Because of Winn-Dixie — Chapter 26

About This Passage

This is Opal's final conversation with her absent mother at the bottle tree. Notice the promise she makes — 'I'll still think about you' — followed immediately by the qualification 'but probably not as much as I did this summer.' This is the most honest goodbye a grieving child can give: not 'I will never forget you' (which would be false) and not 'I will forget you' (which would be heartless) but 'I will still think about you, but less.' The promise acknowledges that the missing will shrink over time without pretending it will disappear. Then notice 'my heart doesn't feel empty anymore.' In Chapter 19, Opal said missing her mother felt like a hole where a tooth used to be. Here, four chapters later, the hole is filled. Copying this passage teaches a writer how to render an honest farewell that honors both the love and the healing.

Narration Prompt

Retell the chapter. Opal has a conversation with her mother at the bottle tree. What does she tell her, and what does that tell us about how Opal has changed over the summer?

Discussion Questions

1. Opal goes to Gloria's bottle tree to talk to her mother. The bottle tree was first introduced in Chapter 13, where it held Gloria's ghosts. Why does Opal choose THIS specific place for her final conversation with her mother?
2. Opal tells her mother 'I know ten things about you, and that's not enough.' She is returning to the 10 things she asked for in Chapter 3. What has changed about how she sees the 10 things now?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide