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Chapter 23
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 man who picks up Demon while hitchhiking drives an El Camino. Two dogs ride in the back. They’re covered in mud, and the man is too. It turns out he’s a preacher who’s been camping in Kentucky. Demon tells him he’s going to Murder Valley to look for Betsy Woodall, his father’s mother. The preacher goes out of his way to drop Demon off at a truck stop where he might be able to get another ride. At the truck stop, a woman asks Demon if he has any ice and if he wants oral sex. “Honey, I’m wanting an oxy real bad,” she says. Demon goes into the bathroom, and the woman follows him. He hides in the stall, counting his money while he tries to wait her out.
The threat of danger pervades Demon’s trip to Murder Valley. He finds a ride with a stranger who seems menacing at first but turns out to be kind. But Demon’s later encounter with the sex worker, whom the novel portrays as being addicted to OxyContin, is more jarring. When the woman brings up oxy, it inevitably reminds Demon of Mom’s death. In addition, it underlines how widespread opioid addiction has become in the Appalachian region.
Themes
The woman stands on the toilet to see into Demon’s stall. She asks him if he wants to share some of his money with her. He bolts from the bathroom, and the woman follows him out, yelling, “Give me back my money help police help me I’ve been robbed!” The cashier grabs Demon. The woman keeps yelling, saying that Demon has her jar of money. Eventually, the cashier punches Demon and takes his backpack. He finds Demon’s jar of money and hands it to the woman. Demon yells at the cashier and tells the woman to “go buy herself a fucking overdose” before he walks through the truck stop’s sliding electric doors.
The novel implies that the woman’s addiction to opioids drives her to lie and create a scene so that she can steal Demon’s money. After he loses his money, Demon feels so devastated and angry that he lashes out against the woman and says he hopes she overdoses, just like his Mom did. That statement again shows that Demon may be more comfortable feeling anger than emotions like sadness, loneliness, or despair, a trait often associated with toxic masculinity. Notably, Demon’s anger hasn’t seemed to help with work through his grief.
Themes
