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Chapter 47
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
Emmy graduates from high school and gets a scholarship to University of Tennessee at Knoxville, but she decides to run off with Fast Forward instead. Maggot tells Demon about it after he starts staying on his and Dori’s couch. When Maggot, Demon, and Dori get high together by smoking heroin, which they call “chasing the dragon.” Demon can only think about how much it costs. He has some money saved, but without a job, it’s disappearing quickly. Dori and Demon decide to get a prescription from Dr. Watts. But when Dori visits Dr. Watts, he tells her that she’ll have to pay $400 up front, and they don’t have the money. Dori says Dr. Watts told her he would waive the fee if he could “[give] her an exam.” Demon is furious and promises to find work.
The novel continues to show Demon and Dori’s struggles with addiction. At this point, it’s not just that they need heroin or pills to avoid withdrawals: they also spend most of their time trying to figure out how they can find and then pay for heroin or pills. When Dr. Watts tries to coerce Dori into having sex with him for pills, Demon is furious and feels compelled to find a job to avoid the emotional cost of keeping up with his and Dori’s addictions.
Themes
Maggot moves back in with Mrs. Peggot. Tommy is the only person who is able to cheer up Demon. Demon will visit him at the garage where he lives and at the newspaper office, where Tommy started as a janitor before being promoted to do layout and ad design. One night, Tommy can’t find a clip art picture of a Chevy, so Demon offers to draw the truck for him. Before long, Demon is drawing most of the ads for the paper.
The novel consistently portrays characters not necessarily in terms of whether they are morally good or bad but whether they are good for Demon and can make him feel a sense of belonging. While trouble seems to follow someone like Fast Forward wherever he goes, the opposite is true with Tommy. Whenever Demon is with him, things seem to take a turn for the better, and he makes Demon feel like he belongs.
Themes
