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 fifth grade starts, Demon and Maggot are excited to see each other again and to spend the first day of classes together. They hang out for a couple hours after school lets out, too. When Stoner gets home, he yells at Demon for tracking mud inside. Demon mops up the mess, but Stoner says that’s not good enough, so Demon washes the floor with Clorox. Stoner says it’s still not good enough and that Demon has to clean it again. Mom is there, but she stays quiet. Stoner then tells Demon to clean the carpet in the living room. The chemicals go to Demon’s brain, and he ends up shouting the X-Men theme song at Stoner, who puts him in a headlock, covering Demon’s mouth until Demon bites him. Demon ends up back in his room with a busted lip.
Stoner’s abuse of Demon continues, and the conflict between the two grows increasingly serious. The novel also subtly comments on how chemicals can impact people’s behavior. In this case, chemicals from bleach lead Demon to act in a way that he doesn’t quite understand, foreshadowing similar behaviors that he’ll engage in later when he begins regularly using drugs.
Themes
Demon is “on lockdown” for the next few days and over the weekend. The days blur together. Stoner and Mom go on shouting outside his door, and he imagines the Peggots can hear everything they’re saying. Demon draws comics in his notebook, coming up with ways to take down the Stone Villain. Stoner flings open his door one night and says Mom wants to show Demon how much she loves him. The statement’s strangeness makes Demon nervous. He runs through the house and finds Mom lying faceup in her clothes on her bed, still breathing, but surrounded by pill bottles. They’re not empty, though, so Demon thinks she had just been trying to get high, not the “total checkout.”
When Demon faces what he views as the insurmountable evil of Stoner, he draws comics in which Stoner is the villain, showing again how the idea of superheroes and superpowers offers Demon an escape from his daily life. That hope, though, meets reality quickly when Mom overdoses. While there is no actual hero who can step in and immediately change that reality, Stoner becomes even more of a villain, as his abuse and misogyny have led to Mom’s overdose. In response to Stoner’s abuse, Mom resorts to drugs to try and manage living in an abusive relationship with no clear way to escape. While Demon’s comics might offer him an escape, the reality of his circumstances is increasingly dire and hopeless.
Themes
