Because of Winn-Dixie is a delightful book about a lonely young girl who finds friendship in a dog. The main character, India Opal Buloni, finds a homeless dog and she and the dog go on to have a marvelous summer. Friendship between a young girl and her dog would seem to be the central theme in the book. However, when looked at through a psychoanalytic lens the book then has deeper underlining issues. When looked at psychoanalytically the novel takes on a whole new theme. The theme changes from friendship to abandonment and loss.

The book deals with the issue of India being abandoned by her mother. India narrates early in the book, how her mother left her when she was a small child. In the novel India says to Winn-Dixie "See you don't have any family and neither do I...I don't have a mama.... So we're...