Previous
Chapter 63
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 morning, Demon goes to visit Coach. He resigned from the football team after the scandal and now lives in an apartment building in Norton. Next, Demon drives to Coach’s old house, which Angus is trying to get in shape so they can sell it. Angus, who has recently graduated college, tells Demon that she’s enrolled in an online program for social work and that she wants to work with kids. She says she’s planning to stay in Lee County. It’s almost Christmas, and Angus says she has a present for him. “I’m giving you the ocean,” she says. They decide to take Demon’s car. On the drive, Demon realizes what Betsy was talking about. It seems that Angus is interested in him. The trip to the ocean, Demon thinks, is “possibly the best part of [his] life so far.”
When it’s revealed that Angus loves Demon and Demon feels the same way, the novel suggests again that Demon has always had what he’s always wanted. Before he left Lee County, he had a family, a community, and people who cared about him: he just didn’t have the coping mechanisms to accept the help they were always willing to give him. The book ends on a happy note, though. Demon and Angus are on a trip to the ocean, a symbol of liberation and beauty for Demon, and the novel hints that they will reach the beach this time and that they will begin a happy relationship together.
Themes
