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Chapter 4
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
When Demon returns from the two-week trip to Knoxville, he finds out Mom and Stoner have gotten married. Stoner and Mom take over Demon’s bedroom because that’s the bigger one, but Mom promises they’ll get a better house soon because Stoner makes good money. Stoner’s dog, Satan, moves into a fort that Demon and Maggot built together. Demon plans to spend all his time at Maggot’s during the summer, but his mom isn’t on board. She thinks the Peggots are turning Demon against Stoner, and she forbids Demon from visiting them. Demon says she can try and stop him. Mom replies that while she might not be able to stop Demon, Stoner sure can.
Stoner’s opposition to the Peggot family underscores the novel’s view of community and family. Though as Demon’s stepfather Stoner is technically a closer relative to Demon than the Peggots, Demon does not feel like he’s a family member, and Stoner does not show Demon any care or attention. Instead, his dog, aptly named Satan, moves into a fort that Demon and Maggot built, showing that Stoner does not care about Demon or his friends. Stoner seems to only care about himself, underscoring the novel’s point that family is less about hereditary or legal ties and more about establishing mutual care, trust, and understanding with others.
Themes
Stoner’s money comes from his job driving a semi-truck with a special license that allows him to transport beer. His job also gives him medical and dental insurance, which Demon hasn’t had before and is now eligible to receive as Stoner’s dependent. Stoner tells Demon that Mom has been treating him too leniently. Now, Demon will have to start learning how righteous people live: with discipline and respect for others. One morning, he hits Demon in the jaw. When Demon asks what he did to deserve it, Stoner says it’s not what did, it’s what he was thinking. When Demon tells Mrs. Peggot about Stoner, she says she’ll have to talk to Mom or call social services.
Soon after lecturing Demon about the need to live with discipline and respect for others, he hits Demon, committing an act of child abuse and revealing how hypocritical he is. Notably, Stoner does not seem to realize his hypocrisy or feel bad about his actions. Instead, he seems to believe that he is acting righteously and with respect for others. Stoner’s lack of self-awareness becomes a hallmark of the novel’s portrayal of his toxic masculinity. And when Demon is in need, the Peggots are again the people who step in to help him.
Themes
Mrs. Peggot ends up talking to Mom, who then tries to talk to Stoner about his treatment of Demon during a commercial break in the middle of an episode of Law & Order. Stoner dismisses Mom, implying that her drug use doesn’t exactly make her a model parent, either. He says Demon spends more time at the Peggots than at home and refers to Maggot using the f-slur. Stoner tells Demon that he’ll never let Demon go over to the Peggots house again to play with Maggot. Mom agrees with Stoner, and Demon doesn’t think he’ll ever forgive her for it. For the next week, Demon stays inside watching reruns of X-Men, Iron Man, and Hulk, or reading and drawing comics with Stoner as the villain. That night, Demon decides he will “burn the man down.”
When Stoner dismisses Mom and then calls Maggot a homophobic slur, he further displays his bigoted, hateful personality. Both characteristics are aspects of his toxic masculinity and represent his attempts to view himself as superior to other people. Demon takes refuge in comics and superheroes, hinting at how comics and art in general will offer him an escape from the problems of his everyday life. Notably, the idea that superheroes can defeat the evil they face also gives Demon glimpses of hope for a better future.
Themes
