Demon Copperhead: Metaphors 10 key examples

While Demon's mother is in the bathroom, Stoner and his friends have a vulgar conversation, using language that they know Demon cannot understand. One of Stoner's friends, whom Demon nicknames Extra Eye, notes that "a fox is going to whelp her pups," describing Stoner as "lucky that it's just the one." Though Demon, who is still a child, does not understand Extra Eye's metaphor, the reader perceives that Extra Eye is talking about Demon. He suggests, in a veiled manner, that women are unavoidably accompanied by their children.

Using a different euphemism, Stoner asks his friends if they would purchase a desirable car if "it came with a trailer on the back." Again, he refers metaphorically to Demon as the "trailer" that accompanies "a cherry Camaro," by which he means Demon's mother. His friends continue the metaphor, making sexual jokes about Demon's mother that leave him "confused." This scene highlights both Demon's innocence and the rude, demeaning attitudes of Stoner and his friends. 

After Fast Forward drains all the well water cleaning his expensive car, the house is left without water. In response, an irate Mr. Crickson lectures the foster children, noting that “farming is war.” Further elaborating on this metaphor, which imagines farming as a constant battle, he adds that “livestock and machinery” are a farmer’s weapons against “the banks that want to foreclose on you.” To waste resources such as water, he concludes, is to give a “win” to the bank in this drawn out war.

Mr. Crickson’s metaphor emphasizes the difficulties faced by farmers in Appalachia, who are at constant risk of losing their farms to the banks to which they have mortgaged their property. If Mr. Crickson fails to keep up with his mortgage payments, he will lose everything he has worked for, which contributes to his stubborn determination to exploit his foster children. In the end, he loses the “war” against the banks after Child Protection Services bars him from fostering more children due to his abusive and exploitative treatment of them.

Previously, he was close to the Peggots, who were neighbors as well as close family friends. Though Maggot is able to convince his grandparents to bring Demon with them to Knoxville for the holidays, Demon quickly perceives that they do not want him there. He describes himself, in a simile, as being like "sour milk," and then further, in a metaphor, as "a rotten little piece of American pie." These metaphors, both related to rotting food, underscore his deep sense of shame and worthlessness. When he was younger and his mother was alive, the Peggots welcomed him into their home. Now, however, he feels tainted by his mother's death by overdose and his status as a foster-child, and he believes that "everybody wishes" that he could just be "removed" like spoiled food. Demon's feelings of alienation later lead him to seek connections with others that often prove unhealthy or destructive. 

Mr. Amstrong is one of the few people who shows Demon kindness and understanding during his time in the foster care system. In a metaphor, Mr. Armstrong describes Demon as a driver who miraculously survives a car accident that leaves the vehicle "mangled." At first, Demon misunderstands the metaphor and thinks that Mr. Armstrong considers him "lucky" to survive. Mr. Armstrong clarifies that there is nothing "lucky" about Demon's situation. Like a driver who is not at fault for the accident, Demon "didn't ask for" the various difficulties he has faced, but has survived them anyway. Mr. Armstrong suggests to Demon that he is not responsible for his various hardships, but has nevertheless proven his resilience and ability to survive. 

At first, Demon believes that Angus is jealous because his drawings have received a good deal of praise from art teacher Ms. Annie. Angus, however, insists that football, rather than art, is the object of her ire, as their school "threw money at that like water on a house fire," a simile that underscores the strong emphasis on sports, rather than academics, in the Lee County school board. Demon, who hopes to join the high school football team, claims that a high school without football would be "church with no Jesus." In this metaphor, he identifies football, rather than education, as the core of high school, just as the figure of Jesus Christ is at the center of Christian worship. In this passage, Kingsolver satirizes the outsized role of football in American high schools. 

Though Demon thinks of Betsy's home as a somewhat uncomfortable and formal environment, Angus looks upon it fondly, as she associates it with her mother, who was raised by Betsy. Using similes, he describes Angus as holding onto her hat "like she's in shock, and it might fly off" and as appearing  "like this happy big-eyed fairy in a white T-shirt." These similes underscore the importance that the house holds for Angus, who feels connected to her late mother while there. Demon hyperbolically suggests that nothing in the house has changed "since God was a child," reflecting his perception of Betsy's home as antiquated and somewhat stifling. Nevertheless, he understands Angus's attitude, as "a dead parent is a tricky kind of ghost." This metaphor reflects Demon's own complex feelings regarding his mother and underscores the ongoing impact that grief has had on his life. 

Here, Demon presents his memory as a flashback, using present tense to describe the scene as it happened to him. After a member of the opposing team tackles Demon, gravely injuring his leg, he recalls "trying to watch the game" and "losing focus." Using metaphors, he describes the pain he felt as "a sound," "a pull," and "fire." These metaphors suggest that Demon was totally overwhelmed by his pain, which he feels in a multi-sensory manner, even hearing it. His recollections take the series of a flash of images as he falls into and out of consciousness. This flashback presents a pivotal experience in Demon's teenage years. This injury ultimately leads Demon to drop out of high school and develop an addiction to the painkillers that he is prescribed by Dr. Watts to manage his pain. 

Mr. Peggot was a quiet man, though his actions and generosity touched many in his community. The minister, who has known Mr. Peggot since childhood, states that Mr. Peggot "tied a lot of knots" in his lifetime. These knots, he suggests, now connect the various members of Mr. Peggot's family and community "together." The minister's metaphor, then, suggests that people are bound to each other, even after death, by the many connections they make during their lives. Demon thinks about his mother, whom he feels tied few "knots" to others during her brief and unhappy life. He follows the logic of the minister's metaphor and vows to "tie" a tight knot with Dori that he will never allow to "unravel." As a result of his past alienation, Demon is desperate to tie himself to others, though some of these connections, such as his relationship to Dori, prove destructive.

Demon, who has been raised in Lee County, has had little experience with cities, other than a few childhood trips to Knoxville. He retains, throughout the novel, a strong distaste for cities, which is reflected in the pointed language he uses here. He notes that the city appears "like a movie," a simile that suggests that Demon only ever sees cities in movies due to his own rural background. Using detailed imagery, he describes the "cloud-high buildings spiking up on the distance" and the "hundreds of people" who walk by, "hugging their coats around them, looking at their feet, walking fast." The imagery he uses here underscores what he considers to be the cold and impersonal anonymity of the city, where people mind their own business as they go about their tasks. Additionally, in a metaphor, he describes the "mountains of steel-beam construction," language that draws a distinct contrast between the mountainous Lee County and the heavily urbanized city. Despite all that he has experienced in his own hometown, Demon appreciates the presence of nature and sense of community that he associates with Lee County. 

Reluctantly, Demon looks over at the body of the man who had once been his foster-brother and childhood hero. Claiming that, years later, he can still “see every goddamn line of it,” Demon describes Fast Forward’s gluteal muscles, or buttocks, as being “like a pair of onions.” He also uses a metaphor to describe Fast Forward's body to a “well-oiled machine.” Together, this simile and metaphor suggest that Fast Forward has taken great effort to maintain a high degree of physical fitness, even though his football career is far behind him. For Demon, Fast Forward’s physique further underscores the tragic wastefulness of the scene. Like many other characters who live in Lee County, Fast Forward was “eager to work” but found little opportunity to do so. His death, Demon suggests, is a "last layoff," a metaphor that draws a parallel between Fast Forward and the many other individuals in Appalachia who have few opportunities for legal employment.