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Chapter 37
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 next summer, Demon gets a job at the Farm Supply store in Pennington. Demon thinks it’s the best job he’s ever had. The customers are good, there are no rats, and no one’s cooking meth. One day, Fast Forward comes into the store. The two talk about their time together on Crickson’s farm, and Fast Forward says he has his own 50-acre farm now. He also tells Demon that he’s seen him play football. Demon couldn’t be more pleased when he hears that.
Demon has already sensed that Fast Forward’s charming exterior is hiding something more sinister. Demon still reveres Fast Forward, though, hinting that Demon—perhaps due to unhealed trauma—may not be the best judge of character, as he chooses to place his trust in people who have shown that they may be untrustworthy.
Themes
After their unexpected reunion, Fast Forward makes a point of talking to Demon whenever he comes into the store. One day, he asks Demon if he wants to hang out with him after work. They go to Pennington Gap to cruise down the main street in Fast Forward’s Lariat with his friends Big Bear Howe and Rose Dartell. Rose and Fast Forward have a small argument that lasts most of the night. Rose has a large scar on the left side of her mouth. When Fast Forward runs out of cigarettes, she rushes to get more. Demon thinks Fast Forward still has the same charm, and he wants to do anything he can to be around him. Demon can’t believe his luck that there he is, “Dragging main” with Fast Forward.
Fast Forward still seems like a charming, larger-than-life figure to Demon. His treatment of Rose, though, shows that something more insidious might lurk beneath Fast Forward’s persona. When Rose rushes to get Fast Forward cigarettes, Demon interprets it as a sign of Fast Forward’s persistent charm. Demon thinks he would run to get Fast Forward’s cigarettes, too. Rose’s facial scar, though, hints that Fast Forward might be physically abusive toward her, or at least that there might be more to their relationship (and to Fast Forward) than Demon knows.
Themes
