Because of Winn-Dixie — Chapter 3

About This Passage

This passage teaches a technique called the self-correcting sentence — the way DiCamillo shows Opal trying to say something true and then immediately correcting herself: 'I don't have a mama. I mean, I have one, but I don't know where she is.' Real people talk like this when they are trying to say something hard. The self-correction is not a mistake; it is the sound of honest thinking. Notice also the small word 'neither' — a fancy-sounding word that lets Opal link herself and Winn-Dixie in a single breath. And notice the bittersweet 'of course' in the middle of the second sentence, which tells us Opal knows she should sound grateful for the parent she has while also saying what she is missing. This is the voice of a ten-year-old trying to be polite about a hard fact.

Narration Prompt

Retell the chapter, then think about this: Opal asks for '10 things' specifically, not 5 and not 20. Why that number? What is she really asking for?

Discussion Questions

1. Opal asks for '10 things' — one for each year of her life. Why does she choose that specific frame? What is she saying about what she has been missing, year by year?
2. When Opal is brushing Winn-Dixie, she says she and the dog are 'almost like orphans.' But Opal has a father. Is her use of 'orphan' a mistake, a lie, or a truth the chapter wants us to take seriously? What does the chapter seem to mean by 'family'?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide