The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had

Thank You!!!

Please do read the Book "The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had"! This is a very descriptive and intriguing book on the perspective of racism in the early 1900's.

Answer for Question E

Question E ~ How do you feel the main character handled the conflict? Would you have done the same or different? What advice would you have given the character?

Conflict: When Doc Haley, Dit's friend's father, goes to jail and is going to be hanged for shooting sheriff, Bigfoot.

Answer

In the story the solution to prevent Doc Haley from being hanged was that Dit created a plan to help Doc Haley escape from jail and have a fake hanging. Also, Doc Haley doesn't shoot Bigfoot. Big Foot tried to shoot Doc Haley, and to protect Doc, Dit shot and killed Big Foot. I felt that Dit handled the conflict well, but there would have been some minor adjustments I would have done to his plan.

What I would have done differently was that I would have told the court or someone that Doc did not shoot Big Foot, and that I (Dit) killed Big Foot. Therefore Doc Haley would not get hanged, and if that didn't work, then I would have done the same thing Dit did to help Doc escape.

My advice to Dit, is that honesty is the best policy because most of the time being honest will help a situation more rather than being untruthful.

Character Trait Number 3

Compassionate:

The last trait I believe Dit possess is compassion. Dit is very loving towards his family and friends. Though his friends, Buster and Chip, had gotten sick and made fun of Dit, he hoped they would feel better. Another example is when Dit helped Emma make friends by entering her in the school play and introducing her to his nine siblings. Dit also helped his entire family when they had gotten sick by giving them medicines and remedies to help cure their flu.

In the story, Dit's character trait has changed because of Emma. Before Dit met Emma, he had a cocky attitude and was a bully. For instance, in the story he would tease one of his younger sister's friends and make them cry. He learned this was the wrong thing to do after Emma cried from what he said to her. Dit was also very arrogant before he met Emma. He acted like he was the most important person in the world since he had a good pitch and that he was superior at everything. Soon after Emma arrived, she started helping Dit with school work and Dit realized he wasn't perfect after all. This made him appreciate Emma and he started to pay attention in class, increasing his grade in school. Dit stopped killing animals because Emma was upset with Dit's actions, and would not talk to him unless he vowed to not kill anymore animals. Dit kept his promise and began to take care of wild animals by feeding them rodents, and keeping them healthy. Also, when Dit was told to drown some kittens, he said no and instead took care of them. Whereas in the past he would have killed those poor kittens without having thinking twice.

Character Trait Number 2

Athletic-

Another character trait of Dit is that he is very athletic. Dit is well known in Moundville for having a good, strong arm. The townspeople are always impressed with his aim. Dit can throw fastballs, curve balls, and regular pitches less than the blink of an eye. Dit also has a great arm because he can skip up to 10 stones in one toss. Dit taught Emma how to throw a baseball and skip stones.

Character Trait Number 1

Defensive:

I believe Dit is very defensive because in the story he punched a kid named Buster, whom he was friends with. He punched Buster because Buster kept repeating rude things to Dit about Emma, who was African American and Dit's closest friend. Because of Dit's defensive nature, his friends started to dislike him. Dit started fights in his school by punching Buster and Chip, another friend of Dit, when they said rude and terrible things about Emma. This got him in trouble to and he had to visit his prinicpal, Ms. Seay.

Symbol Number 3

My last symbol of Dit is a cave. This cave was mentioned in the story when he and Emma, another character, had built a hole in the mound together and this is where they chat and hangout. This is where Dit spent most of his time to cool off.

Symbol Number 2

The second symbol I chose for my character was a slingshot. In the book, Dit calls this item a flip-it. I chose this item because he is known for killing birds with a flip-it where he lives, Moundville. He is also famous in Moundville for his great aim by using this object. That is why I chose this object as one of Dit's symbols.

Symbol Number 1

I have a stick to represent Harry Otis Sims because that object is how he got his nickname, Dit. Dit got his nickname when he was playing hoops and a group of boys tried to take his ball, and instead of saying get away he said dit away and kept hitting them with the stick. Dit repeated this word many times to the boys that they started calling him Dit, and then the name just stuck.

Main Character Picture

The main character of the story is Harry Otis Sims, "Dit". In the story he was described as a red-haired boy from the early 1920's who was very active in his family.

I believe this is what Dit would look like if he existed:

IRA Project

The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had

Author ~ Kristin Levine

Project by Bliss Bodawala