Because of Winn-Dixie — Chapter 6

About This Passage

This passage is a model of how DiCamillo uses sequence and concession to deliver an entire scene in a single rolling paragraph. Notice the structure: a problem (Winn-Dixie does not want to be left outside), a solution (Opal teaches him to look through the window), the success of the solution (he is okay as long as he can see her), a contrasting consequence ('but the thing was'), and the launch into the misperception that will drive the chapter (Miss Franny mistaking Winn-Dixie for a bear). This is one continuous paragraph in which the writer takes the reader from setup to inciting incident without ever feeling rushed. The phrase 'but the thing was' is a small narrative pivot that does what 'meanwhile' or 'unfortunately' would do clumsily — it carries the reader from one perspective to another without changing the voice. DiCamillo's whole novel is built out of paragraphs like this: long enough to settle in, but always moving forward. Notice also the quietest line in the passage: 'he was okay as long as he could see me.' Without commentary, this sentence tells us everything we need to know about Winn-Dixie's inner life. It is also, secretly, a sentence about Opal — about a child who has learned that being seen by someone she loves is a precondition for being okay. The book has not yet allowed Opal to say this about herself, but the line is there, waiting to be heard.

Narration Prompt

Summarize the chapter in no more than four sentences. Then identify the central question the chapter is inquiring into beneath its surface plot, and defend your reading.

Discussion Questions

1. DiCamillo introduces Miss Franny by having her sit on the floor, frightened, mistaking a dog for a bear. This is an unusual entrance for a character who will become a major figure. Analyze the craft choice. What does the entrance commit DiCamillo to (in terms of the relationship's power dynamics) and what does it free her from (in terms of having to establish Opal's competence)?
2. The chapter introduces the library as a memorial — a building Miss Franny asked for as a birthday gift, built by her father, now named for her father after his death. The building has changed function without changing form: it was once a gift and is now a monument. Is DiCamillo making a claim about libraries specifically (that they are always partly memorials, places where the dead are kept company by readers), or is she observing something more general about how the things we love eventually become the things by which we remember the lovers? And which reading is more interesting to develop?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide