because she feels she has also experienced great loss.
“Men and boys always want to fight. They are always looking for a reason to go to war.”
Franny Block says this as part of her story about Littmus Block’s desire to fight in the war. She wonders about his naivete, and the desire of men to go to war despite the knowledge of war’s horrors. This quote belies an ignorance in the novel to the social reality of the war between the states and what was at stake for people of color. It runs the risk of romanticizing the South during the Civil War era.
“I wondered what in the world Amanda Wilkinson had to feel sad about.”
When Opal and Amanda eat a Littmus Lozenge, they each experience the unique taste of sadness. Opal is surprised when Amanda has her own grief to contend with. She did not believe Amanda had anything wrong in her life before that moment.
“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.”
Opal reflects on the experience of eating a Littmus Lozenge, and how much it mirrors her experience of life. At this time, Opal is discovering how much sadness is an intrinsic part of human existence—that everyone experiences it, in their own way.
“Sometimes, it seemed like everybody in the world was lonely. I thought about my mama. Thinking about her was the same as the hole you keep on feeling with your tongue after you lose a tooth.”
After Opal discovers that everyone carries sadness, she becomes even more sad—she feels her own pain, but also the pain of others. Opal describes her feeling of pain as a hole that cannot be filled, like a lost tooth.
“I believe, sometimes, that the whole world has an aching heart.”
Opal talks to Gloria about the sadness she has found in everyone she meets in Naomi, and this is what Gloria says in response. Gloria acknowledges the universal experience of loneliness and loss, and feels that pain with Opal.
“I was surprised at how glad I was to see Amanda. And I wanted to tell her I knew about Carson. I wanted to tell her I understood about losing people, but I didn’t say anything. I was just extra nice.”
Opal surprises herself when she is excited to see Amanda at her party. She did not like Amanda before, but now feels a connection to her, as another young person who feels grief. Opal feels for Amanda because of her dead baby brother Carson, and she tries to make up for that pain by being kind to Amanda and making her feel welcome.
“Dear God […] thank you most of all for friends. We appreciate the complicated and wonderful gifts you give us in each other.”
This is the blessing the preacher gives at Opal’s party, to begin the festivities. He talks about the power of friendship, and its complications, to honor the joy and hardship that comes with loving people.
“There ain’t no way you can hold one to something that wants to go, you understand? You can only love what you got while you got it.”
Gloria says this to Opal as she goes out looking for Winn-Dixie in the rain. Though it is technically about losing Winn-Dixie, and preparing herself for that grief, Opal also relates it to the loss of her mother. The preacher agrees with Gloria’s statement, reminding Opal that as much as he has tried, he cannot force her mother to come home.
“[Opal makes] a list of things couldn’t even begin to show somebody the real Winn-Dixie, just like a list of things couldn’t ever get me to know my mama.”
Opal makes a list of things to remember about Winn-Dixie, in case she never sees him again. As she makes this list, she realizes that a list is nothing like having the real person, and it helps her realize that she cannot get her mother back simply by knowing more about her.
“But do you know what? […] When I told you your mama took everything with her, I forgot one thing, one very important thing […] You.”
As the preacher cries in front of Opal over the loss of Opal’s mother, he reminds Opal of one thing—that he is deeply grateful that her mother left her behind. The preacher’s love for Opal is strong in this moment, and he reminds her that they are each other’s family, even with the loss they share.
“[M]y heart doesn’t feel empty anymore. It’s full all the way up. I’ll still think about you, I promise. But probably not as much as I did this summer.”
Opal says this to her mother while standing beneath the Mistake Tree. It is in the final moments of the novel, as she comes to terms with her losses. Opal finds solace in family and friends, which fill up her heart. She does not feel the loss of her mother as acutely anymore.
By Kate DiCamillo