Damon Fields is born to a single teenage mother in a trailer home in Lee County, located in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. He has red hair, inherited from his dead father, who was a Melungeon. He is nicknamed "Demon Copperhead" for the colour of his hair and his attitude. (Copperhead referring to the colour as well as snake species). Demon is raised by his mother and their neighbours, the Peggots. The latter includes Mr. and Mrs. Peggot, who are old and are raising their grandchild Matt Peggot (nicknamed Maggot). Maggot and Demon are the same age and the two become best friends growing up.
When Demon is in primary school, his mother meets a trucker named Stoner and gets into a relationship with him. Over the summer, the Peggots take Demon on a trip to Knoxville, where he meets Maggot’s aunt June and his cousin Emmy. Upon his return, he discovers that his mother has married Stoner, following which Stoner’s behaviour becomes abusive. She relapses into her former drug addiction and ODs. Stoner pays for her to be sent to rehab. Demon’s DSS agent puts him in short-term foster care.
His foster home is at Creaky Farms, run by Mr. Crickson who also fosters three other kids: Tommy, Swap-Out, and Fast Forward. Tommy and Swap-Out are in primary school with Demon, while Fast Forward is in high-school playing as a quarterback for the Lee High School football team, the Generals. Demon's time at Creaky Farms is coloured by Crickson's mean demeanour, the squalid living conditions, and assisting with farm work. This includes the tobacco season, where the foster-children are forced to miss school and Demon gets nicotine poisoning from handling the plants without gloves. Fast Forward has a magnetic personality and holds influence over the other foster children, introducing them to drugs.
Demon's mom ODs again, on oxycontin, and dies. His time at Creaky Farms over, Demon decides to spend Christmas with the Peggots instead, and joins them uninvited on another trip to Knoxville. He discovers that June has decided to move back to Lee County from the city due to the fact that her colleagues demean her for being a 'redneck'.
After a second failed foster family, Demon decides to hitchhike to Murder Valley, Tennessee, where he hopes to find his paternal grandmother. En route, he meets a preacher, gets his money stolen by a prostitute, and sleeps in a barn. Finally, he reaches his grandmother, Betsy Woodall, a hardy old woman who lives with her disabled brother Dick who is confined to a wheelchair and cannot speak normally, but is sharp and well-read. Using her connections, she contacts the Coach of the Lee High Generals, who agrees to take Demon in. Demon moves to a mansion where he meets Coach, his daughter Angus, and a young man who assists the coach named U-Haul. Coach struggles with alcoholism, but recognises Demon's potential as a football player. He starts training him to be a tight end, and Demon eventually becomes a player for the Generals.
Demon learns about the history of the Appalachian Mountains and the coal miners from Mr. Armstrong, who tells them the story of the Battle of Blair Mountain. In the summer after he joins high school, Demon takes a job at a farm supply store and meets Dori, a young girl his age who he instantly falls in love with. Dori's mother is dead and she has dropped out of school to take care of her ailing father. During one of the football games, Demon gets tackled and badly injures his knee. The team doctor puts him on oxycontin and Demon quickly gets addicted despite warnings from June. After a school dance, Demon and Dori drive to a spot where she gives Demon fentanyl that she has stolen from her dad.
Dori's father dies and she falls apart. Demon decides to drop out of school and move in with Dori. During this time, Emmy runs away with Fast Forward. After months of searching, June finds Emmy's location and rescues her with the assistance of Demon and her brother. June sends her to an expensive rehab facility. Angus calls Demon after U-Haul tries to sexually assault her. She has discovered that U-Haul has been framing Coach for embezzlement from the school. Angus and Demon manage to chase U-Haul away. Eventually, the scandal breaks, but Coach's reputation and Angus' intervention allows them to control the damage.
Dori grows increasingly disconnected, insecure, and thin. At one point, Dori says that she is pregnant but soon after seems to miscarry. Finally, Dori ODs and dies. Demon moves in with Maggot. On a particularly rainy day, Demon and Maggot are invited to go up to a waterfall called the Devil's Bathtub to meet Fast Forward, and they go there with Hammer Kelly. The following confrontation results in the deaths of both Hammer Kelly and Fast Forward. Maggot gets sent to juvenile prison for supplying Hammer with drugs before the incident. June sponsors Demon's stay at a rehab centre in Knoxville. Here, Demon resumes drawing and decides to make a graphic novel about the history of the Appalachian people. He stays in touch with Angus who is now at university in Nashville and develops feelings for her.
Three and a half years later, Demon returns to Lee County. He and Angus catch up and decide to drive down to the ocean so that Demon can finally see it. Demon realises she has feelings for him too.
Characters
Many of the characters in the book are inspired by characters in Dickens's David Copperfield. In the following list, the Dickensian characters are parenthesised:
Damon Fields – Also known as Demon Copperhead due to his "copper-wire hair and some version of attitude." (David Copperfield)
"Mom" Fields – Demon's mother. Demon's birthfather (also named Damon) died the summer before Demon was born. (Clara Copperfield)
Murrell Stone – Also known as Stoner. Demon’s cruel stepfather. (Edward Murdstone)
Nance Peggot – Neighbor of Demon and his mom, Nance and Mr. Peggot often watched out for Demon and provided some stability in his early years. (Clara Peggotty)
Mr Peggot – Nance Peggot's husband.
Hammerhead Kelly – "Hammerhead Kelly, that was some form of Peggot-cousin add-on by marriage." (Ham Peggotty)
Matt Peggot – Also known as Maggot. Grandson of Nance and Mr Peggot, with whom he lives because his mother is in jail.
June Peggot – Daughter of Nance and Mr Peggot who got her nursing degree and moved to Knoxville. (Daniel Peggotty)
Emmy – Peggot niece who lives with her Aunt June in Knoxville. Demon and Emmy have a childhood affection. (Emily or Little Em'ly)
Sterling Ford – Also known as Fast Forward. Demon's fellow orphan at the Creaky Farm and later, a star on the Lee High football team, the Generals. (James Steerforth)
Tommy Waddell – Also known as Waddles. Demon's long-term friend and an orphan that he meets at Creaky Farm. Tommy doodles and draws skeletons, using his art to deal with stress; later, he works at a local newspaper where he and Demon create a newspaper comic strip. (Tommy Traddles)
Sophie – Tommy's long-distance girlfriend (living in Pennsylvania) and later his wife. (Sophy)
Mr Crickson – Also known as Creaky to the foster boys: Fast Forward, Waddles, Swap-Out and Demon. He runs a farm and takes in foster boys to do manual labor such as tobacco cutting, barn repair and tending cattle. He treats the boys just well enough for the Department of Social Services (DSS) to allow him to continue to conduct foster care. (Mr. Creakle)
Mr and Mrs McCobb – Foster home where Demon stayed after Creaky's. Demon slept in the laundry room with the dog and was expected to help pay his way by helping Mr McCobb stuff envelopes; Mr McCobb eventually found Demon a job at Golly's Market where he sorted trash for cans, bottles and other things of value. The McCobb family was perpetually out of money and took Demon in only for the money from DSS. (Wilkins Micawber and Emma Micawber)
Betsy Woodall – Paternal grandmother who shows up on the day of Demon's birth, wanting to take him with her. After escaping the foster system, Demon seeks her out. She finds a home for Demon with Coach Winfield and his daughter Angus. (Betsey Trotwood)
Brother Dick – Betsy’s physically disabled brother. He writes Shakespeare quotes on a huge kite. Demon eventually takes him out in his wheelchair to fly it. (Mr Dick)
Coach Winfield – Demon lived with him while in high school where Winfield was the celebrated football coach of the Generals. (Mr Wickfield)
Angus – Coach Winfield's daughter; she and Demon have a relationship that Demon eventually recognizes as something that can last. (Agnes Wickfield)
Ryan Pyles – Also known as U-Haul. Football team equipment handler. Exhibits false humility. "The man oozed slime. He was always touching and petting his face and grimy red hair and other things that were just wrong." (Uriah Heep)
Mr Armstrong – Middle school teacher and guidance counselor who learned Demon's history and works to help him with school. (Dr Marcus Strong)
Ms Annie – "Hippie" art teacher at Demon's high school who encourages his artistic abilities and encourages him in his comic strip creation. Wife of Mr Armstrong. (Annie)
Vester Spencer – Owns the hardware and feed store where Demon works. He dies of complications of lung cancer, leaving Dori alone. (Francis Spenlow)
Dori – Daughter of Vester Spencer whom Demon falls in love with. Both she and Demon are addicted to OxyContin and other prescription drugs. (Dora Spenlow)
Jip – Dori's dog who plays a big role in her life and affections. (Jip)
Rose Dartell – Fast Forward’s friend who despises Demon due to jealousy over his relationship with Fast Forward. (Miss Rosa Dartle)
Mouse – Very small, fast-talking friend of Fast Forward. (Miss Mowcher)
Reception
According to Book Marks, Demon Copperhead received "positive" reviews based on twenty-eight critic reviews with seventeen being "rave" and six being "positive" and four being "mixed" and one being "pan".[7] On Bookmarks January/February 2023 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a (3.5 out of 5) from based on critic reviews with a critical summary saying, "If one appreciates the Dickensian framework, one might view Kingsolver as "our literary mirror and window (Minneapolis Star Tribune)".[8][9]
Ron Charles of The Washington Post praises Demon Copperhead as his "favorite novel of 2022"[6] as it is "equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love."[6] Writing for The Guardian, Elizabeth Lowry contends that "while the task of modernising [Dickens's] novel is complicated by the fact that mores have shifted so radically since the mid-19th century … the ferocious critique of institutional poverty and its damaging effects on children is as pertinent as ever."[10] However, Lorraine Berry of The Boston Globe criticizes the novel as poverty porn, arguing that,
In seeking to raise awareness of child hunger and poverty in the United States, Kingsolver turns her characters’ lives into tales of misery and the inevitability of failure. Her characters wallow in dark hollows with little light, condemned to forever repeat the horrific mistakes of previous generations. She makes the people of Appalachia into objects of pity, but in doing so, also intimates that falling into drug abuse, rejecting education, and 'clinging' to their ways are moral choices.[11]
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