As I was reading Langer's 4 stances readers assume, I realized that Langer's theory had actually been put into practice as I was reading Because of Winn-Dixie. At first I was simply trying to get to know why Opal and the preacher had moved to Naomi, Florida and why Opal didn't have the best relationship with her father. I also wondered why her mother wasn't around. As I learned more I started to understand the motives her mother had to leave and the decisions her father had to face as a result of that. I also started to see Winn-Dixie's positive influence on Opal by helping her meet friends. In the being in and stepping out phase, I could easily relate to the experience of observing a dog's quirky habits. For example my dog is terrified of fire works and one time when we left him alone we came back and couldn't find him. We searched everywhere. It turns out that he had gotten himself stuck behind our washing machine when he heard fire works and he just stared at me like nothing ever had happened. I also could relate to hearing about various people's hardships throughout the book. In the stepping out and objectifying the experience stage, I realized that when I was done with the book it taught me that sometimes you have to let go of your preconceived notions of people to get to know them. I also learned that you must have hope in every situation and you can't reflect on the bad times or you will cause yourself more harm than good.