Previous
Chapter 55
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
In April, not quite a year after Vester died, Demon comes home and finds Dori’s body. She has died from an overdose. Angus comes to the funeral and helps Demon get through the day. Angus updates Demon about Coach, too. She explains that he went to the school board to explain everything that happened. They said they might suspend him but would wait until after football season. At Dori’s burial, most people don’t pay any attention to Demon. Some ask if he knew the deceased.
Demon again finds the person he is closest to has died of an overdose. The novel makes clear, then, the true destructive nature not just of addiction, but of the companies that thrust so many people in Appalachia into addiction, arguing that those companies are responsible for those deaths. In contrast to Mr. Peggot’s funeral, Demon is not treated like a member of Dori’s family at her funeral, and this deepens the pain of his grief.
Themes
