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Chapter 60
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 goes to rehab in Knoxville and then moves into a halfway house there. Demon thinks he had a “head start” on rehab because he was “well used to the no-toucher lifestyle before [he] started the program.” Maggot goes to juvenile detention and stays there for two years. Now he’s living with Mariah in Bristol, Tennessee. Demon has a job at a Walmart Supercenter. His friends, Viking, Gizmo, and Chartrain, are also in recovery. He keeps in contact with Tommy through e-mail. They plan to finish their 12-month contract to do comics at the newspaper once Demon feels up to it.
For the first time in his life, Demon starts to address his struggles with addiction and his past trauma directly. As a result, he can start a new chapter in his life. It’s not an easy chapter, though, and Demon notes that he is discriminated against, too, as someone who has been through rehab and lives in a halfway house. He likens that discrimination to the ostracization he has previously faced, which he compares once more to Mr. Ghali’s description of growing up as a Dalit in India. Notably, both Demon and Maggot had to move away from Lee County, their community, and their homes to get sober, highlighting the novel’s commentary on how community can both positively and negatively impact people’s lives.
Themes
