Demon Copperhead

by

Barbara Kingsolver

Mr. Crickson Character Analysis

Mr. Crickson is the foster parent whom Demon first goes to live with after Mom overdoses. The novel portrays him as strict, mean, and exploitative, as he forces his foster children to work long hours on his farm, even taking them out of school to do so. When Demon first goes to live on the farm, there are three other foster boys there: Swap-Out, Tommy, and Fast Forward, and Demon forms relationships with them that last past their time on Crickson’s farm.

Mr. Crickson Quotes in Demon Copperhead

The Demon Copperhead quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Crickson or refer to Mr. Crickson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Exploitation Theme Icon
).
Chapter 10 Quotes

A ten-year-old getting high on pills. Foolish children. This is what we’re meant to say: Look at their choices, leading to a life of ruin. But lives are getting lived right now, this hour, down in the dirty cracks between the toothbrushued nighty-nights and the full grocery carts, where those words don’t pertain. Children, choices. Ruin, that was the labor and materials we were given to work with. An older boy that never knew safety himself, trying to make us feel safe. We had the moon in the window to smile on us for a minute and tell us the world was ours. Because all the adults had gone off somewhere and left everything in our hands.

Related Characters: Demon Copperhead (speaker), Demon’s Mom , Fast Forward, Dori, Tommy Waddell, Mr. Crickson, Swap-Out
Page Number: 77
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

She asked me about Creaky Farm, and I told her. The old man was brutal to Tommy, and Swap-Out should be in some other kind of situation […]. Had Crickson ever hit me, she asked. Answer: no. I myself had not been struck. And that was that. Miss Barks was sorry, but Tommy and Swap-Out weren’t on her. Usually all kids in a home are from one foster company, but Crickson was an emergency-type place, and Tommy and Swap-Out belonged to a different foster company that Miss Bark didn’t work with. So fostering was done by companies, and we, as Stoner would say, were Product. Rotating and merchandising foster boys at more than fifty customer accounts. Live and learn.

Related Characters: Demon Copperhead (speaker), Tommy Waddell, Miss Barks, Mr. Crickson, Swap-Out
Related Symbols: Opioid Painkillers
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

If Philip Morris and them knew the devil had real teeth, they sat harder on that secret than you’d believe. Grow it with pride and smoke it with pride, they said, giving out bumper stickers to that effect. I recall big stacks of them at school, free for the taking […]. We drove around with “Proud Tobacco Farmer” stickers on our trucks till they peeled and faded along with our good health and dreams of greatness. If you’re standing on a small pile of shit, fighting for your one place to stand, God almighty how you fight.

Related Characters: Demon Copperhead (speaker), Mr. Crickson
Related Symbols: Opioid Painkillers
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

Mr. McCobb was big on idea for making that little bit extra to turn things around, and had tried most of them: selling Amway, breeding AKC pups with fake papers, human advertisement, sperm donor, etc. Plus buying lotto tickets, obviously. His newest idea was taking in a foster. If I went okay, they might take in two, for twice the cash. It didn’t hurt my feelings. Creaky made no bones about wanting that five hundred a month per head. I knew the score.

Related Characters: Demon Copperhead (speaker), Dr. Watts, Mr. Crickson, Mr. McCobb
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis:
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Mr. Crickson Quotes in Demon Copperhead

The Demon Copperhead quotes below are all either spoken by Mr. Crickson or refer to Mr. Crickson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Exploitation Theme Icon
).
Chapter 10 Quotes

A ten-year-old getting high on pills. Foolish children. This is what we’re meant to say: Look at their choices, leading to a life of ruin. But lives are getting lived right now, this hour, down in the dirty cracks between the toothbrushued nighty-nights and the full grocery carts, where those words don’t pertain. Children, choices. Ruin, that was the labor and materials we were given to work with. An older boy that never knew safety himself, trying to make us feel safe. We had the moon in the window to smile on us for a minute and tell us the world was ours. Because all the adults had gone off somewhere and left everything in our hands.

Related Characters: Demon Copperhead (speaker), Demon’s Mom , Fast Forward, Dori, Tommy Waddell, Mr. Crickson, Swap-Out
Page Number: 77
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 11 Quotes

She asked me about Creaky Farm, and I told her. The old man was brutal to Tommy, and Swap-Out should be in some other kind of situation […]. Had Crickson ever hit me, she asked. Answer: no. I myself had not been struck. And that was that. Miss Barks was sorry, but Tommy and Swap-Out weren’t on her. Usually all kids in a home are from one foster company, but Crickson was an emergency-type place, and Tommy and Swap-Out belonged to a different foster company that Miss Bark didn’t work with. So fostering was done by companies, and we, as Stoner would say, were Product. Rotating and merchandising foster boys at more than fifty customer accounts. Live and learn.

Related Characters: Demon Copperhead (speaker), Tommy Waddell, Miss Barks, Mr. Crickson, Swap-Out
Related Symbols: Opioid Painkillers
Page Number: 78
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 14 Quotes

If Philip Morris and them knew the devil had real teeth, they sat harder on that secret than you’d believe. Grow it with pride and smoke it with pride, they said, giving out bumper stickers to that effect. I recall big stacks of them at school, free for the taking […]. We drove around with “Proud Tobacco Farmer” stickers on our trucks till they peeled and faded along with our good health and dreams of greatness. If you’re standing on a small pile of shit, fighting for your one place to stand, God almighty how you fight.

Related Characters: Demon Copperhead (speaker), Mr. Crickson
Related Symbols: Opioid Painkillers
Page Number: 103
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 20 Quotes

Mr. McCobb was big on idea for making that little bit extra to turn things around, and had tried most of them: selling Amway, breeding AKC pups with fake papers, human advertisement, sperm donor, etc. Plus buying lotto tickets, obviously. His newest idea was taking in a foster. If I went okay, they might take in two, for twice the cash. It didn’t hurt my feelings. Creaky made no bones about wanting that five hundred a month per head. I knew the score.

Related Characters: Demon Copperhead (speaker), Dr. Watts, Mr. Crickson, Mr. McCobb
Page Number: 140
Explanation and Analysis: