Book Analysis: BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE

Author: Kate DiCamillo
Publisher: Candlewick Press(September 2001; 182 pages; Paperback)
ISBN: 0763616052
Genre: Young adult, ages 9-12

Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni goes to the local grocery store on an errand for her single parent father and comes back instead with a dog (hastily) named Winn-Dixie. Not just any dog, either. A big, ugly, stinky dog who seems to know her lonely, motherless heart as though it were his own. She falls in love with him right away and hurries home with the "Less Fortunate" stray to the all-adult trailer park where she and her preacher-father live.

Together, Opal and Winn-Dixie convince the preacher that the dog needs a home, specifically their home. New in town, friendless, and with a father who's kind but emotionally withdrawn, she's thrilled to finally have someone who wants to be close to her. Their quick and strong friendship soon emboldens the little girl to ask the preacher about the person who left a big hole in her heart: the runaway mama she longs to remember.

Opal discovers during their first summer together that Winn-Dixie is a miracle dog. His is a miracle of old candy and Civil War stories and thunderstorms, of bald-headed boys, a spinster librarian, and a"witch" with a bottle tree. His is a miracle of friendship.

Because of Winn-Dixie--often-humorous, sometimes deeply sad--is a delight for any age. Yes, it is a dog story, but DiCamillo's insights and gentle understanding of human nature make it so much more.

Opal is an engaging character from page one. A reader's heart reaches out to the little girl who's so lonely and hurting inside, but who's polite and full of gumption on the outside. The first-person "voice" is utterly believable for a ten-year-old narrator, and stays convincingly in the heroine's fresh and charming style.

It's a wonderful triumph of characterization to develop a lonely and heartbroken protagonist into an immediately sympathetic character. It's too easy for that character to come across as whiny, particularly when the story's written in that character's first-person point-of view. Opal never whines, but neither does she deny her genuine feelings. DiCamillo characterizes Opal's feelings by showing her projecting them onto the dog. The little girl imagines how Winn-Dixie feels about certain things, which remarkably almost always seems (in Opal's mind) to be the same way she feels about them. It's a wonderful technique that allows the narrator to connect with her feelings without wallowing in them. When she spends time thinking about her own feelings, it's simple, brief, and direct. But when these feelings "belong" to Winn-Dixie, it doesn't seem self-absorbed for her to spend a little more attention. This is particularly apparent in the first half of the book, at the beginning of the protagonist's character growth. As Opal's character matures, she gradually takes "ownership" of her emotions more and more. Later, readers are so connected to this character that an emotional outburst feels real and natural, even acceptable, instead of like a shallow tantrum.

The reason the technique works is because Winn-Dixie is a character in his own right, complete with feelings, fears, and intentions and belong uniquely to him. He's not a cardboard character, a one-dimensional shadow for Opal's reflected emotions. Sometimes his feelings and inclinations differ from hers. At the same time, her belief that the dog truly shares her feelings is so genuine it's easy for readers to believe, too. Also, Opal's goal (and hence the story's energy) remains firmly rooted in the external plot, rather than veering over into trying to force Winn-Dixie into an emotional mold of her own design.

Opal's keeping Winn-Dixie is the external plot, and like a good external plot it forces the internal conflict into the open at the end. This classic resolution structure made for a very satisfying conclusion arising organically from the sum of the story's parts. I felt like I'd read something with depth and meaning, because Opal faced a truth that anyone of any age would do well to learn. A truth about loneliness, friendships, and ultimately about loving well what you've got while you've got it.

The heroine of Because of Winn-Dixie truly is an "exception," just like the all-adult trailer park manager claims. She's an exceptional character, with an exceptional dog, in an exceptionally well-written story.