Previous
Chapter 33
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
Demon experiences a lot of firsts that school year: his first JV game, first tackle, first dance, first date, and his first time at the dentist. He also sometimes has to carry Coach up the stairs when he finds him passed out in his office. Coach drinks more in the off season. Demon also has Mr. Armstrong as a teacher this year. He’s strict about grammar and teaches the class about stereotypes people use to make people who come from places like Lee County seem “like animals.” Mr. Armstrong says outsiders use these stereotypes so they don’t have to feel bad about stealing coal and timber from Appalachian communities and leaving them with nothing.
This chapter begins to show the cracks in Demon’s stable home life while also showing, through Coach’s own struggles with addiction, how widespread addiction is. Coach’s turn to alcohol to try and cope with difficult emotions also hints at how toxic masculinity negatively impacts Coach, who attempts to push through his pain without talking about it with anyone else or really acknowledging that it’s there. Through Mr. Armstrong, the novel also directly states some of its main ideas about the exploitation and dehumanization of people from Appalachia at the hands of outsiders.
Themes
One day, a lifted truck with a confederate flag and a United States flag flying from the back drives by the school when Mr. Armstrong is outside. Later, he tells his class, “The Confederacy and the United States were opposite sides in a war.” He says it doesn’t make sense for the two flags to be flown side by side. He also says that while Virginia voted to join the Confederacy, the “mountain people of Virginia” formed militias to fight for the Union. Mr. Armstrong gives his class an assignment to delve into their families’ backgrounds. Demon finds that “Melungeon” is another word that was invented to put people down before it was taken back and reclaimed by those people. He also talks to Mr. Dick about the project, and Mr. Dick becomes excited about it.
Through Mr. Armstrong, Demon starts to gain a more thorough understanding of Appalachian history, particularly of racism in the region and how it relates to his own ancestry. When Demon discovers the history of the word “Melungeon,” the novel addresses one of its themes of people subverting the stereotypes that others try to foist on them. By highlighting that history, the novel suggests that while people who are persecuted may face increased obstacles and uphill battles, they still have agency and can shape their paths forward.
Themes
Angus tells Demon that he’s going to have to keep notes in a notebook about his girlfriends to “keep them all straight. Demon thinks that after years of being a “no-toucher,” he’s become hungry for any kind of human contact. Angus, who’s in high school now, decides to try and start an academic team. When the school board rejects her plan, she only grows more determined. She enlists Mr. Armstrong to help, but even with him in her corner, she still struggles to get the plan off the ground. Demon is supportive, but from a distance. His main gifted and talented activity is meeting with Ms. Annie twice a week to work in the art studio. Time has never flown so fast for Demon as it does on those afternoons.
The novel shows that while Angus and Demon are very different—Angus wants to start an academic team while Demon wants to play football and be popular—they care about each other in a way that honors those differences instead of trying to ignore or change each other. This reinforces the importance of forming mutually caring, supportive relationships with others. Their willingness to see each other for who they are instead of resorting to stereotypes helps them to better understand each other and strengthens their overall bond.
Themes
