Because of Winn-Dixie — Chapter 20

About This Passage

These two sentences are a model of the moment a character pivots from sitting with grief to doing something about it. Gloria delivers the book's saddest truth in a single sentence ('the whole world has an aching heart'), and Opal immediately answers with a refusal. The answer is not a denial of the truth; it is a recognition that Opal has been carrying the truth as much as she can and needs to put it down for a while. Notice the precise phrase 'couldn't be helped.' Opal is not rejecting all sad things; she is rejecting the ones that have no fix. She has learned during the summer that some sadness can be addressed (Otis's loneliness can be eased, Gloria's ghosts can be held at a distance, Amanda's grief can be acknowledged) and some cannot (her mother will not return). The distinction is newly articulated in this chapter, and it is what the party is an answer to. The party is not a solution to the unfixable; it is a response. You gather the unfixable people and give them a night together. The aching does not stop; it becomes shared. Copying this passage teaches a writer how to render a character's pivot from contemplation to action, and how the word 'anymore' can carry the weight of an entire summer of carrying hard truths.

Narration Prompt

Summarize the chapter in no more than four sentences. Then identify the philosophical claim the chapter is making — about response to unfixable problems, about the function of gatherings, about inclusion of former antagonists — and defend your reading.

Discussion Questions

1. Gloria's line 'I believe sometimes that the whole world has an aching heart' is one of the book's most philosophical statements. Is DiCamillo claiming that loneliness and grief are permanent features of the human condition, and does this claim fit with the broader Christian tradition of the felix culpa (the 'fortunate fall' — the idea that human suffering is the condition for human growth)?
2. Opal's response to Gloria's statement is to plan a party. The response is unusual — most characters would sit with the statement or offer a verbal consolation. Opal acts. Is DiCamillo claiming that action is the proper response to unfixable grief, and does this claim fit with the pragmatist tradition of philosophers like William James and John Dewey?

+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide