Because of Winn-Dixie

by

Kate DiCamillo

Winn-Dixie is the novel’s titular character. He’s a huge, scruffy-looking dog whom Opal encounters running wild in a local Winn-Dixie grocery store one evening. When Opal first meets Winn-Dixie, he’s is clearly a stray: he’s dirty and skinny, he’s missing patches of fur, and he smells horrendous. Opal ends up adopting him to save him from being take to the pound. Over the course of the summer, Winn-Dixie puts on weight, grows in his missing fur, and becomes a handsome dog. He has a habit of smiling at people by pulling up his lips to expose his teeth and of sneezing when he smiles too hard. Winn-Dixie is an extremely friendly dog. He attempts to make friends (and often succeeds in doing so) with everyone he encounters, human and animal alike, usually by smiling at them. His friendliness and his quiet demeanor, combined with his bad behavior if separated too long from Opal, means that Winn-Dixie often gets to go into businesses that normally wouldn’t allow dogs, such as the local library and Gertrude’s Pets. He’s often the one to “encourage” Opal to make new friends, as when he runs into Gloria’s yard or dutifully puts up with Sweetie Pie’s affections. In addition to being friendly, Winn-Dixie is also an exceptional listener. When someone talks to him directly or when listening to a story, Winn-Dixie cocks his head, perks up his ears, smiles, and sneezes. Despite his many good qualities, he does have one dangerous trait: he’s deathly afraid of thunderstorms and turns into a wild, dangerous dog when they roll through. He only barely holds still during thunderstorms if Opal holds him and comforts him, and the preacher makes it clear that it’s unsafe for Winn-Dixie to be loose outside during a storm. In Opal’s mind, Winn-Dixie is also something of a stand-in for Mama—so it’s even more distressing for her when Winn-Dixie goes missing in a thunderstorm. His absence spurs Opal and the preacher to speak openly about Mama, though Opal learns later that Winn-Dixie was never lost: he weathered the storm under Gloria’s bed. Opal attributes everything that happens to her during the summer in which the novel takes place to Winn-Dixie.

Winn-Dixie Quotes in Because of Winn-Dixie

The Because of Winn-Dixie quotes below are all either spoken by Winn-Dixie or refer to Winn-Dixie. 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:
Storytelling and Listening Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

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 or getting ready to preach. And so, in my mind, I think of him as “the preacher.”

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

“He won’t talk to me about her at all. I want to know more about her. But I’m afraid to ask the preacher; I’m afraid he’ll get mad at me.”

Winn-Dixie looked at me hard, like he was trying to say something.

“What?” I said.

He stared at me.

“You think I should make the preacher tell me about her?”

Winn-Dixie looked at me so hard he sneezed.

“I’ll think about it,” I said.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher, Mama
Page Number: 22-23
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“Number ten,” he said with a long sigh, “number ten, is that your mama loved you. She loved you very much.”

“But she left me,” I told him.

“She left us,” said the preacher softly. I could see him pulling his old turtle head back into his stupid turtle shell. “She packed her bags and left us, and she didn’t leave one thing behind.”

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Daddy/The Preacher (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Mama
Page Number: 29
Explanation and Analysis:

I went right back to my room and wrote down all ten things that the preacher had told me. I wrote them down just the way he said them to me so that I wouldn’t forget them, and then I read them out loud to Winn-Dixie until I had them memorized. I wanted to know those ten things inside and out. That way, if my mama ever came back, I could recognize her, and I would be able to grab her and hold on to her tight and not let her get away from me again.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher, Mama
Page Number: 29-30
Explanation and Analysis:
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.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher, Amanda Wilkinson, Dunlap Dewberry, Stevie Dewberry, Sweetie Pie Thomas
Page Number: 38-39
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

She sighed. “I imagine I’m the only one left from those days. I imagine I’m the only one that even recalls that bear. All my friends, everyone I knew when I was young, they are all dead and gone.”

Related Characters: Miss Franny Block (speaker), India Opal Buloni, Winn-Dixie
Page Number: 49
Explanation and Analysis:

She sighed again. She looked sad and old and wrinkled. It was the same way I felt sometimes, being friendless in a new town and not having a mama to comfort me. I sighed, too.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Miss Franny Block, Mama
Page Number: 49-50
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

All of a sudden, I felt happy. I had a dog. I had a job. I had Miss Franny Block for a friend. And I had my first invitation to a party in Naomi. It didn’t matter that it came from a five-year-old and the party wasn’t until September. I didn’t feel so lonely anymore.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Otis, Miss Franny Block, Mama, Sweetie Pie Thomas
Page Number: 59
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

“You know, my eyes ain’t too good at all. I can’t see nothing but the general shape of things, so I got to rely on my heart. Why don’t you go on and tell me everything about yourself, so as I can see you with my heart.”

Related Characters: Gloria Dump (speaker), India Opal Buloni, Winn-Dixie, Dunlap Dewberry, Stevie Dewberry
Page Number: 65-66
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

And the whole time I was talking, Gloria Dump was listening. She was nodding her head and smiling and frowning and saying, “Hmmm,” and “Is that right?”

I could feel her listening with all her heart, and it felt good.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Gloria Dump
Page Number: 68
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

All of a sudden it was hard for me to talk. I loved the preacher so much. I loved him because he loved Winn-Dixie. I loved him because he was going to forgive Winn-Dixie for being afraid. But most of all, I loved him for putting his arm around Winn-Dixie like that, like he was already trying to keep him safe.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher, Mama
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

I stayed where I was and studied the tree. 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.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Gloria Dump, Mama
Related Symbols: The Mistake Tree
Page Number: 97
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

And I got real good at holding on to Winn-Dixie whenever they came. I held on to him and comforted him and whispered to him and rocked him, just the same way he tried to comfort Miss Franny when she had her fits. Only I held on to Winn-Dixie for another reason, too. I held on to him tight so he wouldn’t run away.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher, Gloria Dump, Miss Franny Block, Mama
Page Number: 100
Explanation and Analysis:

It all made me think about Gloria Dump. I wondered who comforted her when she heard those bottles knocking together, those ghosts chattering about the things she had done wrong. I wanted to comfort Gloria Dump. And I decided that the best way to do that would be to read her a book, read it to her loud enough to keep the ghosts away.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Gloria Dump, Miss Franny Block, Mama
Related Symbols: The Mistake Tree
Page Number: 100
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

“There ain’t no way you can hold on to something that wants to go, you understand? You can only love what you got while you got it.”

Related Characters: Gloria Dump (speaker), India Opal Buloni, Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher, Mama
Page Number: 159
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

I kept on going over the list in my head. I memorized it the same way I had memorized the list of ten things about my mama. I memorized it so if I didn’t find him, I would have some part of him to hold on to. But at the same time, I thought of something I had never thought of before; and that was that a list of things couldn’t even begin to show somebody the real Winn-Dixie, just like a list of ten things couldn’t ever get me to know my mama.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Mama
Page Number: 163-64
Explanation and Analysis:

“But do you know what? I just realized something, India Opal. When I told you your mama took everything with her, I forgot one thing, one very important thing that she left behind.”

“What?” I asked.

“You,” he said. “Thank God your mama left me you.” And he hugged me tighter.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Daddy/The Preacher (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Mama
Page Number: 166-67
Explanation and Analysis:
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.”

Related Characters: Gloria Dump (speaker), India Opal Buloni, Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher, Otis, Miss Franny Block, Amanda Wilkinson, Dunlap Dewberry, Stevie Dewberry
Related Symbols: Littmus Lozenges
Page Number: 175
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Because of Winn-Dixie LitChart as a printable PDF.
Because of Winn-Dixie PDF

Winn-Dixie Quotes in Because of Winn-Dixie

The Because of Winn-Dixie quotes below are all either spoken by Winn-Dixie or refer to Winn-Dixie. 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:
Storytelling and Listening Theme Icon
).
Chapter 2 Quotes

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 or getting ready to preach. And so, in my mind, I think of him as “the preacher.”

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher
Page Number: 13
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 3 Quotes

“He won’t talk to me about her at all. I want to know more about her. But I’m afraid to ask the preacher; I’m afraid he’ll get mad at me.”

Winn-Dixie looked at me hard, like he was trying to say something.

“What?” I said.

He stared at me.

“You think I should make the preacher tell me about her?”

Winn-Dixie looked at me so hard he sneezed.

“I’ll think about it,” I said.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher, Mama
Page Number: 22-23
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 4 Quotes

“Number ten,” he said with a long sigh, “number ten, is that your mama loved you. She loved you very much.”

“But she left me,” I told him.

“She left us,” said the preacher softly. I could see him pulling his old turtle head back into his stupid turtle shell. “She packed her bags and left us, and she didn’t leave one thing behind.”

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Daddy/The Preacher (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Mama
Page Number: 29
Explanation and Analysis:

I went right back to my room and wrote down all ten things that the preacher had told me. I wrote them down just the way he said them to me so that I wouldn’t forget them, and then I read them out loud to Winn-Dixie until I had them memorized. I wanted to know those ten things inside and out. That way, if my mama ever came back, I could recognize her, and I would be able to grab her and hold on to her tight and not let her get away from me again.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher, Mama
Page Number: 29-30
Explanation and Analysis:
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.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher, Amanda Wilkinson, Dunlap Dewberry, Stevie Dewberry, Sweetie Pie Thomas
Page Number: 38-39
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 7 Quotes

She sighed. “I imagine I’m the only one left from those days. I imagine I’m the only one that even recalls that bear. All my friends, everyone I knew when I was young, they are all dead and gone.”

Related Characters: Miss Franny Block (speaker), India Opal Buloni, Winn-Dixie
Page Number: 49
Explanation and Analysis:

She sighed again. She looked sad and old and wrinkled. It was the same way I felt sometimes, being friendless in a new town and not having a mama to comfort me. I sighed, too.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Miss Franny Block, Mama
Page Number: 49-50
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 8 Quotes

All of a sudden, I felt happy. I had a dog. I had a job. I had Miss Franny Block for a friend. And I had my first invitation to a party in Naomi. It didn’t matter that it came from a five-year-old and the party wasn’t until September. I didn’t feel so lonely anymore.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Otis, Miss Franny Block, Mama, Sweetie Pie Thomas
Page Number: 59
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 9 Quotes

“You know, my eyes ain’t too good at all. I can’t see nothing but the general shape of things, so I got to rely on my heart. Why don’t you go on and tell me everything about yourself, so as I can see you with my heart.”

Related Characters: Gloria Dump (speaker), India Opal Buloni, Winn-Dixie, Dunlap Dewberry, Stevie Dewberry
Page Number: 65-66
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 10 Quotes

And the whole time I was talking, Gloria Dump was listening. She was nodding her head and smiling and frowning and saying, “Hmmm,” and “Is that right?”

I could feel her listening with all her heart, and it felt good.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Gloria Dump
Page Number: 68
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

All of a sudden it was hard for me to talk. I loved the preacher so much. I loved him because he loved Winn-Dixie. I loved him because he was going to forgive Winn-Dixie for being afraid. But most of all, I loved him for putting his arm around Winn-Dixie like that, like he was already trying to keep him safe.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher, Mama
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

I stayed where I was and studied the tree. 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.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Gloria Dump, Mama
Related Symbols: The Mistake Tree
Page Number: 97
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

And I got real good at holding on to Winn-Dixie whenever they came. I held on to him and comforted him and whispered to him and rocked him, just the same way he tried to comfort Miss Franny when she had her fits. Only I held on to Winn-Dixie for another reason, too. I held on to him tight so he wouldn’t run away.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher, Gloria Dump, Miss Franny Block, Mama
Page Number: 100
Explanation and Analysis:

It all made me think about Gloria Dump. I wondered who comforted her when she heard those bottles knocking together, those ghosts chattering about the things she had done wrong. I wanted to comfort Gloria Dump. And I decided that the best way to do that would be to read her a book, read it to her loud enough to keep the ghosts away.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Gloria Dump, Miss Franny Block, Mama
Related Symbols: The Mistake Tree
Page Number: 100
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 23 Quotes

“There ain’t no way you can hold on to something that wants to go, you understand? You can only love what you got while you got it.”

Related Characters: Gloria Dump (speaker), India Opal Buloni, Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher, Mama
Page Number: 159
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 24 Quotes

I kept on going over the list in my head. I memorized it the same way I had memorized the list of ten things about my mama. I memorized it so if I didn’t find him, I would have some part of him to hold on to. But at the same time, I thought of something I had never thought of before; and that was that a list of things couldn’t even begin to show somebody the real Winn-Dixie, just like a list of ten things couldn’t ever get me to know my mama.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Mama
Page Number: 163-64
Explanation and Analysis:

“But do you know what? I just realized something, India Opal. When I told you your mama took everything with her, I forgot one thing, one very important thing that she left behind.”

“What?” I asked.

“You,” he said. “Thank God your mama left me you.” And he hugged me tighter.

Related Characters: India Opal Buloni (speaker), Daddy/The Preacher (speaker), Winn-Dixie, Mama
Page Number: 166-67
Explanation and Analysis:
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.”

Related Characters: Gloria Dump (speaker), India Opal Buloni, Winn-Dixie, Daddy/The Preacher, Otis, Miss Franny Block, Amanda Wilkinson, Dunlap Dewberry, Stevie Dewberry
Related Symbols: Littmus Lozenges
Page Number: 175
Explanation and Analysis: