Because of Winn-Dixie is a charming 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 have a wonderful summer. The friendship between a young girl and her dog seems to be the central theme of the book. However, when examined through a psychoanalytic lens, the book presents deeper underlying issues. Considered from a psychoanalytic point of view, the novel takes on a whole new theme. The theme shifts from friendship to abandonment and loss. The book deals with the issue of India being abandoned by her mother. India recounts at the beginning of the book how her mother left her when she was little. In the novel, India says to Winn-Dixie: "You see, you have no family and neither do I... I have no mother... So we are almost like orphans" ( 21). Although she lives with her father during the novel, India clearly feels that she has no one to care for her. When her Indian mother abandoned her, she felt alone and disconnected from her father. She and her father initially have a distant relationship. ...