Because of Winn-Dixie

Winn-Dixie’s smile is symbolic of the power of kindness, and of friendship. Though Winn-Dixie is hard to love initially—when the preacher meets him, he has patchy fur, is smelly, and seems a bit large for their small trailer—Winn-Dixie’s smile wins the preacher over immediately. Winn-Dixie uses his smile to befriend Franny Block, and Otis, and even Gertrude the parrot. Opal says to him after he befriends Gertrude, “You are better at making friends than anybody I have ever known” (57). Though Winn-Dixie is only a dog, Opal learns the power of friendship from him, and he uses his smile to teach her that kindness is a powerful tool to combat loneliness, grief, and much more.

The Mistake Tree is a more complicated symbol in the novel. It is symbolic of mistakes, as its name indicates, but it is also symbolic of forgiveness. The Mistake Tree is a large tree in Gloria’s backyard, where she has hung thousands of empty liquor bottles. When Opal asks what the bottles are for, Gloria replies, “To keep the ghosts away… the ghosts of all the things I done wrong” (95). The tree is a symbol for Gloria of her haunted past, and the mistakes she made when she struggled with drinking.