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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Demon Copperhead, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Exploitation
Class, Social Hierarchy, and Stereotypes
Pain and Addiction
Toxic Masculinity
Community and Belonging
Summary
Analysis
The Peggots keep a collection of gourds hanging from trees in their front lawn: a collection of would-be birdhouses, except the birds prefer to build their own nests in the surrounding trees. The Peggots have seven children altogether, some living as far as Florida, some just a mile away. Over the course of each day, every member of the family gets talked about in one way or another, except for Maggot’s mom, who’s in jail, and his uncle Humvee, who’s dead. The Peggots also have a dog pen with no dog. Damon’s family’s trailer lies on the other side of that pen. The Peggots have chickens too, and a rooster with the “mind of a serial killer” that haunts Damon’s dreams.
The Peggots belong to a large community, which includes their extended family and Maggot, a grandchild the Peggots have taken in to raise. They are so invested in community, the passage suggests, that they even provide homes for animals that can’t be of any use to them. Similarly, the Peggots welcome Demon into their home, their family, and their extended community, caring for him and expecting nothing of him in return.
Themes
The Peggot family takes Damon to church, and he doesn’t mind it until he finds out about Lazarus and thinks his dad might come back. Maggot helps calm him down by explaining that Bible stories are a kind of superhero comic. The trailer where Mom and Damon live used to belong to the Peggots before Maggot’s aunt June got her nursing degree and moved to Knoxville. Damon used to call Mrs. Peggot Mammaw, which embarrasses him now. Mrs. Peggot is the only one who keeps using his given name, Damon, after everyone else starts calling him Demon. Once he gets red hair, he gets the nickname “Copperhead” along with Demon, so he becomes, “Demon Copperhead.”
Demon is so close to the Peggot family and feels so at home with them that he once believed that Mrs. Peggot was his grandmother. While the sentiment shows Demon’s acceptance within the Peggot family, it also highlights the fact that Demon and Mom do not have much of an extended family. This will become a problem for Demon when he lacks the support to help him through difficult situations later in life.
Themes
