Demon Copperhead

Before the story begins, author Barbara Kingsolver includes a quote from Charles Dickens’ novel, David Copperfield, which was published in 1850 amid the poverty of Victorian England, that reads, “It’s in vain to recall the past, unless it works some influence upon the present.” How does this idea relate to the forthcoming story of Demon Copperhead?

How important is it, in terms of both understanding and appreciating Demon Copperhead, to have read Dickens’ David Copperfield?

“First, I got myself born,” begins the story of Damon Fields, aka Demon Copperhead, born to a poor, single mother in the mountains of Appalachia at the beginning of the opioid epidemic in the 1990s? Demon claims that “the born of this world are marked from the get-out, win or lose.” What does he mean by this? What’s the difference between destiny and fate? What part does social or economic privilege play in one’s fate?

Demon states “a good story doesn’t just copy life, it pushes back on it.” Why did Kingsolver choose to set the book in Appalachia, where people have been “misunderstood and taken advantage of,” just as the fictional protagonist Demon is?

In an interview, Kingsolver said that in writing this book, she hoped to counter the stereotypes about the region as being made up exclusively of “hillbillies” who are often portrayed as “the butt of jokes,” or as characters in a “poverty documentary, if they show up at all.” Do you think she was successful in this? Has your view of people in this region changed? If so, in what ways?

In his original story, Dickens has David Copperfield wondering “whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life.” But Demon Copperhead poses a different question of heroism: when you’re a child born into a life without choices, does being a hero simply consist of surviving against the odds?

Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead is set in Virginia at the beginning of the opioid epidemic in the 1990s. From Lee County, Virginia, to Union County, Tennessee, Demon looks back on his depressed childhood, including the poverty and desperation of his circumstances. What historic and cultural forces have shaped the industrial limitations and systemic poverty in Appalachia? How are these limitations interpreted by outsiders?  How do these limitations shape the characters and their sense of self-worth?

Why is the concept of city living so uncomfortable for Demon? Despite its problems and poverty, what did the rural environment of Lee County offer Demon and others that was valuable? Do you agree with Demon’s observation on the differences between “country poor” and “city poor”?

While the book isn’t overtly political, there are moments where it touches on current political tensions, for example, the mention of pejorative terms like redneck or hillbilly and how they’ve been reclaimed by some people as a mark of defiance. What do you make of the book’s intersection with real-world politics? Was it successful?

Demon has a strong attraction to comic book superheroes. In what ways does his fascination with superheroes help him make sense of his situation? In what ways is it limiting?

Why or how is drawing such an important outlet for Demon? Do you think his story would be different without this lifeline?

Which characters in this story are sympathetic? Which are not? What are your reasons?

Demon, like most of the characters in this book, has many reasons to lose hope, yet he manages to hold on to it. Where do Demon’s feelings of hope spring from?