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Chapter 20
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
Party preparations are fun. Opal and Gloria decide to hold the party at night. The afternoon before, Gloria teaches Opal to make egg salad sandwiches. Winn-Dixie watches, wags his tail, and smiles at Gloria. Opal catches Gloria giving him one when she thinks Opal isn’t looking. Gloria also teaches Opal to make a drink called Dump Punch, which she’s famous for. Finally, Opal strings crepe paper through the trees and puts candles in bags. When Opal lights the candles before guests arrive, she and Gloria agree that the garden is beautiful. It’s so pretty that it makes Opal’s heart feel weirdly swollen and full. Opal wishes she knew where Mama is so that Mama could come too.
Even something as objectively beautiful and positive as the party decorations are, for Opal, colored by Mama’s absence. In this moment, Opal becomes hyperaware of the fact that everything good in her life doesn’t seem as good, simply because she is, for all intents and purposes, motherless. Focusing on being motherless, however, means that Opal doesn’t give a lot of thought to Gloria’s mentorship and their friendship—something that is similar to a mother-daughter relationship in itself.
Themes
Miss Franny arrives in a green silk dress and heels with a bowl of Littmus Lozenges. Sweetie Pie’s mother drops off Sweetie Pie and asks Opal to walk her daughter home later. Sweetie Pie has come prepared with dog pictures from magazines, and she tapes the pictures to everything. The preacher arrives wearing 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. Opal is glad to see her and wants to mention that she knows about Carson and losing people, but instead, Opal is just extra nice. When Opal hears Gertrude shrieking, she goes to the front of the house and finds Otis with his guitar and a huge jar of pickles. She assures him that there aren’t many people and gently leads him to the yard.
Seeing everyone converge helps Opal to refocus her attention on all the good things she has in her life. She has a fantastic dog, a loving if closed-off father, and lots of friends who are more than willing to get together and celebrate for the fun of it. Now, she also has the understanding that even someone like Amanda is someone she should take seriously and treat compassionately, which opens up the possibility of Opal and Amanda becoming genuine friends in the weeks to come. Otis’s decision to come to the party speaks to his affection for Opal, since this seems like a social situation he’s not entirely comfortable with.
Themes
