Because of Winn-Dixie — Chapter 20

About This Passage

These two sentences are a model of how DiCamillo renders a moment of emotional overload and response. Gloria delivers the book's saddest and quietest truth — 'the whole world has an aching heart' — and Opal immediately answers with a refusal: she cannot stand to think about sad things that cannot be helped. Notice the precise phrase 'couldn't be helped.' Opal is not rejecting all sad things; she is rejecting the ones that have no fix. The distinction is important because it tells us what Opal has learned — some sad things have fixes (she can help Otis feel less lonely, she can help Gloria by reading aloud), but some do not (her mother is gone). Opal is naming the distinction for the first time. Notice also the small word 'anymore' at the end. It tells us that Opal HAS been sitting with the sad things and has decided to stop. The chapter's transition from this heavy moment to the party planning is the chapter's movement — from sitting with sadness to doing something about it. Copying this passage teaches a writer how to render the exact moment a character pivots from grief to action.

Narration Prompt

Retell the chapter. Then identify the moment Opal decides to throw a party, and explain why this particular moment produces the party idea.

Discussion Questions

1. Gloria's line 'the whole world has an aching heart' is delivered as a quiet, almost throwaway observation. Opal's response is to plan a party. Analyze the movement. Is the party-planning a refusal to sit with the sad truth, or is it an attempt to answer the sad truth with action?
2. Gloria insists that Opal invite the Dewberry boys. The insistence is the chapter's small moral center. Make an argument about why Gloria insists, and connect it to her earlier wisdom about judging people.

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide