2022 novel by Barbara Kingsolver
Demon Copperhead is a 2022 novel by Barbara Kingsolver. It was a co-recipient of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and won the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction. Kingsolver was inspired by the Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield.[1][2] While Kingsolver's novel is similarly about a boy who experiences poverty, Demon Copperhead is set in Appalachia and explores contemporary issues.[3][4][5]
Plot
The protagonist and narrator is born Damon Fields to a teenage mother in a trailer home. He is raised in Lee County, located in Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, and nicknamed "Demon Copperhead" for the color of his hair and his attitude. As Demon grows up, he must use his charms and wits to survive poverty in the contemporary American South.[6][7]
Characters
Names in parentheses are the analogous characters in Dickens' David Copperfield.
- 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 so DSS allows him to continue 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 the review aggregator website Book Marks, Demon Copperhead received mostly positive reviews from critics.[8] Ron Charles of The Washington Post praises Demon Copperhead as his "favorite novel of 2022"[9] as it is "equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love."[9] Writing for The Guardian, Elizabeth Lowry contends that "while the task of modernising [Dicken'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]
Accolades
Demon Copperhead was named one of the "10 Best Books of 2022" by The Washington Post[12] and The New York Times.[13] The novel was named the recipient of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction alongside Hernan Diaz's Trust; this was the first time in its history that the award was shared.[14] It won the 2022 James Tait Back Prize for Fiction.[15] The novel was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction.[16]
Barbara Kingsolver won the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction for the novel,[17][18] making her the first author to win the prize twice; she previously won in 2010 for The Lacuna.
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