“Uncle” Dick Coon Character Analysis in The Worst Hard Time

– A migrant from Galveston, Texas who had lived through the city’s devastating hurricane of 1900 and grew up in “corrosive poverty.” He carried a lucky $100 bill, or a C-note, with him throughout his life. He did not initially plan on staying in the High Plains, but he eventually became a nester. When he arrived, he was moving through Dalhart, Texas while trying to make a train connection to Houston. He was seduced by the syndicate’s real estate agents to stay in Dalhart and buy a piece of the old XIT ranch. Later, he became the owner of most of Dalhart’s real estate and funded a kitchen in Doc Dawson’s sanitarium building, which fed starving nesters in the mid-1930s. However, most of Coon’s real estate was mortgaged and no longer brought in any income, and he nearly went bankrupt. Coon eventually made it to Houston, where he moved for his health. He took a room in the Rice Hotel and died “with little more money than he had when he came into the world.”

“Uncle” Dick Coon Quotes in The Worst Hard Time

The The Worst Hard Time quotes below are all either spoken by “Uncle” Dick Coon or refer to “Uncle” Dick Coon. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

Westward Expansion and the Settlement of the Southern Plains Theme Icon

The C-note was Uncle Dick’s heater, his blanket. As a child, Dick Coon’s family was often broke. The corrosive poverty hurt so much it defined the rest of his life. As long as Uncle Dick could touch his C-note, he had no fear in life. And he had certainly known fear. Dick Coon was fortunate to live through the Galveston hurricane of 1900, the worst single natural disaster in American history. He lost everything in Galveston but was never bitter. His life had been spared, while six thousand people lost theirs. Dick Coon didn’t plan on getting rich in Dalhart; didn’t even plan on staying in the High Plains. In 1902, he had been passing through Dalhart, making a train connection to Houston, when he fell under the spell of one of the syndicate’s real estate agents. He heard enough to buy his own piece of the old XIT […] but the real money was in town building.

Related Characters: “Uncle” Dick Coon

Related Symbols: XIT Ranch

Page Number and Citation: 30

Explanation and Analysis:

“Uncle” Dick Coon, the wealthiest man in Dalhart, Texas and the owner of nearly every building in town, began his life in poverty in Galveston, Texas. He haphazardly stopped in Dalhart during the time that real estate agents were attempting to sell off tracts on the former XIT ranch, in an effort to recover their losses from losing cattle during winter freezes. The most valuable thing that Coon took with him on his intended trip to Houston—the town in which he later died—was a lucky one-hundred-dollar bill, or a “C-note.” The money, which had a lot of value in Coon’s Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deseru

A few days later, Uncle Dick was leaning against a rail in front of the DeSoto when he spotted a young cowboy and his family drifting through town. For five years now, Dick had watched a steady parade of jalopies and wagons float through Dalhart, the people staying only a night or two, and then moving on to some place where there might be work or stable land [….] The cowboy had wandered into town with the XIT reunion [….] Uncle Dick reached into his pocket and pulled out his hundred-dollar bill. He handed the money to the cowboy, told him to take it—it was his. The young man was stunned [….] Later, when the cowboy asked around about his benefactor, people told him it was Dick Coon, the richest man in town. He owned everything. But they were surprised to see him give up the C-note [….] Only Coon’s closest friends knew the truth: Uncle Dick was broke.

Related Characters: “Uncle” Dick Coon

Related Symbols: XIT Ranch

Page Number and Citation: 277-278

Explanation and Analysis:

By the mid-1930s, Dalhart’s biggest booster, John McCarty, had departed for a better job opportunity in Amarillo, Texas, Herzstein’s General Merchandise Store had been foreclosed upon by the city of Dalhart for unpaid back taxes, and the film The Plow that Broke the Plains and Alexander Hogue’s painting Drouth Survivors made Dalhart the face of the Dust Bowl. Since the beginning of the Great Depression, Dick Coon’s properties, all of which were mortgaged, had ceased to generate any profits. Worse, he had fallen ill and would soon leave town for Houston, where he would die alone and nearly broke in Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. M

“Uncle” Dick Coon Character Timeline in The Worst Hard Time

The timeline below shows where the character “Uncle” Dick Coon appears in The Worst Hard Time. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

...families in the High Plains. Near there was the beautiful, “first-class” DeSoto Hotel, owned by “Uncle” Dick Coon , where a guest could dial 126 and get a prostitute from the Number 126... (full context)

Environmental Devastation and the Dust Bowl Theme Icon

During conversations with locals, Bam found out that Dick Coon “owned Dalhart.” Coon owned nearly every establishment in Dalhart, including the DeSoto and the Mission... (full context)

Dick Coon kept a lucky one hundred-dollar bill in one of his pockets. For him, this was... (full context)

Economic Hardship and Lessons of the Great Depression Theme Icon

Dick Coon saw the market collapse as an opportunity to buy more property at lower prices. There... (full context)

In the DeSoto Hotel, its owner, Dick Coon , tried to keep people’s spirits up. People thought that Dick Coon and other big... (full context)

...and buying new clothes. The owner, Lil Walker, drove a pink Cadillac. They drove past Uncle Dick Coon ’s “crumbling empire,” waving and shouting “yoo-hoo,” leaving behind the scent of their perfume. (full context)

...went after Simon with foreclosure papers for not paying his taxes in over a year. Dick Coon owned the property in which Herzstein’s was housed. He asked his lawyer what could be... (full context)

Foreclosing became its own business in Dalhart. It allowed “Uncle” Dick Coon to seize a pool hall, but Simon Herzstein lost his store due to $242 in... (full context)

...five gallons of black coffee, and no one could go through line more than once. “Uncle” Dick Coon had quietly financed the kitchen, buying the dried beans, potatoes, and coffee. He had lived... (full context)

...they would not leave the land. The first signatory was a former XIT trail boss. “Uncle” Dick Coon was the second man to sign his name next to McCarty’s on a declaration the... (full context)

Dick Coon was the only town pillar left. He used the last of his money to throw... (full context)

For Doc Dawson, Dalhart was a lonely place in his last years. He missed Dick Coon , John McCarty, and Bam White. He did not know the new people in town,... (full context)

“Uncle” Dick Coon Character Analysis

“Uncle” Dick Coon Quotes in The Worst Hard Time

Chapter 1 Quotes

Chapter 23 Quotes

“Uncle” Dick Coon Character Timeline in The Worst Hard Time