70 pages • 2 hours read
Kate DiCamilloBecause of Winn-Dixie
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2000A 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.
Chapters 5-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary
The preacher and Opal soon discover that Winn-Dixie does not like being left alone—not even when he is tied up in the yard. After an incident involving loud howling in the trailer park, Opal and the preacher begin taking Winn-Dixie everywhere they go, including to church. Opal reflects: “I could understand the way Winn-Dixie felt. Getting left behind probably made his heart feel empty” (32). The preacher’s church is in an old Pick-it-Quick store, and it looks quite unconventional. The first day Winn-Dixie comes to church, the preacher ties him up outside, but Winn-Dixie interrupts the sermon with his howling. Winn-Dixie is allowed inside, but then disrupts again when he catches a mouse in his mouth in the middle of a prayer. The mouse is still alive, so the preacher removes it from the church, and everyone claps. Afterward, Opal prays for her mother to return so she can tell her the story of Winn-Dixie and the mouse. She also prays for friends.
Chapter 6 Summary
Opal finds a comfortable place to pass the time at the local library. She leaves Winn-Dixie outside, because no dogs are allowed. Winn-Dixie does not mind, because he can look in the windows at Opal. One day at the library, the librarian Miss Franny is terrified because she believes Winn-Dixie is a bear who “has come back” (41). Opal comforts her, invites Winn-Dixie inside, and Opal asks Miss Franny to explain her story. Opal says, “I am like my mama in that I like to be told stories” (43). They all settle in, Winn-Dixie included, to hear Miss Franny’s story.
Chapter 7 Summary
Miss Franny begins by offering a history of the library. She describes the wild men and women and animals of Florida back then, where she lived with her daddy. Her daddy was a rich man, and so for her birthday one year Miss Franny asked for a little library of her own, so she could share books with others. One day, when she sat behind the desk reading, a shadow approached. When she looked up after a moment of silence, Miss Franny realized she was face to face with a huge bear. Miss Franny threw her book, a thick copy of War and Peace, at the bear. He left then, but she claims he took the book with him. Afterwards, people in town teased Miss Franny about the bear. She says, “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” (49). Opal understands Miss Franny’s loneliness, and suggests she, Miss Franny, and Winn-Dixie become friends. Miss Franny agrees, and even defends Winn-Dixie from Amanda Wilkinson, a pinch-faced know-it-all Opal knows from church.
Chapter 8 Summary
Soon after the incident at the library, Winn-Dixie begins to grow back his missing fur and looks quite handsome. Opal decides to treat him to a leash and collar from nearby Gertrude’s Pets. Opal cannot afford the collar she wants, so she asks Otis, the cashier, for a job to help pay it off. Inside the store is a squawking parrot named Gertrude, and Otis says she can have the job only if Winn-Dixie gets along with the finicky Gertrude. Winn-Dixie comes inside, and he and Gertrude stare each other down for a bit. Finally, Gertrude lands on Winn-Dixie’s head, and Opal gets the job, starting the next Monday. She tells Winn-Dixie, “You are better at making friends than anybody I have ever known” (57). Outside the store, Opal runs into Sweetie Pie Thomas, who invites her and Winn-Dixie to her sixth birthday party in September.
Chapters 5-8 Analysis
The people of Naomi experience grief in a wide variety of ways, which becomes clear in these chapters. Winn-Dixie’s grief is most prominent when he is left alone. He is terrified of abandonment and cannot cope without anyone around. Opal understands this fear, saying, “I could understand the way Winn-Dixie felt. Getting left behind probably made his heart feel empty” (32).
Miss Franny, on the other hand, experiences a different kind of loneliness. She tells Opal stories, some of which only she remembers now. She says, “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” (49). Miss Franny’s grief is over her lost community, which has disappeared slowly over time. In many ways, she is experiencing the same loneliness as Opal, though rather than being the one to leave, she was the only person who stayed.
Another theme from this section is the idea of unattainable desires. This is most clear for Sweetie Pie Thomas, who is devastated that she cannot get a dog, but other characters experience a similar loss. Opal yearns for her mother, and Miss Franny yearns for an older world. They attempt to fill their desires in various ways—making lists, telling stories, visiting pet stores—but their desire never goes away.
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By Kate DiCamillo
